The East African community has begun to evaluate Somalia’s willingness to become a member.
Africa’s Eastern region, which is considering including new nations in its alliance, is still working toward unification. In particular, Somalia, one of the East African countries that have not yet joined, has started the verification procedure with the East African Community (EAC).
On Wednesday, the EAC formally began the verification mission to see whether Somalia is prepared to join the regional alliance. As a result, on January 25, 2023, the verification team, which is made up of professionals from the EAC Partner States, arrived in Somalia.
The chairwoman for the verification mission would be Ms. Tiri Marie Rose. She will collaborate alongside Abdulsalam Omer, the President of Somalia’s Special Representative to the EAC, and Abshir Omar, the country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.
The team’s primary responsibility during the tour is to assess Somalia’s readiness to meet the requirements for admission of foreign nations as outlined in the Treaty for the creation of the EAC.
The technical team in Mogadishu is expected to cooperate closely with Somali authorities to enable a quick verification procedure, according to Peter Mathuki, secretary general of the EAC.
To this purpose, a report must be finished in time to be presented to the EAC Council of Ministers, who will assess Somalia’s readiness to join the EAC at the 23rd Summit of EAC Heads of State, which is slated for the end of February.
According to Mathuki, “the verification team is prepared to make conclusions relating to the institutional frameworks in existence, legal frameworks, policies, strategies, projects, and programs, areas of collaboration with other EAC partner states, and expectations from membership.”
The area would use Somalia’s nearly 3,000 km of national coastline, which connects Africa to the Arabian Peninsula, to boost intra-regional trade, he continued.