WHILE tomorrow is the Day of the East African Community (EAC), the Community has been described as having greater economic, political and social benefits for member countries than it was before it was re-established on November 30, 1999.

Activists and defenders of human rights and analysts of political, economic and social issues, said this yesterday when they spoke to HabariLEO East Africa about the celebration of the day.

They have said that the EAC has contributed significantly to strengthening peace, reducing conflicts and finding various ways to end conflicts among member countries as it is doing now to deal with the crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Gabriel Mwang'onda, who is a political and economic analyst, said the increase in EAC member countries from the three of Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya when the community was re-established in 1999 to seven countries now, has expanded the region's market from 120 million people to reach more than 200 million.

He said that the increase has enabled and simplified the possibility of helping each other during difficult situations.

He gave the example of the countries of Burundi, South Sudan and DRC, they are among the countries that benefited from getting help in dealing with internal conflicts in the country.

"On the social side, the cooperation of the seven East African countries has enabled the member states to cooperate in various games such as the parliamentarian games that are currently going on in Juba in South Sudan in the East African army championship," said Mwang'onda.

The Executive Director of the Law and Human Rights Center (LHRC), Anna Henga said the increase of countries from three to seven in the EAC has helped to strengthen the relationship between the countries and the member countries.

He gave the example of Burundi, before joining the EAC it was considered as a country at war with South Sudan.

He said that the EAC has helped the citizens of the member countries to get justice, although not directly through the East African Court of Justice (EACJ) by handling and giving decisions on complaints against governments and various institutions in their countries.

The existence of seven countries in different situations has helped countries with problems such as ethnicity and conflicts to learn and imitate countries that are peaceful and without ethnicity like Tanzania due to the best example for them which has helped to change the direction," said Henga.

According to the announcement of the EAC Secretariat, the activities that will take place in the celebration are the environmental cleaning that will be done by EAC employees in the Kilombero Market, tree planting at Levolosi Hospital and the donation of birthing equipment at Levolosi Hospital, all in Arusha, and exhibitions of vendors at the EAC Headquarters in Arusha.

The overall purpose of celebrating this day is to provide an opportunity for the EAC to reflect on the integration vision and celebrate the progress achieved in the pillars of integration which are customs union, common market, monetary union and political federation.

The specific objectives have been mentioned as announcing the day to the public by giving the citizens common knowledge about the integration process, discussing the status of the integration process and increasing the public's understanding of EAC projects and programs.

Among the events that will take place tomorrow are also doing public responsibility activities and activities to reduce the effects of climate change.

The agreement establishing the EAC was signed on November 30, 1999 and entered into force on July 7, 2000 after being ratified by the three original partner countries, which are Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda.

Currently, other EAC member countries are Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan and the DRC that joined this year.