East African Community

The East African Community (EAC) is a regional bloc headquartered in Arusha, Tanzania. The original EAC existed from 1967 to 1977 between Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania before collapsing amid political and economic disputes. It was revived by the Treaty for the Establishment of the East African Community, signed on 30 November 1999 and entering into force on 7 July 2000, with the same three founding states.

Membership has since expanded to include Rwanda and Burundi (which acceded in 2007), South Sudan (2016), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (2022), and Somalia (admitted in 2023, with accession instruments deposited in 2024). This brings the bloc to eight partner states spanning from the Atlantic-facing Congo basin to the Horn of Africa.

The EAC pursues a four-stage integration agenda set out in the founding Treaty:

• a Customs Union, operational since 2005 with a Common External Tariff;
• a Common Market, launched in 2010, providing for the free movement of goods, persons, labour, services, and capital;
• a Monetary Union, whose protocol was signed in 2013 with a ten-year roadmap toward a single currency;
• and ultimately a Political Federation.

Its principal organs include the Summit of Heads of State, the Council of Ministers, the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA), the East African Court of Justice (EACJ), and the Secretariat led by a Secretary-General. The EAC also coordinates regional infrastructure projects, peace and security cooperation through the EAC Standby Force concept, and has deployed the EAC Regional Force to eastern DRC since 2022 to address armed group activity in North Kivu.

The bloc is recognized by the African Union as one of the eight Regional Economic Communities (RECs) that serve as building blocks of the African Economic Community envisaged under the 1991 Abuja Treaty.