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New East African Community Launched in Arusha
The new East African Community (EAC), which includes Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda, was officially launched Monday in Tanzania's northern town of Arusha.
Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa, Kenyan President Daniel Arap Moi and their Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni performed the formal inauguration of the community.
In carefully crafted speeches delivered in the region's common language of Kiswahili, the three presidents pledged to lay firm foundations for cooperation and build a new, stronger and more prosperous East Africa.
"We, your three leaders, collectively commit ourselves to implement this agreement with all our abilities," President Mkapa said to thousands of people who gathered at the Sheikh Amri Abeid Stadium in Arusha, where the EAC secretariat is based.
President Moi, who was also Chairman of the First Summit of East African Heads of State which preceded the launching of the ceremony, called for a patriotic reawakening of the masses.
"There's strength in unity. Let us rededicate ourselves to the attainment of a truly united East Africa," the Kenyan president said.
Ugandan President Museveni stressed the importance of the establishment of a common East African market which would give the region a competitive advantage as a tourist and investment destination.
"By breaking down the barriers, the movement of people across our borders will be facilitated and increased trade made possible, " he said.
Secretary General of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) Salim Ahmed Salim, who was among the dignitaries attending the ceremony, described in his speech the rebirth of the EAC as a " rare and historic day for Africa".
"I believe that the re-establishment of the community will strengthen peace and stability in East Africa. The launching of the community is not just the success of East Africa, it is the success of the whole of Africa," Salim said, adding that the revival of the community was a challenge for the achievement of the envisaged United States of Africa.
Some of the goals of the revived EAC include the attainment of a customs union, common market and, subsequently, a monetary union before forging a political federation, the pinnacle of the integration bid.
The three heads of state signed the treaty for reestablishing EAC in Arusha in November 1999, before it was discussed and passed in their respective parliaments.
The EAC collapsed in 1977, nearly ten years after its birth, partly due to a divergence in economic policies among the three countries.
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