Burundi and Rwanda were assured last Friday that their long desired admission to the East African Community was a matter of time. President Mwai Kibaki of Kenya told the sixth Summit of the EA Heads of State that the two countries should not consider themselves outsiders in the East African integration process. There is hope that this might help integrate the region´s human rights policies also. (29-NOV-04)

This article was written by Zephania Ubwani for today´s edition of the Ugandan independent daily the Monitor. It has been re-edited for publication here.

President Kibaki said the two countries have not only applied to join EAC since the regional body was revived in the mid-1990s but have enjoyed observer status in all matters pertaining to regional integration under the Community. He attributed the delay to register them as members of the Community to wars and instability in the two countries and the Great Lakes region as a whole. “For the Burundi, I tell them agree at home first and decide where you want to go,” he said. Burundi will next April hold a general election under the Arusha Peace Process.

-Peace in our time
The country has been wracked by internal wars since 1993, claiming hundreds of thousands of lives. Earlier, President Domitien Ndayizeye of Burundi told the Summit that his country applied to join EAC way back in 1999 and was still waiting to be admitted in the regional economic bloc. He said his country attached much importance to EAC because of cross-border trade with Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya. He assured the Summit that peace will at last reign in his country after next April´s elections to be held within the framework of the Arusha Peace Process. Rwanda Prime Minister, Bernard Makuza, who represented President Paul Kagame, said his country was looking forward to join EAC, a move which would enable the EA region to benefit from Rwanda´s fast-growing economy.

-Long time coming
President Yoweri Museveni said African countries can build up their strengths through economic blocs and political federations like the one now proposed for Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. He reminded them of the Mbale Federation signed in Uganda in 1963 by EA leaders of that time, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta and Dr. Milton Obote as being the brainchild of EAC.