Somalia officially joins the East African Community

Somalia officially joins the East African Community

 Somalia was admitted as the eighth member of the East African Community on Friday, November 24, 2023, just over a year after the Democratic Republic of the Congo joined the bloc. Mogadishu's accession to the bloc was approved by regional leaders during the 23rd Ordinary Summit of Heads of State held in Arusha, Tanzania on the same day after successful negotiations lasting nearly a year.

Outgoing Burundian President Evariste Ndayishimiye said the heads of state agreed to formally admit Somalia into the bloc after a lengthy closed-door meeting that lasted more than five hours. Somalia first expressed its interest in joining the East African Community in 2012 but was rejected due to its internal problems with Al-Shabaab and the lack of a stable legal and political environment at the time.

However, Mogadishu's hopes of joining the regional bloc were reignited when equally troubled South Sudan was admitted in 2016 and then the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which is also suffering from multiple conflicts within its borders, in 2022.

Somalia renewed its attempt to join the bloc after the return of President Mohamud, who began the first attempt to join the East African Community during his first term in 2012. A verification mission was sent in January this year to verify Somalia's readiness to join the bloc.