Tanzania did not to attend the EAC Heads of State summit to discuss the coronavirus disease pandemic in the region because the issue was a concern for Northern Corridor countries only, according to Minister for Foreign Affairs and East African Co-operation Palamagamba Kabudi.
While addressing the Tanzanian Parliament on May 13, Prof Kabudi said Dar was invited but did not see the need to attend the meeting called by the East African Community (EAC) chairman President Paul Kagame of Rwanda.
The presidents of Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya and South Sudan attended the virtual summit, while Burundi sent a letter saying it was unable to join due to ongoing election campaigns.
“But why should we attend the Northern Corridor meeting? It is their own meeting. That was not an EAC meeting. That is their own agenda and we should not be part of such an agenda,” said Prof Kabudi.
The Northern Corridor comprises the highway from the port of Mombasa crossing over to Uganda, South Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi and Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
Kenya and Tanzania are seen to compete for the lucrative imports gateway to landlocked neighbours. Tanzania’s Dar es Salaam port serves neighbouring EAC countries through the Central Corridor.
“That is why in 2013, former president Jakaya Kikwete took an unprecedented move when he addressed Tanzania’s parliament to explain the country’s disappointment with our neighbours from the Northern Corridor who decided to hold separate meetings,” said Prof Kabudi, referring to the period when the EAC was openly divided between the Coalition of the Willing (CoW), Northern Corridor countries and the Central Corridor states.
President Kagame, in his address, expressed disappointment over the failure by Tanzania and Burundi to attend the meeting.
“We are meeting without some key players. The partner states of Tanzania and Burundi were not able to participate because of their own reasons. The Secretary General of the East African Community could also not avail himself,” said President Kagame.
EAC deputy secretary-general, Christophe Bazivamo, stood in for the Secretarry-General, Liberat Mfumukeko.
The virtual summit was intended to discuss a common approach to addressing the Covid-19 pandemic, whose transmission in the region is now blamed on truck drivers ferrying goods from the port cities to landlocked countries.
Attempts to hold the Heads of State Summit in recent weeks have failed as Burundi, Tanzania and Southern Sudan have failed to confirm attendance.
Burundi has requested to be exempted from all EAC meetings until the May 20 presidential elections.
Virtual conference
Two weeks ago, the Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda presidents held another virtual conference without the other EAC member countries.
The EAC protocol requires that all presidents attend the Heads of State Summit, but President Kagame has suggested that they hold meetings even if only two leaders are present to discuss common measures to tackle the coronavirus pandemic.
“We need to work for our people. If we can’t all work together, the six of us, and have things moving, it doesn’t mean that two, three, four shouldn’t work in these circumstances, to deal with the problems that we have to deal with,” said President Kagame after Tuesday’s meeting.
“Going forward we may also find a solution for the underlying problems that caused this situation. Otherwise I wish to thank you, once again, for finding the time, and treating all these matters as very important,” he added.
Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta, in his address, emphasised the need for collective EAC interventions against the global Covid-19 pandemic.
“A unified stand is what we need to combat this pandemic in the region,” President Kenyatta told his regional peers, adding that contact tracing had helped Kenya to isolate and treat those infected with the virus.
The Consultative Meeting of the EAC Heads of State on Regional Response to Covid-19 & the Free Movement of Goods was convened following the recommendations of a joint consultative meeting of Partner States’ Ministers and Cabinet Secretaries responsible for Health, Trade, Transport and EAC Affairs via a video conference held on May 8, to discuss a regional approach to dealing with the pandemic.
Progress
The meeting convened by Vincent Biruta, the chairperson of the Council of Ministers, and Rwanda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation, discussed the progress made on the facilitation of free movement of goods and services within the region.
It directed EAC partner states to support local production of essential medical products and supplies including masks, sanitisers, soaps, processed food, and ventilators as part of efforts to combat Covid-19 in the region.
“The outcomes of the ministerial meetings of March 25 and May 8 are clear and practical. Implementation of these measures by the East African Community will benefit our entire region,” said President Kagame.
Source: The East African
