Somalia’s first EALA delegation: A cautious leap into East Africa’s political mainstream
MOGADISHU — When Somalia’s joint parliament rose from a long morning of debate this week to elect nine lawmakers to the East African Legislative Assembly, it closed a chapter that began soon after the clan-based conflicts of the 1990s and the long, halting restoration of a central state.
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The vote marked the first time Somali legislators will sit in the EALA chamber in Arusha alongside delegates from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. For a country that has spent decades outside the formal currents of East African institutional life, the move is at once symbolic and pragmatic: a bid for influence, access and normalcy in a region striving for deeper integration.
Who will speak for Somalia?
The newly elected delegation includes seasoned diplomats and technocrats: a former ambassador to Tanzania, a one-time foreign minister who also led the central bank, an urban policy academic and a senior World Bank adviser who once served as deputy ambassador to Washington. Their profiles send a clear signal that Mogadishu wanted experienced hands in Arusha rather than fresh faces learning on the job.
- Ambassador Zahra Ali Hassan — Somalia’s former envoy to Tanzania
- Dr. Abdisalam Omer — former foreign minister and ex-central bank governor
- Prof. Faisal Roble — urban policy analyst
- Abdirahman Bashir Shariff — senior World Bank adviser, ex-deputy ambassador to the U.S.
- Ilham Ali Gassar — governance and peace-building specialist
“We cannot afford to be spectators,” said one senior lawmaker after the ballot, declining to be named. “Our people’s future in trade, mobility and justice will be decided in these halls.” The comment captures the prevailing mood: a mixture of urgency and guarded optimism.
Beyond symbolism: practical stakes for Somalia
Somalia’s formal steps into the East African Community — it joined the bloc in 2024 — come as the EAC presses on with ambitions that would reshape transportation, trade rules and cross-border governance for more than 300 million people. For Mogadishu, the immediate attractions are clear: access to larger markets, regional investment projects and legal avenues such as the East African Court of Justice.
But the benefits will not come automatically. Integration requires administrative capacity, political consensus and security — areas where Somalia still faces steep challenges. The EALA requires members to meet educational and linguistic criteria and to engage in legislative oversight across a range of complex policy fields, from customs harmonization to environmental standards. That will test the federal government’s ability to coordinate with regional administrations and the diaspora, which has been a driver of post-war reconstruction.
Analysts say the nomination of a judge to the East African Court of Justice — a step Somalia is expected to take soon — will be another litmus test. A seat on the court would give Somalia a formal mechanism to contest or defend regional legal interpretations, but it would also commit Mogadishu to accepting court rulings that may touch on sensitive domestic matters.
Security, sovereignty and the limits of integration
Few issues loom larger for Somalia than security. Al-Shabaab retains the capacity to disrupt trade corridors and intimidate communities in the countryside. Integration into the EAC’s frameworks presumes a baseline of stability that Somalia is still fighting to establish. Will regional infrastructure, such as roads and ports, be secure enough to realize trade gains? Will border management reforms be possible while insurgent groups control parts of the hinterland?
There’s also the thorny question of sovereignty. For a nation whose very idea of territorial authority has been contested, the prospect of supranational laws and dispute mechanisms can look both liberating and risky. How will Somali leaders explain to communities accustomed to clan-based authority that some decisions will be influenced by external institutions? Can Nairobi, Addis Ababa and Dar es Salaam convince wary Somalis that the gains outweigh the ceding of certain national prerogatives?
Regional politics and wider geostrategic currents
Somalia’s entry into the EAC is happening at a moment when East Africa is drawing intensified global interest. China, the Gulf states and Western partners have massive infrastructure and security portfolios across the region. Membership in the EAC gives Somalia another platform for negotiating these relationships collectively rather than piecemeal — potentially strengthening its bargaining position.
Yet regional blocs can also amplify rivalries. Landlocked economies within the EAC may compete for Somali port access and trade routes. Ethiopia’s own regional ambitions, though separate from the EAC as a non-member, will influence the dynamics of trade corridors that run through the Horn. In short, Somalia joins a crowded room where strategic alignments are constantly being redrawn.
What comes next?
At home, the Somali delegation’s success in Arusha will depend on its ability to convert presence into policy wins. Will the EALA members come back with measurable gains — tariff concessions, infrastructure commitments, training programs — or will their tenure risk becoming another exercise in diplomatic pageantry?
For ordinary Somalis, the question is whether this step will translate into cheaper imports, better jobs, safer travel and firmer legal protections. Integration has a human face: pastoralists who cross borders, fishermen whose catches crisscross national waters, students seeking scholarships and traders trying to scale small enterprises into regional businesses. The promise of a single economic space matters most when it is felt in market stalls, schoolrooms and clinics.
The election in Mogadishu is a necessary, not sufficient, move toward full incorporation into East Africa’s institutions. It is both an act of faith and a pragmatic bet — a credential for a country that has sought for years to be treated as part of the region’s political family. Now comes the harder work: translating membership into material improvements while managing the risks of deeper integration.
Will Somalia’s presence in Arusha tilt the balance toward greater stability and prosperity — or will it expose the limits of regional frameworks when confronted with raw, unresolved domestic challenges? The answer will unfold in laws, courthouses and contested markets as much as in ceremonial votes.
By Ali Musa
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
