The Democratic Republic of Congo has emerged as a crucial export
destination for the East African Community, accounting for around six
per cent of EAC total exports from the region.
President
Felix Tshisekedi, who announced that his country’s economic recovery is
paramount in his first term, has already visited Kenya, Rwanda and
Uganda within the first three months of his presidency, as he moves to
secure trade ties.
In his visit to Rwanda last week, he
highlighted the need for security in the EAC and urged both Rwanda and
Uganda not to escalate the political tensions that have affected free
movement of people and goods.
“I will not go into the
details of what we discussed with both President Yoweri Museveni and
President Paul Kagame, but I have listened to both presidents and I
don't believe there will be an escalation of violence between them,” he
said at the Africa CEO Forum in Kigali.
Violent past
President
Kagame and President Tshisekedi also agreed to put behind them the
violent past of their countries, and cooperate on ending armed violence
perpetrated by armed rebel groups based in eastern DRC.
“My problems in Rwanda end up being the problems of people in DRC and vice versa. We have to address these challenges.
“President
Tshisekedi has made commitments to the people of DRC and the people of
the region. We must believe him and extend our hand of cooperation, as
he does with us, and see how far we can go,” President Kagame said.
DR
Congo is among the top five destinations for Rwandan exports, alongside
Kenya, United States of America, Switzerland and Canada.
The
five accounted for 45 percent of Rwanda’s exports valued at $80.25
million in third quarter of 2018, according to the Rwanda National
Institute of Statistics and Research.
In terms of
re-exports such as fuel, lubricants, food and live animals, DRC is
leading followed by Burundi, Uganda, Qatar and Ethiopia.
DRC is also Uganda’s leading trading partner for informal trade.
Central Corridor
President
Tshisekedi’s visit to both countries was aimed at ensuring that his
country’s imports are not affected by the political stand-off between
Rwanda and Uganda.
The Central Corridor is the shortest
route for Uganda’s exports to the DRC and trucks normally pass through
Rusumo border, which serves Tanzania and Rwanda, or through the
Kabanga-Kobero borders serving Burundi and Tanzania.
Kenya
and Tanzania are now seeking to diversify their markets to other
African countries—particularly DRC and Zambia—as their share of
intra-regional exports declined by 10 percent and 3 per cent
respectively between 2010 and 2014.
Rwanda is keen on
having strong ties with President Tshisekedi in order to mend a history
of troubled relations between the two countries and overcome a growing
number of rebels who pose a threat to both countries.
Kigali’s
ties with former DRC leader Joseph Kabila were often hot and cold, and
now Rwanda hopes that President Tshisekedi will mount pressure against
the FDLR rebels.
“We expect good collaboration with DRC
on this issue of negative forces. We have had issues in the past at the
border but we have to ensure together that we don’t allow those
negative forces to threaten the peace of Rwanda or of eastern DRC,”
Olivier Nduhungirehe, State Minister for East African Community Affairs,
told The East African.
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