President Museveni calls for deeper East African integration, warns fragmentation

EL ALAMEIN, Egypt — President Yoweri Museveni has called for deeper economic and political integration among African countries, arguing that stronger regional blocs are essential if the continent is to achieve prosperity, security and greater global influence.
In his speech at the 8th African Union Mid-Year Coordination Meeting in El Alamein, Egypt, on Sunday, Museveni said Africa’s development depended on breaking down barriers between national economies and building larger markets capable of supporting industrial and commercial production.
He pointed to the growth of the East African Community (EAC), which began with Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania when its treaty was signed in 1999 and has since expanded to include Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia.
Museveni said the EAC now provides a market of about 350 million people and described regional integration as critical for African producers who would otherwise quickly outgrow their domestic markets.
He cited Uganda’s growing production of milk, maize, sugar, poultry and cement as examples of commodities that require wider regional and continental markets to sustain investment and create household wealth.
“Prosperity arises from the basic equation of having a wealth creator producing a good or service … and finding a buyer with the money to purchase it,” Museveni said, stressing the need for African households to move from subsistence production into the commercial economy.
He said the EAC’s progress demonstrated the economic benefits of integration, noting that total trade within the bloc rose by 29.1 per cent to $181.6 billion in the year ending June 2026, while intra-EAC trade increased by 20 per cent to $11.3 billion.
According to Museveni, reforms under the EAC’s Single Customs Territory have reduced the cost of doing business by about 70 per cent, while improvements at major transport corridors have significantly reduced the time required to move goods across the region.
He also highlighted the removal of reported non-tariff barriers, the expansion of One-Stop Border Posts and the development of regional customs systems as signs that East Africa is moving towards a more integrated market.
Beyond trade, Museveni said the bloc was making progress in the free movement of people and professional services, agricultural cooperation, infrastructure development and monetary integration.
He cited the EAC Railway Masterplan, the planned Standard Gauge Railway network, the East African Crude Oil Pipeline and regional agricultural initiatives as projects that could strengthen economic links between member states.
But for Museveni, economic integration alone is not enough.
He argued that Africa’s prosperity must be matched by collective strategic security, warning that individual African countries remain vulnerable when acting alone in an increasingly competitive global environment.
“Prosperity without strategic security is dangerous, because wealth that cannot be defended will inevitably be destroyed by external hostile forces,” he said.
Museveni urged African leaders to move beyond what he described as the fragmentation created by colonial-era borders and work towards stronger political unity.
He said the EAC’s long-term objective remains political federation and disclosed that constitutional experts are conducting consultations across member states as part of efforts to prepare a draft Constitution for an EAC Political Confederation by June 2028.
The Ugandan leader also rejected the idea that Africa’s ethnic and linguistic diversity should prevent integration, arguing that the continent’s populations share deep historical and cultural connections.
He said Africa’s estimated 1.4 billion people belong broadly to four major linguistic families, which he presented as evidence of the continent’s underlying historical links.
Museveni concluded by urging African countries to build seamless cross-border infrastructure, expand regional and continental markets and pursue industrialisation through stronger integration.
He said the combination of economic integration through regional blocs and the African Continental Free Trade Area, alongside greater political unity, would give Africa the capacity to protect its interests and secure a stronger place in the global economy.