Rwanda, Burundi set to join east African economic bloc

ARUSHA, Tanzania Rwanda and Burundi are set to join an east African economic bloc, a top East African Community official said Friday.

East African Community heads of state will make a final decision when they meet in Tanzania's commercial capital, Dar es Salaam, on Nov. 30.

That is expected to be a formality because the Rwanda and Burundi applications have been on the table for several years and the two countries already have observer status at the East African Community. Rwanda completed signing all the necessary documents on Oct. 9 and Burundi Oct.

11.

Their applications to join the East African Community had not been acted on for several years as the original members worked to get the five-year old organization on its feet and set up a customs union, said Juma Mwapachu, the East African Community secretary-general. "Rwanda and Burundi will boost trade and investments for the region's 110 million people who are monetarily very poor, but are endowed with tremendous potential in agriculture, minerals and tourism," Mwapachu said.

The majority of east Africans are living on a dollar a day.

Richard Sezibera, Rwanda's lead negotiator, told The Associated Press, "Integration is a panacea for the region's economic and social advancement." Jean Rigi, Burundi's lead negotiator, said, "The entry of my country is natural because of historical ties .

.. we were left behind because of our own wars, but we are determined to move forward.

"

Burundi only last year got its first democratically elected government after 12 years of conflict and Rwanda has been working to rebuild following its devastating 1994 genocide that saw more than 500,000 people killed. Following the upheavals in those countries, though, hundreds of thousands of Rwandans and Burundians sought and got refuge in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, the like the original members of the East African Community. While Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania share a common British colonial legacy, Rwanda and Burundi were colonized by Belgium.

The East African Community's most active bodies are its secretariat and customs union, but it also has a court and parliament. On Oct. 13, the presidents of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania launched national consultations on the creation of an East African federation that is proposed to have a rotating presidency, but separate national governments with a common currency and market.

The East African Community is a 2001 revival of the economic bloc formed after independence from Britain in the early 1960s. That original bloc collapsed in 1977 because of internal bickering.