Prof F.O.C. Nwonwu

Chief Research Specialist and Head

Sustainable Development Research

Africa Institute of South Africa

Venue: TBC

Date: Postponed Indefinitely

Time: 10:00 - 12:30

ABSTRACT

The decade of independence in the 1960s witnessed a peaceful and united East and the Horn of Africa in the scheme and annals of history. United in the common agenda securing regional peace and tranquillity; combating environmental threats and disasters, and investing in trans regional infrastructural development, the region excelled in  education, communication and regional cooperation. The gains from this post-independence cooperation in the region had not been consolidated before the foundations of democracy were rocked and shaken by an avalanche of political upheavals. The Sudanese civil war of 1983 fired the warning salvo of the impending doom in region; the Ethiopia-Eritrea war anchored it between 1998 and 2000; the Rwanda and Burundi  echoed it and climaxed it with the 1994 Rwanda genocide; and the Somalia mayhem that started with the ouster of Siad Bare in 1991 still rages on. Uganda went through a protracted period of political turbulence and instability and is currently fighting political insurgence from the north of the country. The scenario leaves only Kenya, Tanzania and Djibouti as the islands of peace in the sea of turbulence that marks the political landscape of the East Africa region.

This study looks at the East African Economic Community in the light of new and emerging integration and development efforts. Conscious of the need for cohesion and recognising the gradual recession of the dark cloud that had overcast the region and beclouded development, the EAC embarks on new and progressive agendas to revamp development in the region. The challenges facing the regional community in the paradigm shift and the prospects of surmounting them are highlighted analysed. Possible solutions from critical analysis of the situation and from best practices from other regions of Africa are prescribed.