Somalia’s Return to COMESA: More Harm than Good
The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) is a free trade zone with twenty-one member states, extending from Tunisia to Swaziland. COMESA was formed in 1994, replacing a Preferential Trade bloc which had existed since 1981. COMESA has now 21 member states, namely: Burundi, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, Sudan, Swaziland, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. COMESA is Africa’s largest economic community with a total population of more than 454 million and an estimated GDP of about US$ 496 billion. The mission of COMESA is to eliminate all barriers of trade between member states, apply the same customs duties to countries outside the bloc, and also promote free labor movement within member states. In June 2018 the applications of Tunisia and Somalia to become members of COMESA were accepted after a long time in which the two countries were pu...