Is it a lost case for South Sudan?

Arusha. The beginning of November last year saw one of the high level missions to the East African Community (EAC) headquarters from an African country.  The delegation comprised 10 ministers, deputy speaker of the National Assembly, chairpersons of various committees of the assembly, undersecretaries, and director generals of various parastatal organisations, among others.

They came all the way from South Sudan, a newly-independent African country, with one message to convey: We cannot wait to join the EAC.

South Sudanese minister for Finance, Commerce, Investment and Economic Planning Aggrey Tisa Sabuni led the team whose members’ heights were noteworthy. South Sudanese are believed to be among the world’s tallest people.

“The purpose of our mission is to have an in-depth exposure to the EAC headquarters, organs and institutions of the community as well as assess the requirements for our country in the negotiations to join the EAC”, he said.

 A verification committee from the EAC Secretariat had been to Juba mid 2012 to establish the country’s level of conformity with the criteria for admission of foreign countries into the EAC.

During its last meeting here on August 31, that year, the EAC Council of Ministers, which is the policy organ of the community, approved the negotiations with the Republic of South Sudan to join the EAC.

The new nation, which has increasingly tilted closer to East Africa even before independence from Khartoum, became independent on July 9, 2011, and until recently; some observers believed its admission to EAC was only a matter of time.

During the last EAC Heads of State Summit in Kampala in November last year, it was observed that, indeed, negotiations for the Juba admission into the bloc were on gear, as the negotiation team had been formed.

According to the communiqué issued at the end of the regional leaders’ meeting, a decision on the admission would be made by the extraordinary Heads of State Summit in April, this year. 

The big question now is: Will all these materialise now that South Sudan recently plunged into a bloody conflict not even seen during the many years it was under the Khartoum authorities?

The bad signs are not only about the country missing some of the vital criteria for nations intending to join the bloc. Many East Africans, mainly Kenyans and Ugandans, recently fled the country en masse.

 There are already fears that with the situation continuing, companies from the bloc with investments there may pull out and, therefore, deny Africa’s newest nation few prospects as an investment destination.

Some analysts believe a recent peace deal reached by the Juba government and Dr Machar’s rebels would be short-lived given the nature of the conflicts.

“Negotiations have to continue to iron out the deep-rooted tribal differences. If this is not done, it will be like any other peace pact reached in the past”, warned Mr Elipokea Urio, the president of the Tanzania Youth Development Network (TYDN).

The main problem haunting Africa’s youngest nation was tribalism which ignited the recent violence in which over 10,000 are reported killed and over 750,000 displaced, according to recent estimates.

A business executive with the Arusha-based seed company Frank Wenga said what is happening in South Sudan was a political crisis “with an ethnic dimension” pitting mainly the Dinka and Nuer, the main ethnic groups aligned to President Kiir and Dr Machar, respectively.

He said it was “very unfortunate” that while the rest of the world is integrating for economic interests, the people of South Sudan are fighting over tribal dominance.

He implored on the leaders there to focus their energies on tapping the vast oil resources which can make their country economically stable instead of fighting amongst themselves.

Sirili Akko, an executive officer with the Tanzania Association of Tour Operators (Tato), a powerful lobby group in the hospitality industry based here, welcomed the peace deal struck in the Ethiopian capital and brokered by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (Igad), saying:

“The ceasefire agreement has long been overdue. The human life has value than fighting for political dominance”.

He, however, castigated AU for failing to resolve the crisis before it reached a magnitude in which thousands of lives were lost. He official argued that AU needed to create a joint military force that should address such crisis.  Another key figure in the hospitality industry in Arusha, Mr Fred Maina, said he supported the ceasefire agreement signed in Addis Ababa. “If there is peace in South Sudan, there is peace in the entire East African region”.

He described South Sudan as a young democracy with ample opportunities for growth in investments and business enterprises.

He insisted, however, that the peace deal struck in Addis Ababa recently should be lasting and not short-lived as many analysts fear.