BURUNDI'S VIEW ON EAC TRADE NEGOTIATIONS

C O N F I D E N T I A L BUJUMBURA 000549

NOFORN
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/06/2019
TAGS: PINR KE TZ UG BY
SUBJECT: BURUNDI'S VIEW ON EAC TRADE NEGOTIATIONS
(C-AL9-02031)

REF: SECSTATE 102933

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Charles H. Twining for reasons 1.4(b)
and (d).


1. (C) Post sources at Burundi's Ministry of East African
Community Affairs provided the following assessment of the
EAC's September 24-25 meeting in Kampala (reftel):


A. (C) Kenya took charge of the negotiations. Rwanda and
Uganda also asserted themselves, particularly in support of
establishing an EAC common market.


B. (C) Tanzania was perceived as the "millstone" of the
gathering, while Burundi tended to fall in line with other
members' agendas.


C. (C) Post sources could not provide detailed information
on individual members' negotiating strategies. In general,
Kenya advocated for fewer restrictions on the movement of
goods and persons and a general harmonization of labor and
employment policies, while Tanzania remained skeptical of
such wholesale integration.


D. (C) Post sources did not provide names of the actual
negotiators representing each country.


E. (C) Kenya proposed free movement of goods and persons,
mutual recognition of academic and professional
qualifications, free access to land, the right of
establishment (i.e., permanent residence),and the use of
national ID cards for travel within the EAC.


F. (C) Tanzania was opposed from the beginning of the talks
to the final three points listed in sub-paragraph E,
apparently fearing large numbers of economic immigrants from
poorer countries with limited land resources.


G. (C) There appeared to be general agreement on the need to
reduce restrictions on the movement of goods and people for
trade purposes within the EAC, but it was difficult to
separate these issues from larger concerns about land usage
and economic migration.


H. (C) No substantive decisions were made on the agenda
items. Members elected to forward these matters to the EAC's
Sectoral Council on Legal and Judicial Affairs (SCLJA) for
consideration.


J. (C) The next meeting, to include Ministers of Justice and
Attorneys General, will be held in Mwanza, Tanzania on
October 17, to be followed by a summit for heads of state in
Arusha, Tanzania on November 20.


2. (C) COMMENT: Post submits this information with the
caveat that Burundi is perceived -- and perceives itself --
as a junior partner in the EAC. Burundi feels itself
hampered by a lack of both economic resources and Anglophone
diplomats from interacting on an equal footing with other
members. Nonetheless, the observations of Post's
interlocutors at the Ministry of EAC Affairs have generally
been accurate. END COMMENT.
Twining