EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY: INTEGRATION, FEDERATION,

1. (U) The East African Community (EAC) is ready to formally
accept two new members, Burundi and Rwanda, at the upcoming
EAC summit in Kampala on June 18. Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania
have concluded the consultative process on political
federation and a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement
(TIFA) with the USG is being reviewed and considered at the
working level by EAC officials. The EAC is still awaiting
ratification of the Protocol on the Environment and Natural
Resources Management, which was initially endorsed in April


2006. End summary.

Trade and Investment Framework Agreement


--------------------------




2. (SBU) EAC officials have referred the USG draft of a
Trade and Investment Framework Agreement to the EAC Legal
Department, according to Dr. Caleb Weggoro, Head of Sectoral
Policies and Programs at the East African Community
Secretariat. Uledi Mussa, Director of Infrastructure in the

SIPDIS
Ministry of East African Cooperation, also confirmed to
EconOff June 4 that the EAC has the TIFA under consideration
and review. Weggoro noted that since the EAC officials and
lawyers are still reviewing the TIFA language, if the EAC
were to announce that it was considering entering into a
TIFA, officials would need to be prepared to answer questions
on the subject, implying they were not yet ready to do so.



3. (SBU) EconOff emphasized that USTR and Embassy officials
were ready to discuss the TIFA with EAC officials to answer
questions or concerns at the earliest convenient time, either
in person or via a conference call. Weggoro told EconOff
that such consultations could help assure that a TIFA would
be "half and half;" that is, include elements that came from
the EAC as well as from the USG. Weggoro added that, along
with a TIFA, the EAC is "considering other avenues,"
including Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) with the
European Union which hosted a conference in Nairobi on the
subject at the end of May 2007.

New Members


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4. (U) Weggoro confirmed that the preparations for the two
new EAC members are nearly complete; Rwanda and Burundi are
expected to sign accession treaties at the June 18 EAC summit
in Kampala, to become effective July 1. Thereafter, Rwanda
and Burundi will select their representatives to the East
African Legislative Assembly and the East African Community
Court of Justice. Dr. Weggoro stressed that after July 1,
the work begins afresh as the systems of Rwanda and Burundi
are "very different" from those of the founding members of
the EAC. Regarding the language of the EAC, Weggoro said
Rwanda has embraced English; although Burundi has said it
also will accept English, in fact, Burundians do not use
English in practice. Therefore, the EAC will have to use
French in addition to English "at least for a while," said
Weggoro.

Regional Economic Community Integration


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5. (U) Officials from the African regional economic
communities (RECs) held their quarterly meeting on Zanzibar
on May 28 and 29. Key topics under discussion were the
integration of the RECs and Economic Partnership Agreements
(EPAs). Weggoro confirmed it is understood among officials
of the regional economic communities including SADC, COMESA
and the EAC, that there eventually would be one African
Economic Community down the road, noting that the African
Union's charter states the RECs are building blocks of the
Union.


Political Federation


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6. (SBU) Reports on the consultative process regarding
political federation of the EAC are expected to be presented
at the EAC heads of state summit on June 18 and an

announcement may follow regarding the political federation.
In Weggoro's view, political federation is a foregone
conclusion and only the timing is the real issue. Weggoro
said that the National Committees for the Consultative
Process on the East African Political Federation had erred by
framing the issue as whether or not to establish a political
federation. He believed the more accurate question should
have been: how and when to create such a federation.



7. (SBU) Elvis Musiba, President of the Tanzanian Chamber of
Commerce, Industry and Agriculture (TCCIA), told PolCouns
June 3 that he served for three months on the national
committee that polled Tanzanian citizens' views on the
political federation of the EAC. His team was sent to many
rural regions of Tanzania and to the city of Mwanza. Musiba
said the opinions he heard overall indicated that about 70
per cent of the Tanzanians polled were in favor of political
federation with the remainder against or held no opinion.
However, of those in favor, 80 percent stressed there was no
need to "fast track" the political federation: let it
develop "in time." The remaining 20 percent expressed the
view: "the sooner the better" to create an EAC political
federation.

Environment Protocol


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8. (U) The EAC is the first regional economic community in
Africa to develop a Protocol on Environment and Natural
Resources Management. Signed on April 3, 2006, the member
states have yet to ratify the protocol. However, the
national management authorities who participated in its
drafting do not consider the fact the Protocol has not been
ratified to date as opposition or dissatisfaction with the
objectives and substance of the document. Under the
Protocol, national resource management authorities are tasked
to monitor activities in their country on behalf of the EAC
and to share information with other member states.

Comment


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9. (SBU) Dr. Flora Musonda, the EAC Director of Trade,
confirmed to the Embassy June 11 that the Trade and
Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) with the USG is not on
the agenda to be discussed at the upcoming June 18 summit
meeting. While the memberships of Burundi and Rwanda and how
to practically integrate them into the EAC appear to be the
top agenda items for the Kampala meeting, post will continue
to press EAC officials to consult with USTR or the Embassy to
answer any questions or concerns about the implementation of
a TIFA.
DELLY