Kagame, EAC presidents gather in Arusha

ARUSHA - The East African Community (EAC) Summit will today, August 20, decide whether or not to amend the community’s treaty. A press statement posted on the community’s website says that the summit, to be attended by Presidents Paul Kagame, Pierre Nkurunziza of Burundi, Uganda’s Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, Mwai Kibaki (Kenya) and Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania. The Director of Cabinet in the President’s Office, Maj. Gen. Frank Mugambage confirmed Kagame would attend the EAC meeting. The Heads of State are expected to guide the EAC Council of Ministers and the East African Legislative Assembly on the way forward on the treaty. The treaty is bound to be amended due to the expansion of the bloc. EAC became a five-member bloc when Rwanda and Burundi signed the accession treaty in June. “Our meeting will also consider other matters which the Council of Ministers would be bringing to the attention of the Summit and seek the guidance of the Heads of State, namely the Report of the High Level Task Force on the Amendment of the Treaty for the Establishment of the East African Community,” Eriya Kategaya, Uganda’s First Deputy Premier and Minister for EA Affairs, said on Friday. Kategaya who chairs of the Council of Ministers was opening of the ministers’ 16th Extra-Ordinary Meeting in Arusha. At the fourth Extra-ordinary Summit in Nairobi in December 2006, the Heads of State considered and adopted the proposals by the Council of Ministers for amendment of some provisions of Chapter Eight of the Treaty for the establishment of the EAC. Additional reporting by Felly Kimenyi in Kigali

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Kagame, EAC presidents gather in Arusha