February 25, 2018 (JUBA)- South Sudan President Salva Kiir asked members of the East African Community (EAC) to be intimated to external pressure and implement the U.S. or U.S.-backed international sanctions on his country. Following the repeated violations of the cessation of hostilities agreement, State Department on Friday 2 February imposed a U.S. arms embargo on South Sudan and called on the United Nations and other countries to do the same. Washington also ready to impose further sanctions and to back any punitive measures the IGAD and the African Union demand the UN Security Council to enforce on the spoilers of the ongoing efforts to end the four-year conflict in the country. In a speech delivered at the 19th Ordinary East African Community Heads of State Summit in Kampala, on February. 23, Kiir requested the leaders of the East African common market area to not allow that a member state "be bullied by those who would want to cow them down so that they take whatever resources they take from the country". "South Sudan is not supposed to be poor to the extent that we are in now. South Sudan has potentials and it is potentially rich but no opportunity was given for the development of the resources," he further said. South Sudan was admitted to the EAC treaty on 15 April 2016 and become a full Member on 15 August 2016. It is the sixth member of the community which includes also Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. The...

Arusha — THE Republic of Somalia is in the line-up for becoming the 7th member of the East African Community (EAC). The prospect will be on the agenda for discussions as the regional bloc's Heads of State assemble in Kampala, Uganda, from tomorrow. The Ugandan Minister of State for EAC Affairs, Mr Julius Wandera Maganda, who currently chairs the Council of Ministers, revealed in a statement here that the six heads of state from Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, Tanzania and South-Sudan will review progress of the verification exercise for the admission of the Republic of Somalia into the EAC. The inclusion of Mogadishu will make the East African Community to now own 'The Horn of Africa,' and boast the longest coastline of the Indian Ocean on the continent. The joint population of Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, South-Sudan and (if admitted) Somalia, will be close to 190 million in total, which is essentially the same number of people as Nigeria. Apart from discussing the horn of Africa factor, other agenda items in the EAC Heads of State retreat's table include the modalities for promotion of motor vehicle assembly in the community, although already Kenya is ahead on this, by hosting assembly lines for Nissan, Volkswagen and China's Foton. Included, too, will be a review of the textile and leather sector, in which Tanzania tops the bill by having a large number of textile factories if the defunct ones were to be revived, and working on the Report of the Chair...

NAIROBI, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta will fly to Uganda on Thursday for a three-day official visit to attend a regional summit on financing infrastructure and health, his office said Wednesday. During the summit of the East African Community (EAC) member states, State House spokesman Manoah Esipisu said in a statement that Kenyatta will showcase the progress Kenya has made in investments in infrastructure over the last five years. Esipisu said the Kenyan leader will also unveil plans for further investment in the infrastructure and emphasize his commitment to a more integrated approach in infrastructure development for the region. "Affordable health for all is one of President Kenyatta's Big Four commitments in his second term, alongside affordable housing, enhanced manufacturing and value addition as well as food security and nutrition," Esipisu said. During the presidential retreat on financing infrastructure and health and a summit of the EAC member states Kampala, Kenyatta will also make the point that it was no longer viable for East Africa to build infrastructure with a silo mentality. According to Esipisu, Kenyatta will urge greater speed in implementing projects, with a sharp focus on continuing the agenda of promoting the free movement of people across EAC and the wider African continent. "The president sees enhanced people-to-people contact as key to improving trade, growing regional economies and lifting the lives of citizens," he said. Esipisu said the president will also speak on Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) arrangements between the EAC and the European Union...

Nairobi’s domestic air travel capacity is set to grow further this year as regional carrier Jambojet seeks to expand to other African destinations. “We would like to serve Kenya and the greater Eastern Africa region with future plans to go into Somalia, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Rwanda and Burundi,” Jambojet chief executive Willem Hondius said. A report by ForwardKeys released in August shows Nairobi’s domestic air travel capacity grew 22 per cent, making it the only city in Africa whose airports are recording higher growth in domestic than international flight capacity. “After proving our operations are sustainable and getting the air operators certificate, we can now go international,” Hondius said. The low-cost airline is now operating two daily flights from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to Entebbe International Airport at an introductory price of Sh11,740. This, Hondius said, will boost tourism and trade between the two countries as it will encourage more East Africans to travel by air. The barely four-year-old airline recently increased the number of routes from four to six, increasing flight frequency due to fleet expansion. Other routes on which the airline operates include Eldoret, Kisumu, Malindi, Mombasa and Ukunda. Source: The Star

The East African Community member states’ appreciation of rail transport has increased, a trend experts think is good for doing business because it reduces on time. This trend, according to the experts, does not only ease doing business in the region but also it is cost effective because of its turnaround. Latest report from the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) published this month shows that containers delivered up-country by rail from the Port of Mombasa recorded 671 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEUs) registering an increase of 233 TEUs compared to the previous week. Port operations performance during the week showed that a total of 11,189 TEUs (full and empty) were discharged from the ships and 10,049 TEUs loaded for export. The total yard population registered 14,644 TEUs out of which 5,753 TEUS were awaiting pick up orders. Uganda, Rwanda, DR Congo and South Sudan import and export their products through the port of Mombasa. Imports population breakdown indicated that there were 3,170 TEUs locally bound (Kenya) and 4,873 TEUs for transit destinations. Uganda bound containers recorded 3,825 TEUs, out of the 4,873 TEUs making it the biggest customer. This was followed by Tanzania bound containers that registered 444 TEUs, South Sudan with 233 TEUs, and Democratic Republic of Congo with 162 TEUs and Rwanda with 157 TEUs. Reaction Mr Daniel Birungi the executive director Uganda Manufacturers Association (UMA), says the reason Ugandans are taking up rail transport as an alternative is because it’s cost effective, especially to bulky importers. “A case in...

Members of the East African Legislative Assembly last week began a wearing road trip in their two-week on-spot assessment of institutions, installations and facilities of the EAC on the Central Corridor and the Northern Corridor. While in Kahama, north western Tanzania, Sunday Times' James Karuhanga who is part of a media team travelling with the MPs interviewed the Central Corridor team leader, MP Wanjuki Muhia  (Kenya) before they headed for Ngara, 300 kilometers away. She explained why the newly sworn in fourth Assembly embarked on the trip and what is expected of them. Below are the excerpts: After getting to Kahama last night, you covered exactly 1,509 kilometers from Zanzibar, please shed light on why two teams of regional lawmakers are traversing the central and northern corridors. We embarked on this journey from Zanzibar all the way through the central corridor to Rwanda so that we can identify and appreciate East African institutions. We found it fit for members of parliament to come out of the comfort zone and go face the reality; where are these institutions, what does the public want, how does the public perceive the Community and how much can we do for the Community? In this journey, we are meeting stakeholders such as clearing agents, government officials, and operation managers be it at the port of Dar es Salaam, or the transporters you saw at Vigwaza weigh bridge. We interviewed truck drivers to understand their story and the main agenda is to first, appreciate the institutions...

Expulsion of Ugandans by the Tanzanian government is not something new; it happens almost every year. But I have never seen the Ugandan government react until when herdsmen were expelled. The Foreign Affairs minister wrote a letter of protest and handed it over to the ambassador of Tanzania to Uganda. Being a shadow minister for East African Community Affairs, I don't think that this higgledy-piggledy scenario would be happening between member states under the East African Community, if the heads of states of member countries were transparently committed to the integration. It is important to recollect that on November 30, 1993, the heads of states of Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania signed a permanent tripartite commission (PTC) which arrangement later ushered in the signing of the East African Community Treaty on January 22, 1999 by the three states. The integration process has been progressing in four steps embodied in protocols: I will only mention the two which have been birthed. First is the Customs Union Protocol, which came into effect in 2005; this allows East Africa to operate as a free trade area where partner states reduce or eliminate tax on goods originating from their countries and have a common tariff on goods imported from outside the participating countries. Secondly, there is the Common Market Protocol, which came into effect on July 1, 2010. This provides the region with a single economic space within which business and labour will operate to stimulate investment. The common market serves to provide freedom of...

Last year, there were a lot of discussions on how Africa could leverage on its regional economic communities for more integration on the continent. Continental Free Trade Zone, was also one of the major discussions in the recently concluded African Union summit; one to be led by the new African Union chairperson Rwandan president Paul Kagame. In a recent report by Brookings Institute, the importance of leveraging on Africa’s regional communities when talking about a Continental Free Trade Zone was laid bare. The report, titled “ Foresight Africa: Top priorities for the continent in 2018” featured contributions from many influential figures on the continent including Rwanda president Paul Kagame, Ivorian president Alassane Ouattara, former Nigerian finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, African Development Bank chairman Akinwunmi Adesina e.t.c, who all gave their thoughts on what they think will happen on the continent in 2018. Unleashing Africa’s Inner Strength The first chapter was about ‘Unleashing Africa’s Inner Strength,’ and the Rwandan president who is also leading the push for a Continental Free Trade Zone wrote on building a stronger African Union. The president referenced a survey conducted by Afro Barometer in 2015, which did an extensive study into the relative strength of regional bodies on the continent. Criteria such as trade integration, regional infrastructure, productive integration, free movement of people, and financial and macroeconomic integration were used to rank each regional bodies. The African Union recognizes eight Regional Economic Communities (REC); Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD), Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA),...

East African Community Heads of State are expected to convene in Uganda’s capital Kampala next week to discuss a number of regional matters, including infrastructure and health sector growth. Olivier Nduhungirehe, the State Minister in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and East African Community, confirmed to The New Times on the agenda includes a two-day Joint EAC Heads of State Retreat on Infrastructure and Health Financing and Development. The meeting will be held between February 21 and 22 and will be followed a day later by the 19th Ordinary Summit of the EAC Heads of State, which will also be held in Kampala. “We are going to examine the progress of EAC agenda; looking into a number of issues facing the regional bloc, ranging from EAC financing to infrastructure development,” Nduhungirehe said yesterday. EAC Secretary General Liberat Mfumukeko said in a statement that preparations are in “high gear” for the joint Heads of State retreat themed “Deepening and widening regional integration through Infrastructure and Health Sector Development in the EAC Partner States’’ Mfumukeko, who was speaking at a news conference held at the EAC Headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania, to update the media on the upcoming Joint EAC Heads of State Retreat and 19th Ordinary Summit, said that the former is aimed at accelerating the attainment of the objectives of the EAC Development Strategy, African Union Agenda 2063, and the Sustainable Development Goals in the infrastructure and health sectors in the EAC. He said the joint retreat is expected to...

Pakistan has become Kenya’s largest export market even as trade with the country’s East African neighbours continues to falter. The value of exports to the Far East nation went up by 69 per cent from Sh40 billion recorded in 2016 to Sh64 billion last year, boosted largely by tea, Government data shows. Pakistan has in the past been a strong market for Kenyan exports and in 2014 was the fourth largest buyer of the country’s goods after Uganda, Tanzania and Britain. Over the past five years, however, the value of exports to the Asian country have steadily increased and pushed it to the top of Kenya’s export destinations. The value of exports to Pakistan have since risen from Sh18 billion in 2012 to Sh64 billion last year. Imports have similarly recorded a 30 per cent rise to stand at Sh18 billion in 2016, up from Sh12 billion in 2012. Data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) further indicates the value of Kenya’s tea exports went up by 28 per cent from Sh124 billion in 2016 to Sh159 billion last year. Aside from tea, other export commodities from Kenya to Pakistan include coconuts, dry nuts, mangoes, fresh flowers and powdered milk while the main import is mainly rice. IN DECLINE Uganda and Tanzania, which once commanded a lion’s share of Kenya’s export market, have been on a decline. Trade with Uganda, for years the leading destination of Kenya’s goods and services to the East African region, fell by 28...