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Rwanda News Agency/Agence Rwandaise d'Information (Kigali)

East Africa: Region Not Benefiting From Economic Integration

20 November 2007

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Kigali — Despite belonging to several regional economic communities, countries in the East Africa sub-region are still riddled with poverty, conflict and civil strife - and development efforts have to be stepped up or the few gains are washed away, the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) has warned.

Although this sub-region covers 30% of the population of Africa, the UN agency says in a working paper for a three-day expert meeting in Kigali, that it represents just 10% of GDP of the continent. The session ends November 22. The countries include Rwanda, DR Congo, Burundi, Uganda, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Somalia, Comoros, Djibouti, Seychelles and Madagascar. The 13 states are members of either the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), East African Community (EAC), Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), Southern African Development Community (SADC), Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), or Economic Community of Great Lakes Countries (CEPGEL).

Experts from the UN agency are meeting with counterparts from different regional groupings on the continent to work out ways on how the lagging blocks can tap from world wide growth prospects.

The war between Ethiopia and Eritrea, the Somali civil war, internal strife and cross border conflict among Rwanda, Burundi, DR Congo and Uganda - have had adverse effects on stabilization and development efforts, the agency notes. There has been some progress in terms of growth, according to the top UN body that was charged with over seeing integration some 4 decades ago, but poverty has not receded. Malaria remains a problem and HIV prevalence rates running at 10% and above among a population 60-70% living in rural areas - barely able to feed itself. This, the agency says is due to structural imbalances, including fragile ecosystems, soil fertility depletion, and low technological base in an environment characterized by poverty.

The UN also says despite IMF intervention in form of induced stabilization and structural adjustment programs ushering in new economic management models and reduced deficits, progress achieved has failed to be turned into 'meaningful advances in poverty reduction through increased employment, investment and production'.

In spite of this and membership of concerned countries in several regional economic communities, as the agency notes, economic policies continue to be divergent to a certain extent rendering cooperation in intra-regional trade, monetary and financial relations difficult to achieve within the various groupings. High transactions costs on the continent mean the levels of competitiveness are rather low and countries are not in position to cut import and production costs to compete in a rapidly globalizing market. The countries are meeting difficulties in the WTO trade talks and EU-ACP partnership agreement negotiations, notes the UN. "These are taking place amidst inadequate socio-economic infrastructures for health and education systems, transport and communication networks, energy etc."

Women's rights have been furthered, but the UN body says land rights are still denied to women in some countries where 'polices, programmes and budgets are still not engendered'. The UN Economic Commission for Africa has come up with a 3-year business plan (2007-9) that it wants streamlined into the development agendas of regional groupings.

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