South Sudan is edging closer to become a member of East African Community after it emerged that it will be admitted as an observer.

Admission of the war-torn country into the EAC is on the agenda of the 17th Ordinary EAC Heads of State Summit set for February 29 in Tanzania.

Sources privy to the outcome of the final talks on the admission said Juba will stay as an observer until concerns over instability, bad governance, democracy and its human-rights record are addressed.

“Negotiators on both sides agreed that Juba become an observer for a certain period so that it can fix its internal issues on governance, democracy, human rights and insecurity,” a source privy to the negotiations told The EastAfrican.

The source said the Heads of State Summit is expected to determine the period Juba will stay as an observer member of the EAC.

Should South Sudan secure observer status, it will become the first country to be accorded such a status since the EAC was formed in 1999. Observer status allows a country to attend key EAC meetings but it cannot participate in decision-making or vote.

An EAC member country is expected to adherence to universally acceptable principles of good governance, democracy, the rule of law and observance of human rights and social justice. Other conditions are a potential contribution to the strengthening of integration within the EAC, geographical proximity to and interdependence between it and the partner states.

READ: Juba reviews democracy laws in bid for full EAC membership

The head of the Communications Department at the EAC Secretariat, Richard Owora, confirmed that South Sudan’s admission is on the forthcoming Heads of State Summit agenda.

“The fate of South Sudan’s admission bid to the EAC will be determined during the summit,” Mr Owora told The EastAfrican.

Development studies lecturer at Tumaini University Gasper Mpehongwa said the EAC cannot ignore South Sudan given its proximity and economic relations with some EAC partner states — Uganda and Kenya.

Juba provides a huge market for Kenya and Uganda, with many investors from the two countries establishing business enterprises in the youngest country in the world.  

Available records show that Ugandan exports to South Sudan stand at over $200 million annually, whereas Kenya exports products and services worth over $180 million per year.