Tanzania courts DRC to check 'coalition of the willing' AND comments from people on the issue
By THE CITIZEN | Wednesday, October 30
2013 at
17:15
Tanzania's President Jakaya Kikwete. PHOTO | FILE
Tanzania has initiated talks with neighbouring Burundi
and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) with a view to establishing
economic and trade relations following reports of the emergence of a
'coalition of the willing' nations within the East African Community
(EAC).
The country's minister for EAC Affairs, Mr Samuel
Sitta, said Wednesday in Dar es Salaam that Tanzania had thinking hard
after Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda left out the other two members from their
infrastructure talks.
Mr Sitta said economically, it was sensible to
work with DRC now because the country held immense economic potential in
the region.
The minister said plans were in the offing to construct a railway line linking Tanzania to DRC.
“Our problem now is that a road linking us to Goma
in DRC goes through Rwanda. But we will construct the rail to Msongati
from Uvinza,” he said.
He added Burundi would benefit in cutting down
costs since it made more economic sense for the country to import
through the Dar es Salaam port than Kenya's Mombasa port, noting that a
Bujumbura businessman who opts for Mombasa travels 900km more, compared o
the one who uses Dar port.
Give him space
For some months now, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda have
opted to forge ahead with integration agenda in the absence of Tanzania
and Burundi.
The three partners have also debated a protocol to speed up the formation of a political federation.
However, Mr Sitta appeared to be cautious when
reacting to the questions from Members of Parliament, arguing that time
was not yet ripe for the country to take bold steps in reaction to what
other three EAC members were doing.
“It pains if our partners are acting behind our
back. But on this issue, I would like to advice you that we should heed a
counsel by former President Ali Hassan Mwinyi, who said that a best way
of dealing with a liar is to give him space,” he said.
Mr Sitta noted that as part of precaution, the government was now very cautious on its engagements in EAC activities.
“For instance, there is a meeting going on now in
Nairobi and the higher authority in the country has directed the
minister for Foreign Affairs not to attend. Tomorrow there is another
meeting in Burundi whose agendas are similar to what the three countries
are advocating and I have directed the deputy minister (who is in
Bujumbura for another engagement) not to attend,” he said.
Chest-thumping won't help
anyone.Fact is after the railway from Mombasa gets to Rwanda &
Rwanda builds a link to the DRC border, the people who want to use
Mombasa will use it and when TZ builds it's link to DRC the people who
want to use Dar will use it.The one who offers better, faster &
cheaper service will get more business.However, Pres. Kenyatta must
cultivate a good working relationship with DRC.It's a great market to
salivate over.Lots of un-tapped potential. However I like TZ's
strategy on the DRC by offering it's troops to fight M23, the DRC
leadership may feel indebted to them.That was a great move.
Tanzania has done all in its power to derail the EAC projects and now wants to point fingers.
Tanzania tring to start unnecessary rivalry. It will be the biggest loser . Watch as Kigali and Bujumbura economy pass you by!!! Tanzanianians don't deserve that!
Am Kenyan but claiming Rwanda & Burundi economies will pass that of TZ......no way.Let's look at facts
1. Currently TZ's gdp nominal is USD 28.25 billion 2. Rwanda's is USD 7.1 billion 2. Burundi's is USD 2.9 billion
Let's say Rwanda's economy grows by 7 per cent in this year, it's GDP
will be USD 7.6 billion.Before it get's to TZ's level.....will take
quite a number of years.Mind you, TZ's economy is growing on average at
7-8 per cent so the gap keeps widening.Burundi is way off.Now consider
the fact that so much natural resources have been discovered in TZ.It
can only get better & I wish our neighbor well
Where do you get those
projections from? Nobody should be forced into regional integration. If
Tanzania is not moving at the same pace as others let them be. I don't
understand why some are complaining too much about this integration
issue. Even countries that now belong to the "coalition of the willing"
will disagree at some point. By the way, why do we like copying America
in everything? "War against terror," "coalition of the willing" reminds
of President George W. Bush
Tanzania economy is growing
up and up and now it is a land of opportunity because it has vast
richness of agricultural land and it produces surplus from its land and
secondly it has vast minerals taped and untapped and it is the biggest
country in East Africa and that is true it will make cooperation with
Burundi and DRC Congo and that will be the best cooperation than EAC.
From the word go i knew Tz
was not in this business. from the unwillingness to implement EAC trade
agreements to suspicion of Kenyans Tz has always shown that they are an
island. the problem is they cant understand the aggressiveness of other
EA members particularly Kenyans. Again we do more business with UG than
we do with Tz. Let them watch as backs as we grow economically. And they
should not be allowed to export their products through JKIA
