Talk:East African Community/Archives/2015

Single tourist visa

This section needs to be rewritten as it still seems to be looking forward to November 2006. As that time is obviously past and the proposal has not come about, changes need to be made. Information about factors that prevented the implementation and what plans exist for proceeding (new timetables, etc) would be useful. --Khajidha (talk) 15:51, 11 July 2011 (UTC)

Why does Somalia want to join the EAC? They have nothing in common with these countries. They should only be with other Northeast African countries. Will they be accepted? I hope not. http://goobjoog.com/english/?p=9273 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 166.137.244.80 (talk) 21:11, 24 January 2015 (UTC)

The Somalian government sees the EAC as a way to facilitate its already substantial business activities in the Great Lakes region. However, it didn't originally apply to join the organization. What happened was that during the transitional period, one particular politician tried to unilaterally make an "arrangement" to that effect for his own personal gain. A similar shady "arrangement" was attempted to transfer part of Somalia's territorial waters to Kenya; again not for the national interest, but instead for the benefit of a few. Both "arrangements" were later rejected; the former by the EAC itself, and the latter by the Somalian parliament. Fast forward to 2014, and Somalia is now suing Kenya in an international court for attempting to make off with its territorial waters [1]. Whether or not Somalia joins this trading bloc thus remains to be seen. It would probably be better off instead joining the larger COMESA. Middayexpress (talk) 21:39, 24 January 2015 (UTC)

i think they won't join cause they have the igad and the water dispute. They should join the common market thing. What do you think are the odds? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 166.170.35.108 (talk) 21:56, 24 January 2015 (UTC)

The IGAD trading bloc membership indeed makes the EAC rather redundant. However, the Somalian government has been signing all sorts of treaties and membership agreements of late to hasten the reconstruction process (e.g. joining the Arab Planning Institute along with Djibouti [2]), so from its perspective this is just par for the course. Also, the territorial waters lawsuit isn't about water itself, but instead about sovereignty, territorial integrity and natural resource ownership; particularly hydrocarbons. Somalia has the longest coastline in mainland Africa, and thus the most potential off-shore oil reserves. Middayexpress (talk) 17:51, 25 January 2015 (UTC)