On 30 November 1999, at Arusha in Tanzania, the Republic of Kenya, the Republic of Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania signed the Treaty for the Establishment of the East African Community. The original authentic text is English; article 137 makes English the official language of the Community and provides that Kiswahili shall be developed as a lingua franca. It is not the 1967 Treaty for East African Co-operation, which was dissolved in 1977.

The preamble recalls the collapse of the Community in 1977, the Mediation Agreement signed at Arusha on 14 May 1984, the Permanent Tripartite Commission of 30 November 1993 and its Secretariat of 26 November 1994; on 29 April 1997 the Heads of State directed that the Commission agreement be upgraded into a treaty. Article 2: the Contracting Parties establish among themselves an East African Community and, by protocols, an East African Customs Union and a Common Market as transitional stages and integral parts. Article 4: within each Partner State the Community has the capacity of a body corporate; it is represented by the Secretary General.

Article 3: the Partner States are Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania and any other country granted membership; the matters to be taken into account include acceptance of the Community, good governance, geographical proximity and a market-driven economy. Observer status for a foreign country is the prerogative of the Summit. Article 5: the objectives are to widen and deepen co-operation; the Partner States undertake to establish a Customs Union, a Common Market, subsequently a Monetary Union and ultimately a Political Federation. Article 6: mutual trust, sovereign equality, good neighbourliness, good governance and equitable distribution of benefits. Later accessions are not this day’s event.

Article 9 establishes the organs: the Summit, the Council, the Co-ordination Committee, Sectoral Committees, the East African Court of Justice, the East African Legislative Assembly, the Secretariat, and such other organs as the Summit may establish. Article 8: each Partner State shall, within twelve months from the date of signing, secure legislation conferring legal capacity on the Community and the force of law on its acts; Community organs, institutions and laws take precedence over similar national ones on matters pertaining to the implementation of the Treaty. Article 7: people-centred and market-driven co-operation, subsidiarity, variable geometry, complementarity and asymmetry.

Article 136: the headquarters shall be in Arusha; the Council may establish offices in the Partner States and elsewhere. Article 138: the Community shall enjoy international legal personality. Article 139: on the appointed day the Tripartite Commission and its Secretariat cease to exist. Article 144: perpetual duration. Article 145: withdrawal requires a National Assembly resolution supported by not less than two-thirds of members entitled to vote and twelve months’ written notice to the Secretary General. Article 150: amendment by agreement of all the Partner States, adopted by the Summit, and in force when ratified by all the Partner States.

Article 151: protocols, approved by the Summit on the recommendation of the Council, shall be signed and ratified and form an integral part of the Treaty. Article 152: the Treaty shall enter into force upon ratification and deposit of instruments of ratification with the Secretary General by all Partner States, on 7 July 2000. Article 153: the Secretary General is the depository, transmits certified true copies and shall register the Treaty with the Organisation of African Unity and the United Nations. It is not the amendments of 14 December 2006 and 20 August 2007.

Image: Arusha International Conference Centre; Vince Smith, 6 November 2008; CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons. Cropped to 16:9.

Source consulted: East African Community Treaty. Treaty text: Treaty for the Establishment of the East African Community, Arusha, 30 November 1999.