Khartoum’s letter to Arusha seeking a place in the EAC returned with negative response with the country being politely told that, in order for Northern Sudan or any other African state to be allowed in the regional bloc, it must share a common border with any of the existing member states, that is Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania or Burundi.
Last month’s admission of South-Sudan to the Arusha Pivoted East African Community now paves way its neighbour, further north at Khartoum to also be considered to become the seventh member of the community which was revived back in 1999, but as of now it is all silent at the community secretariat here.
It was actually North Sudan, headquartered at Khartoum which was first to apply to be allowed to join the East African Community (EAC) five year ago.
However, its request was placed on hold because in order for a country to be a member of the EAC, it must share a common border with any of the initial five partner states.
Efforts to find the EAC Head of Corporate Communications, Mr Richard Owora Othieno, to comment on the issue last weekend, proved futile as he wasn’t around and his phone was unreachable.
South Sudan, which borders the two EAC member states – Kenya and Uganda in the South – apparently stood in-between Khartoum, but since it has now become a member, it is possible for North Sudan to re-apply and be considered to join EAC.
South Sudan brought into the EAC an addition 620,000 square kilometres of real estate, boosting the region’s population with a total of 12.3 million more people.
Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania and Burundi, that formed the original EAC had over 150 million people between them, with the land measuring over 1.8 million square kilometres, 50 per cent of which was falling into Tanzania.
Other countriesthat has shown interest to join the EAC include the troubled Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) though these are yet to file official applications to Arusha.
Source: Daily News

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