President Museveni Welcomes His Somali Counterpart to EAC

His Excellency President Yoweri K. Museveni has welcomed President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud of Somalia to the East African Community (EAC) as its eighth member.

Somalia was admitted as the 8th member state of the East African Community during the 23rd ordinary meeting in Arusha, Tanzania. Somalia joins Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, South Sudan, the DRC, Rwanda, and Burundi in the community.

He congratulated him yesterday, November 24, 2023, at the EAC summit while he met with other heads of state to discuss a number of East African community goals.

“Today, I addressed delegates at the EAC summit, where I pointed out three main reasons for the integration of the East African Community: the prosperity of the African people, strategic security, and the commonalities of the East African people. I congratulate President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud of Somalia upon joining the EAC as its eighth member,” Museveni said.

President Museveni, during his speech, called for market integration as a way to prosper Africa.

“Therefore, you cannot talk of prosperity in Africa without talking of market integration. If you want to be prosperous, you better understand and fight for the integration of the African market. A country like Uganda wasted a lot of time-fighting and so on, but when we settled down, we started producing. And very soon we realised that the internal market was not enough,” the president stated.

According to President Évariste Ndayishimiye, the president of Burundi, who is also the current EAC chairman, the summit decided to appoint President Salva Kiir of South Sudan as the new chairman.

“Due to the application by the Federal Republic of Somalia, we have decided to admit the Federal Republic of Somalia, and the treaty of accession will be concluded with the chair of the summit whom we have designed. The summit has decided that the Republic of Sudan will assume chairmanship of the community and the Democratic Republic of Congo will be the rapporteur,” he said.

Burundi’s President Ndayishimiye was elected during the 22^nd Ordinary EAC Summit, also held in Arusha, Tanzania.

The Republic of South Sudan has assumed chairmanship of the East African Community as the Democratic Republic of Congo becomes the new rapporteur.