Push South Sudan to adapt to EAC rules

Finally, five years after first asking, South Sudan has been admitted to the East African Community (EAC). This week’s admission was long overdue, although not without reservations.

Even upon its admission, Africa’s youngest country remains lacking on several fronts, which are required for admissibility of foreign states into EAC.

The outstanding issues of conformity, which South Sudan has got to clear up, include acceptable principles of democratic and good governance. Others are the rule of law and observance of human rights and social justice.

As things stand in South Sudan, the country is struggling to hold itself together after three years of self-destructive war. According to Amnesty International, this has driven 400,000 South Sudanese into exile.

Besides, South Sudan is still saddled with a huge debt burden running into millions of dollars to Ugandan traders, which it should honour.

The above notwithstanding, South Sudan remains our significant trading partner. The addition of South Sudan to EAC, expands the region’s market to 162 million people. Accordingly, Uganda stands to benefit most from South Sudan.

Currently, Uganda’s annual exports to South Sudan are valued at more than Shs504 billion.

Moreover, the incorporation of South Sudan strengthens several more regional initiatives.

One such being the One-network-area option, which opens up the entire region’s telecoms market without the extra fee for roaming. Another is the planned interstate rail network – the Standard Gauge Railways, which also should open up East Africa’s poorly inaccessible hinterland to great potentials for free movement of goods and services.
So it should be now that EAC governments use the preconditions of acceptability to push South Sudan to cultivate a climate that is trade-friendly.

This requires that EAC and Inter-governmental Authority on Development push South Sudan to stop the war, end mass killings of civilians following its running conflict since December 2013.

Indeed, the other five senior member states of the EAC should underline the rule of law and observance of human rights and social justice for South Sudan so that the country’s more than one million displaced and 100,000 herded into internally displaced people’s camps at UN bases are guaranteed security.

Overall, EAC should impress it upon South Sudan leaders to quickly tidy up their house and form the coalition government. Unless South Sudan builds a good climate for democracy, good governance, the rule of law and observance of human rights and social justice, its presence in EAC would be more of a curse than blessing.
For now, South Sudan is welcome aboard EAC.