Somalia formally joins East Asian Community but enormous security challenges remain

Somalia has finally been admitted to the East African Community (EAC) as its eighth member, thirteen years after its original application to join, as the economic bloc seeks to expand free trade across the region.
Somalia was officially admitted to the East African Community (EAC) at the Summit of the East African Community (EAC) Heads of State in Arusha, Tanzania, last Friday (24 November), in a move that the country’s President Sheikh Mohamud praised as “historic”. Mohamud also hailed the admission as a “beacon of hope” for Somalia and mutually beneficial for his country and the EAC, which is widely recognized as one of Africa’s most integrated regional economic communities. With the entry of the fragile Horn of Africa nation, the bloc has expanded its market by a further 17m people to more than 300 potential consumers and gained more than 3,000km of shoreline, presenting great opportunities for the blue economy.
However, others have criticized the admission of Somalia as premature, arguing that the move could portend more security challenges for the bloc as the country is struggling to stem a deadly rebellion by the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab group. “Since the collapse of the Mohamed Siad Barre regime in 1991, cross-border trade with neighboring countries has decreased due to insecurity caused initially by civil war and later by al-Shabaab’s terrorist attacks,” according to a recent report published by the Institute for Security Studies (ISS). “Although there are many benefits to joining the EAC, the depth of Somalia’s security problems raises critical questions about the bloc’s readiness and capacity to ensure peace, security and regional stability,” the ISS report adds.