South Sudan’s planned entry into the East African Community could be hampered by its recent call for foreigners working in the country to be replaced with locals, as the legislative assembly puts pressure on the Secretariat and the Heads of State to have Juba underline its commitment to the bloc’s ideals during negotiations. Peter Mathuki, a Kenyan representative to the East African Legislative Assembly, said the regional House would demand that the presidents of the five EAC member states take a position on South Sudan’s move before or during their next Summit scheduled for November. “We are almost at the final stages of admitting the country into the Community, but with such an indication that other partner states will have difficulty in free movement of labour, trade and capital, the experts will have to re-examine its qualification for admission,” said Mr Mathuki. EAC secretary-general Richard Sezibera, through a post on the Jumuiya Twitter account, said the issue of foreigners being required to vacate their jobs would be a key discussion point during negotiations for South Sudan’s admission to the EAC. “Our treaty is clear on fundamental rights of its citizens... We will table all issues of concern at the negotiations for accession,” Dr Sezibera tweeted. South Sudan’s Ministry of Labour had ordered that non-governmental organisations, telecommunications companies, banks, insurance companies, oil companies, hotels and lodges terminate the employment of foreigners occupying certain positions. The positions were executive secretary, personnel manager, secretaries and head of human resource department. Others were public...

South Sudan’s announcement that foreign workers should leave the country by October 15 to create employment for the locals has elicited mixed reactions, with some observers arguing that the country is not ready for the East African Community integration. However, South Sudan later made a U-turn, its Foreign minister, Barnaba Marial Benjamin, telling journalists on Wednesday that there was no government policy ordering foreign workers to leave. A statement from the country’s Labour ministry was quoted in the press on Tuesday directing that jobs filled by foreigners should be prioritised for the locals. The jobs include d executive directors, personnel managers, secretaries, human relations officers, public relations officers, procurement officers, protocol officers, and receptionists. Geoffrey Ssali, a policy analyst for the Uganda Manufacturers Association, told The Observer that this was uncalled for, given that it came at a time when South Sudan had applied to join the EAC. The region has already ratified the common market protocol that allows free movement of goods and labour in the region. “It’s embarrassing for the East African region that was planning to admit South Sudan into the integration,” Ssali said. “They might want to help their own [people] get employment, but they still need foreign workers than anyone else. They could wait much longer before they are admitted into the EAC.” He said some Ugandans had planned to build warehouses, supply and distribution centres there, including becoming agents. In the region, Kenya has more nationals in South Sudan working in banks and insurance...

South Sudan’s membership to the East African Community (EAC) is inching closer with negotiations between the country and representatives from the bloc’s member states set to start early next month. Each of the five EAC partner states has nominated three experts to sit at the negotiation table, with a team from South Sudan in forums that are expected to begin on November 7. The negotiators will be charged with developing a programme and recommendations for South Sudan’s entry into the EAC. “They [South Sudan] have written to us confirming that they will be attending the negotiation meetings in Arusha. The meeting will be key in determining whether, when and how South Sudan will join the EAC,” said EAC Deputy Secretary General for Planning and Infrastructure, Enos Bukuku. In November 2011, months after becoming Africa’s newest state, South Sudan submitted an application to join the EAC. Since then, the country has been going through the paces as its bid for membership is processed by the Community. The Community sent a verification committee to South Sudan in July 2012 to assess the country’s ability to meet the membership criteria set out in Article 3 of the EAC Treaty. Despite concerns about the development level of government institutions in the country, the verification report was approved by the Heads of State Summit last year. READ: Is Juba on its last lap to joining EAC? Ministers concerned with EAC affairs in the five countries then directed the Secretariat to convene a team that would begin...

East Africa’s ambitious plan to boost its oil supply infrastructure enters a critical phase this week as Kenya and Uganda float a design tender, while South Sudan decides whether to build a pipeline through Kenya or Djibouti. On Monday, the presidents of Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda — meeting under the auspices of the 3rd Infrastructure Summit in Kigali — are expected to receive a progress report on the planned crude oil pipeline under the Lamu Port South Sudan Ethiopia Transport (Lapsset) corridor project. Sources said President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni are keen to see the project take off ‘‘in a matter of months.” It has emerged that after the Kigali meeting, Kenya and Uganda are to jointly float a tender for the design of the pipeline. “For Kenya and Uganda, the proposed pipeline is becoming an immediate necessity. Government officials have been given strict timelines. The two countries are under pressure to get quotations,” said a Kenya oil executive familiar with the matter. “Uganda is desperate to get a route for its oil just as Kenya is. For South Sudan, it has already dealt with its most pressing problem by using the old Khartoum route to export its crude. What it is looking for now is a security option that would give it a bargaining alternative.” The pipeline is expected to run 1,500 kilometres from Hoima near Lake Albert in western Uganda to Lamu port on Kenya’s Coast. The project is expected to be commissioned by...

South Sudan’s bid to join the East African Community (EAC) got a notch closer as a delegation from the regional bloc paid a courtesy visit to the capital, Juba, this week. Richard Sezibera, the EAC secretary-general, said the “engagement” trip aimed at enlightening South Sudanese leaders on the criteria and obligations involved for joining the five-member bloc, which currently comprises Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi. “[It] is a dialogue which we are happy to continue. South Sudan in many ways is East African. Our people have long history together,” he told reporters in Juba on Monday. The EAC official, however, declined to divulge more details on the meeting to he held with South Sudanese ministers, among others. South Sudan applied to join the regional bloc soon after it gained its independence in July 2011. Its membership approval was, however, put on hold in 2013 after the EAC member states raised concerns over poor governance, market structure and weak justice systems. South Sudan’s foreign minister said time was ripe for his country to gain admission in to the regional body. “We have been talking to each other [for] long time now. The idea is how South Sudan, through the legal processes, can become a member of the EAC,” said Barnaba Marial Benjamin. He further said South Sudan was still acquainting itself with the status of being a member state, having been an observer since it gained independence three years ago. Source URL: Sudan Tribute

Kenya, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Uganda will present the Lamu Port South Sudan Ethiopia Transport (Lapsset) corridor as a single package to investors during this week’s US-Africa Leaders Summit in Washington DC, USA. Lapsset Corridor Development Authority chairman Francis Muthaura told The EastAfrican that, at a meeting at State House Nairobi on Thursday, Presidents Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya, Salva Kiir of South Sudan and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn agreed to take a common position on Lapsset and package it for submission to American investors. “Lapsset is a flagship project seeking to spur economic growth in the region and the leaders have agreed to package it as a regional initiative,” said Mr Muthaura. The determination to attract investors to the $24 billion set of interlinked projects saw President Kenyatta risk litigation by revoking title deeds for nearly 500,000 acres of land in Lamu, the mouth of the proposed transport corridor stretching to Ethiopia and South Sudan. He also ordered state agencies to “commence investigations with a view to bringing to account all persons who were involved in this criminal enterprise without exception.” New agencies The president said 22 companies had been irregularly allocated between 5,000 and 80,000 acres each between 2011 and 2012, when all land transactions had been stopped to allow for new agencies created by the Constitution to be established. Wealthy speculators taking positions for huge compensation when the government starts acquiring land for the project are believed to have been behind the land grab. The revocation...