Regional Integration Is Inevitable: Two Things Can Derail It

As the United States picks up the pieces from Hurricane Sandy one thing we should take note in this part of the world is not how the authorities and people responded to the hurricane, which in many respects until last year was unheard of in places like New York and greater northeast of the United States but how countries like Cuba, the Bahamas and Haiti responded to the hurricane. We should ask ourselves if a similar weather event were to hit the coast of East Africa, would we be prepared for it? Given the severity and impact of recent extreme weather events – scorching drought in the US food belt, Hurricane Sandy and the one in the Indian Ocean that Sandy overshadowed in the mainstream press – it is hard to deny the reality of global climate change.

A less dramatic slow-moving event, but one that is arguably just as important for people’s long-term welfare is the reality of East African integration. The regional economic integration process is inevitable, despite skepticism about the wisdom of the monetary union and political federation. The social and economic integration of five partner states of the East African Community (EAC) is accelerating. Like climate change, regional integration is already here. How prepared are we for it?

Climate Change is the New Constant

Climate change needs to be a part of our political discourse; we can never be fully prepared from natural disasters but we can at least have structures in place that can help and support East Africans in recovering from natural disasters.

Perhaps one of the biggest misconceptions about climate change and global warming is the idea that the planet is ‘heating up.’ In fact, the best explanation we have read about climate change and the consequences of global warming is that we will have regular weather but on steroids. This means our rainy seasons will see a lot more rain, resulting in more floods such as the ones we saw in Dar es Salaam in 2011 and Rwanda last month. We will see longer periods of drought and our hot dry seasons will be hotter and dryer. The events and impacts will be magnified. This is something we must understand and prepare for.

East Africa’s record in preparing for and responding to natural disasters have not been good. The Greater Horn of East Africa (GHEA) is second only to Southeast Asia, as one of the most disaster prone regions in the world. Sadly, we have been better at reacting to natural disasters rather than anticipating them. We should anticipate more natural disasters, especially on the East African coast. The 2004 earthquake and tsunami in Southeast Asia should serve as a warning. While it was hard to imagine that the coastlines of Somalia, Kenya and Tanzania could be affected by a seaquake whose epicenter was many thousands of miles away, some 80 people died when the effects of the tsunami wave reached Somalia, Kenya and Tanzania. Earlier this year the coastal cities of Dar es Salaam and Mombasa panicked due to warnings of a potential tsunami hitting the coast. The traffic chaos in the streets of Dar es Salaam showed how utterly unprepared we are.

Acknowledging the reality of climate change and being prepared to deal with the extreme weather events that it will generate is vital for promoting human security in the region.

Between Hard and Soft Security

When we think of security and East Africa, the first instinct is always to think about hard security, terrorism, al-Shabab, Somalia, separatist groups etc. We hardly think of human security and the challenges this brings to the long-term stability of the region. Security ought to be looked from a dual prism of state (hard) security as well as human (soft) security. Focusing exclusively on hard security issues at the expense of soft security dissolves the youthful human capital advantage enjoyed by East Africa. The immediate consequences are seen amongst the youth of East Africa and the greater African continent. It is estimated that in less than three generations, 41% of the world’s youth will be African. But how can the region exploit this clear demographic advantage when many of the youth are uneducated, illiterate and malnourished?

The current tensions in Zanzibar demonstrate the consequences of ignoring ‘soft’ security. Once could argue that not paying attention to human security and improving human development is what has led to the current political unrest and tensions we have recently seen in the isles. When human and economic development has been stagnant for as long as it has been in Unguja and Pemba, young people are often left choosing between narcotic fatalism and violent extremism.

Leadership: The X-Factor

How the region handles these two critical issues at the end of the day is up to how the leadership of the region prioritizes them. In September 2012, Mo Ibrahim told the Wall Street Journal, that “Africa doesn’t need help, doesn’t need aid. It’s a very rich continent. There is no justification for us to be poor” The heart of the problem is “governance-the way Africans govern themselves. Without good governance, there’s no way forward.” What Mr. Ibrahim is referring to is what I like to call the X-Factor in the future of East Africa that will determine whether the challenges of security and ecology derail the regional integration process or not.

If the region’s leaders do not take the environment and ecology seriously then we will be caught flatfooted when disaster hits and overwhelmed when our human security is shattered. The episodic bouts of political violence in Kenya, mounting politico-religious tensions in Tanzania, the delicately balanced peace in Burundi and the forthcoming round of high-stakes elections and leadership transitions in all five East African Community countries mark a critical moment in the region.

East Africa’s elite could take comfort in the high, positive economic growth rates, expanding intra-regional and global trade, and the rising global profile of the region. However, the hitherto relatively smooth ride towards greater regional integration trend can be derailed if we take our ecological and human security for granted.

Ahmed Salim and Aidan Eyakuze work with the Society for International Development, organizers of the first East Africa Future Day.

To find out more about Future Day click here

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Ahmed is currently finishing up his Master of International Affairs at Columbia University focussing on international security policy and Africa. Ahmed’s interest and focus is primarily on politics and the intersection between security and development in Africa. Prior to Columbia, Ahmed finished his undergraduate degree in 2008 at Lehigh University with a BA in International Relations and Africana Studies. Ahmed was born in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania but spent most of his life in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where he was exposed to the potential as well as the shortcomings of politics and development in Africa. Currently Ahmed is waiting to pursue a career in political risk consulting. Ahmed writes for Vijana FM with a focus on politics in both Tanzania and Africa.

This post has 4 Comments

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  1. I think what you say about climate change preparedness applies to any kind of disaster including war, (military) accidents, man-made failures of infrastructure, etc.

    But I also think that TZ is caught up with dealing with many different disasters at the same time (eg: education, health, freedom of press, etc.) without mitigating the risk of any one disaster completely. We are leaving the door too wide open for unwanted risks to enter.

    How do we get to a balance of addressing both current and future risks without compromising tax money, citizen needs and “peace”?

  2. I think the trouble is we haven’t even thought about long term challenges in that regard, have we really thought about contingency plans in case the weather/environment goes to the extreme? If you recall, when we had the ‘tsunami’ scare earlier this year, a lot of people were stuck on salendar bridge in traffic! What does that say?

    I also think we sometimes fail to make the connection between climate change and hard security/conflict. Perhaps the sample size is not significant but there will come a time where we will fight each other over resources that we think are always going to be around such as water/food and most definitely land.

    We do have a laundry list of problems, but what country doesn’t. We just need to start addressing them at all levels from civil society to the government.

  3. KWA KWELI NAWASHANGAA SANA WANAOSEMA UWEZEKANO WA NCHI ZA JUMUIYA YA AFIKA MASHARIKI KUTUMIA SARAFU MOJA YA FEDHA NA PIA KUW ANA SOKO LA PAMOJA HUKU WANANCHI WENGI WAKIW AHAWAJAPATA ELIMU JUU YA MANUFAA YA MUUNGANO HUO…HEBU WATAWALA WETU TOENI ELIMU HIYO KWE AJAMIII ILI JITIHADA HIZO ZISIONEKANE NI ZA WATU WENYE SUTI NA VIPARA KICHWANI HUKU WAKULIMA,WAFUGAJI NA HATA WAVUVI WAKIACHWA BILA FAIDA ZAKE.

    pIA,TOENI ELIMU JUU YA UWEKEZAJI MNAOTIA SAHIHI MIKATABA KILA MARA ISIJETOKEA KAMA WANANCHI WA MTWARA WALIVYOANDAMANA KUDAI GAS ILIYOVUMBUKLIWA HUKO,IVUNWE HUKO HUKO BADALA YA KULETWA DAR TNEN IRUDISHWE HUKO KAMA PRODUCT
    inshallah

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