Somalia has been rejected to join the East African Community regional bloc after failing to meet the eligibility criteria, reports.
Three years ago, Somalia first applied to join the regional integration but have not been given the green light due to unrevealed reasons.
Somalia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdisalam Hadliye insisted that a committee from the organization will soon visit the country to assess the country’s readiness to join the bloc.
‘’They will visit here [Somalia] in April to assess whether we are eligible to join the organization. I believe that we are able to fulfill the requirements and reap the benefits,’’ he said in an interview with the BBC Somali Service.
Mr Hadliye strongly denied that the members of EAC denied Somalia’s application due to the security situation of the country.
According to the treaty establishing the EAC, new members are admitted if they respect the principles of democracy, rule of law, accountability, transparency and social justice.
The treaty also says the countries must, besides being geographically near any of the existing members, practise “equal opportunities, gender equality as well as the recognise, promote and protect rights in accordance with the provisions of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.”
On the same day Somalia’s application had been denied, the EAC members approved the new membership of war-ravaged South Sudan.
HM
