The presidents of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda will on Monday, January 15, inaugurate the East African Community (EAC), an economic and political union for the three countries.
The launch of the community in the northern Tanzania town of Arusha will be a mere formality after the 1999 signing of treaty establishing the EAC.
The formal inauguration had been postponed twice since November, an indication that details were still being worked out. Tariff harmonization has been a major bone of contention because of discrepancies in wealth and development among the three neighbors.
Uganda and Tanzania believe that Kenya, by far the stronger economy of the three, stands to benefit the most from the EAC's zero-tariff arrangement.
Presidents Daniel arap Moi of Kenya, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Tanzania's Benjamin Mkapa are expected to jointly inaugurate the EAC.
The EAC treaty, signed in November 1999, sets out the principles of economic, monetary and political union and provides for common action on the movement of people and goods between member countries and on transport, tourism and telecommunications.
It replaces the East African Cooperation, set up in 1994 in an earlier vain attempt to harmonize tariffs and commercial practices as well as the free movement of people and capital.
In the early 1960s, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda established the East African Common Services Organization, and in 1967 they established the first East African Community. But the formation broke up a decade later because of political and economic divergences.
Presidents Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Pierre Buyoya of Burundi, whose countries have applied to become members of the EAC, are also expected to attend the inaugural ceremonies on Monday. —(AFP)
© Agence France Presse 2000
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
