President Yoweri Museveni has described as “pleasant” and “very significant” the eventual admission of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) into the East African Community (EAC).
The Regional Heads of State in virtual extraordinary summit on Tuesday, finally approved the admission of the DRC into the bloc.
DRC under President Felix Tshisekedi applied to join the Community back in February 2018.
Speaking this afternoon at the summit, President Museveni said he was happy to witness this significant expansion of the EAC bloc.
“The joining of East African Community by DRC is a big event of great significance,” he said.
“I have been involved in these efforts for the last 60 years and this is really very pleasant that DRC has finally reconnected formally with East Africa.” He said.
“It is good that we are reassembling…this is very crucial and I am very happy it happened when I’m still alive. I am a very happy man.”
“This means that this part of the world is connected coast to coast to coast, from the Indian to Atlantic Ocean; a population of about 300 million people, majority of which speak Swahili.”
With the DRC now on board, President Museveni called on the member states to join hands to restore peace and stability in the troubled Eastern part of DRC.
“We now need to work on the issue of peace in Eastern Congo because it has been disturbed for a long time by different groups; but if we work together that problem can be solved,” he said.
On his part, President Uhuru Kenyatta, who is also the current chairman of the EAC, said the bloc was corrected in following the steps of other countries around the world to form the economic bloc.
“All over the world countries are organizing and integrating themselves as regional blocs to strengthen interregional trading and increase competitive through economies of scale,” he said,
The DRC applied to join us in February 2018, and today, four years on, they have met all set criteria for admission and we are proud to have completed all processes to admitting new members “
Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame on the other hand, expressed his country’s willingness to support the admission process as DRC awaits to ratify the accession treaty as the final admission step.
Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu said, “I wish to commend you (President Tshisekedi) for decision to seek admission into EAC. Your decision will afford you great opportunity to expand the pace for peace and security in our country and the region.”
