Prime
End wars in East Africa to achieve economic integration
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What you need to know:
- The Rwanda government has since distanced itself from such acts, claiming DRC fired rockets in its territory for cheap political capital
The latest gunshots to claim lives in a war-torn East African zone seem to have been fired in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) purportedly by the M23, a rebel group that president Felix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo of DRC said was backed by the Kigali government.
The Rwanda government has since distanced itself from such acts, claiming DRC fired rockets in its territory for cheap political capital.
Rwanda has its worries to put across, it claims DRC is aiding the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), an armed rebel faction based in DRC led by ethnic Hutus believed to have been involved in the 1994 genocide.
DR Congo is East Africa’s baby having joined the economic block recently bringing the number to seven with Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan.
DRC also covers the missing link between the Indian ocean and Atlantic coastal waters meaning with its entry into the bloc, the two giant water bodies have a shortcut to meet each other, offsetting the region’s economic hurdles.
Therefore, any war within East Africa (EA) directly hampers not only the political but also the economic integration of the region.
Counter accusations of member states accusing one another of supporting dissidents won’t take us forward.
It’s on record that every member has had a rocky relationship with each other.
Uganda and Kenya almost went to war between 1987 and 1989 because both countries mistrusted each other on security.
President Daniel arap Moi of Kenya accused President Museveni of supporting the Mwakenya Movement while the latter accused the former of supporting ex-president Apollo Milton Obote against the NRA. Kigali has locked horns with Burundi, Congo and Uganda quite often.
Yet we tend to thwart these wars and regain friendship after some time but only to continue from where we had stopped or pick a new war with another member state.
Rwanda just opened its Gatuna border with Uganda after closing it for two solid years. The East African Community bloc should be looking out for modalities on how to solve the differences between all member states.
Each member state has an issue to solve with the other. That will lay a basis for core integration talks.
Tanzania has on many occasions rejected Kenya’s agricultural produce under the prejudice of protecting its farmers from unfair competition.
Kenya recently did the same to Uganda’s eggs by slapping a tax on each tray of eggs imported from Uganda.
The reasons were the same - protectionism.
Ugandan drivers have been killed by small pockets of war lords in South Sudan. But there has been very little intervention by the Sudanese government to this effect. No compensation to the bereaved families has been registered yet these drivers are killed by dissidents their government should have prevailed over to have a peaceful transit of goods to South Sudan.
Both Kenya and Somalia have a maritime border dispute to solve, the two embattled countries seem not to come any near to an agreement.
It’s only member states not sharing a common border that seem to have a fairly good relationship. Usually offering advisory services between entangled members.
It will be very ridiculous and near impossible for EAC to fully be integrated if we don’t harmonise our policies on politics, trade and economy.
It’s against this background that most wars between member states are either due to a divergence in political ideology, mineral exploration or syndication of economic agendas fostered by either internal or external players. The current population of East Africa is 467,399,046 as of Sunday, June 12, 2022, based on the latest United Nations estimates. This population is equivalent to 5.71 percent of the total world population.
Our leaders should embrace dialogue rather than the gun to solve regional differences for the good of East Africa.
John Paul Kamwada
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