Lawmakers representing Somalia in the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) are scheduled to be sworn in on Monday, March 16, in Arusha, Tanzania, according to sources familiar with the process.
The ceremony will formally seat Somalia’s nine representatives in the regional parliament, moving the country from mere participation to full institutional integration within the East African Community (EAC). Once sworn in, Somalia will not only benefit from EAC policies but will also participate directly in drafting and shaping the bloc’s legislation.
The Somali delegation to EALA consists of nine lawmakers: Hussein Hassan Mohamed, Ilhaan Ali Gasar, Faysal Abdi Roble, Abdisalaam Hadliye, Abdirahman Bashir Sharif, Fahma Ahmed Nur, Fadumo Abdullahi, Abukar Mardaadi and Sahra Ali Hassan.
Their swearing-in follows months of delay after the leadership of the East African Legislative Assembly initially declined to administer the oath due to Somalia’s failure to settle its mandatory financial contributions to the East African Community.
Sources say Somalia has yet to pay its annual membership dues for 2025. However, the deadlock was resolved through a political understanding reached among regional leaders during a summit held in Tanzania on March 7, where Somalia was granted a deadline to meet its financial obligations.
The swearing-in represents the latest milestone in Somalia’s accession to the regional bloc. On November 24, 2023, the heads of state of the East African Community formally admitted the Federal Republic of Somalia as the bloc’s eighth partner state.
With Somalia’s entry, the EAC now comprises eight member countries: Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Somalia.
Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, the President of Somalia, appears to have secured a significant milestone in the country’s regional integration drive. The development is widely seen as one of the more notable foreign policy achievements of his current term.
Officials at the presidential office are expected to highlight the development as a key political success under President Mohamud’s leadership following his recent diplomatic engagements in the region.