Renewed fighting dims S. Sudan’s bid to join EAC

The renewed fighting in South Sudan is once again set to delay its bid to join East African Community trading bloc as the region’s ministers prepare to review the application lodged two years ago.

The EAC council of ministers will on Monday meet in Arusha ahead of the heads of state summit that will deliver a verdict on South Sudan’s membership quest.

The ministers will base their decision on a report prepared by a verification team from the EAC Secretariat that was sent to South Sudan in late February.

A Kenya official with knowledge of the report reckons that South Sudan’s application will be rejected because a ceasefire signed on January 23 failed.

“We expect South Sudan’s application to be rejected again this year because of the current conflict,” the Kenyan government official who sought anonymity told the Business Daily on Wednesday.

“Otherwise, the ministers would expose themselves to legal battles in the East African Court of Justice if they admit South Sudan in violation of EAC treaty as suggested in some quarters.”

Under the EAC Treaty, the Council of Ministers can only admit States with compatible social and economic policies into the bloc if satisfied of their progress in building a market-driven economy, ability to strengthen region’s economy and geographical proximity.

Such states must also prove their adherence to “universally acceptable” principles of good governance, democracy, rule of law, respect for human rights and social justice.”

The EAC has already flagged the council of ministers meeting. 

“The decision-making policy organ (Council of Ministers) is expected to among others, consider progress of negotiations on the admission of the Republic of South Sudan into the Community,” the EAC secretariat said in a statement on Wednesday.

More than one million people have fled their homes since fighting erupted in the world’s youngest country in December between troops backing President Salva Kiir and soldiers loyal to his sacked vice-president, Riek Machar.

The fighting has exacerbated ethnic tensions between Mr Kiir’s Dinka people and Machar’s Nuer. Negotiations between the Kiir government and rebels failed since the January 23 signing of the ceasefire.

The killing of hundreds of men, women and children in the oil hub of Bentiu, which was seized by the rebels a week ago, has exacerbated ethnic tensions between the Dinka people and the Nuer.

The UN base, guarded by 500 peacekeepers, has come under rocket fire. Some 58 people were killed and another 98 injured, including two Indian peacekeepers, the UN mission said.

READ: South Sudan crisis alarms Kenya banks over loan defaults

South Sudan, Somalia and Sudan first applied for EAC membership in 2012. While Sudan would not qualify because it shared no borders with any of the EAC states, the two other states were handed more time to set up rule-based political economy.

Despite its internal troubles, South Sudan has shown strong affinity to work with EAC states, signing joint infrastructure deals with Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda.

Together with Ethiopia, it is a party to Lamu Port Corridor development and has signed expressed willingness to work with Kenya and its landlocked neighbours in setting up transnational railways, roads, oil export pipelines and oil refinery.

Similarly, a number of Kenyan firms — among them financial services providers like Britam, Co-operative Bank, Resolution Health, KCB, UAP Insurance and Equity Bank — have established operations in South Sudan.

The KCB Group has been forced to close down four branches in Bor, Malakal, Bentiu and Malaka out of the 21 branches that the bank has opened in South Sudan.

Like governments, the Kenyan firms are bullish about South Sudan.

“We have seen more difficult times in South Sudan than the conflict that began last year.” says KCB Group chief executive Joshua Oigara.