Wednesday afternoon was a memorable day for the youngest country in the world, South Sudan after being admitted as the 6th country into the East African Community bloc.
South Sudan, has been hit by a wave of conflicts from its inception, but a truce was recently reached between president Salva Kirr and rebel leader Riek Machar, now Vice president.
President Yoweri Museveni has hailed the East African Community (EAC) for accepting the new country as a member saying this reminds the community of the three purposes of integration mainly; “How to survive in a competitive world, How we can guarantee our prosperity as a region and how to be secure in this modern world.”
Museveni was last evening speaking during the 17th Ordinary Summit of the East African Community Heads of State which is being held under the theme: “EAC: Advancing Market-Driven Integration” at the Ngurdoto Mountain Lodge, Arusha, in Tanzania.
Museveni’s speech;
“On this day when South Sudan joins the East African Community, we need to remind ourselves of the main purpose of our integration in three words; How to survive in a competitive world; How can we guarantee our prosperity. We are prosperous by buying from each other and; How to be secure in this modern world,” he said adding that China, India and the United States of America were highly competitive while Europe defends itself through NATO despite each individual country being strong.
“Here we are scattered. I thank God that he has given me a long life to see all these things. We must ensure means for the survival of the black people,” he said.
We must strive for prosperity as a way forward. I challenge the summit and other leaders to work towards our security in the modern world. We observed that the developed countries were surviving through NATO.”
With South Sudan joining the East African Community, the regional block’s geographical area is now almost the same size as India.
