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East Africa leaders meet as trade wars, underfunding persist

East African Community heads of State (from left) Uhuru Kenyatta, Paul Kagame, Yoweri Museveni, John Magufuli and Burundi's deputy president Gaston Sindimwo at the EAC Summit in Arusha on February 1, 2019. PHOTO | FILBERT RWEYEMAMU

By  Allan Olingo

Nation Media Group

East Africa's heads of state met in Arusha on Friday as a dark cloud of unresolved longstanding trade spats, tariff and non-tariff barriers and crippling financial challenges hang over the bloc.

For Kenya and Tanzania, talks on trade in sugar and tobacco hit a dead end after the EAC Secretariat was accused of failing to resolve the outstanding issue over the past seven months.

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