Somalia was recently formally admitted into the East African Community, a regional bloc with aspirations for deeper economic and political union. Somalia joins a more expanded bloc with members Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, South-Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The recent admissions into the bloc have drawn criticism, with some analysts arguing that South Sudan, DRC and now Somalia are unstable and would bring instability into an already fragile region. However, others have argued that Somalia’s admission was long due as the people of Somalia are already deeply embedded within the East African Community besides sharing a border with Kenya. Our guest, Dr Sylvanus Wekesa, agrees with the latter. He is a foreign policy expert and a Research Associate at the African Leadership Centre, King’s College London. In a previous episode of the Kenyanist, he helped us understand Kenya’s foreign policy during President Uhuru Kenyatta’s time in office. That episode can be found by following this link https://www.thekenyanist.com/kenyas-foreign-policy-in-uhuru-kenyattas-era/