Uganda, March 5 -- Somali has gained full membership of the East African Community (EAC) after depositing her instrument of ratification of the treaty of accession with the bloc's Secretary-General on Monday in Arusha, Tanzania.

At a brief ceremony held at the EAC headquarters, Somalia's Minister of Commerce and Industry, Jibril Abdirashid Haji Abdi, presented the instrument of ratification to Peter Mathuki, completing the admission process.

Somalia, which boasts the longest coastline of over 3,000km in Africa, linking Africa to the Arab Peninsula, becomes the eighth member of the EAC after the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya.

"Today's occasion of Somalia depositing the instruments...