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During the 21st Extraordinary Summit of the Heads of State of the East African Community (EAC) held in Bujumbura, Burundi, the report on the verification of Somalia’s application to join the EAC was adopted. The summit instructed the Council of Ministers and EAC Secretariat to initiate talks with Somalia and provide progress reports at the next regular summit. Somalia had submitted its application in 2012, but the verification process was delayed for various reasons.

The Report of the Verification of the Application of Somalia to Join the Community was adopted during the 21st Extraordinary Summit of the Heads of State of the East African Community held in Bujumbura, Burundi on 31^st May 2023

The Summit instructed the Council of Ministers and EAC Secretariat to begin talks with Somalia right away and report their progress to the following regular summit of the EAC’s head of state. In 2012, Somalia submitted its initial application to the East African Community. The verification trip, however, was delayed for a number of reasons.

The Council was instructed to swiftly fast-track the verification exercise in accordance with the EAC Procedures for admission of new members into the EAC and report to the 23rd Ordinary Meeting of the Summit by the EAC Heads of State at the 22nd Ordinary Summit.

The verification mission to determine Somalia’s fitness for membership in the Community was initiated by the EAC on January 25 2023. Establishing the country’s level of compliance with the requirements for admitting foreign countries as specified in the Treaty for the creation of the EAC was the goal of the verification team, which was composed of specialists from the EAC Partner States.

Kenya is the only EAC Partner State with whom Somalia has shared borders. However, all of the EAC Partner States and Somalia have substantial historical, linguistic, economic, and sociocultural ties. The area will use Somalia’s approximately 3,000 km of national coastline, which connects Africa to the Arabian Peninsula, to boost intraregional trade.

If Somalia is approved to join the EAC by the EAC Heads of State Summit, it will become the eighth member of the EAC Partner States after Burundi, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Tanzania.

The EAC Summit decided to implement a new organisational design with only two Deputy Secretaries General to support the Secretary General, who also acts as the Head of the Secretariat.

In addition, Lady Justice Anita Mugeni of Rwanda was appointed by the summit to serve as vice president of the East African Court of Justice (EACJ). Justice Mugeni will succeed Lady Justice Sauda Mjasiri, a Tanzanian judge who serves as the court’s vice president and appellate division judge. Her term ends on June 19^th 2023.

With effect from June 20^th 2023, the Summit selected Justice Omar Othman Makungu of Tanzania as a Judge of the EACJ Appellate Division. The Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Justice Kayembe Kasanga was also appointed by the Summit as a judge in the court’s First Instance Division, effective as of May 31^st 2023.