The 29th of March 2022 will always be remembered as a day that the Democratic Republic of Congo was officially welcomed into the East Africa community. The community was formerly made up of three countries in its inception, that is Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania. However, in July 2007, Rwanda and Burundi formally joined the East African community too.
After South Sudan’s independence, the country also later joined the East African community in April of 2016. With that background, the Democratic Republic of Congo has become the seventh country to join the East African community.
However, it should be noted that even though the Democratic Republic of Congo has officially been welcomed into the East African community, it cannot enjoy the privileges of membership until two issues are settled. The first one is the signing of the Treaty of Accession on 14th April 2022 by the current chairman; Uhuru Kenyatta the president of Kenya.
Secondly, for the Democratic Republic of Congo to be fully integrated into the East African community, the country is required to deposit instruments of ratification by 29th September 2022. Once all these needs are met, the Democratic Republic of Congo will be fully integrated into the East African community.
It should also be noted that the Democratic Republic of Congo will be the third french speaking country to join the East African community. However, countries like Rwanda and Burundi have adopted English as their official language too years after they joined the East African community. It is very likely that the Democratic Republic of Congo will also adopt English as an official language on top of French just as Burundi did.