Uganda Letter:The East African Community has set its member states some ambitious targets, writes
John Lavelle
IN THE dry heat of the back lanes of the Ugandan capital Kampala shoppers flock to stalls selling pirated CDs and counterfeit Arsenal jerseys.
Further up Nakasero hill, in the air-conditioned corridors of power, another European imitation is proving just as popular - the East African Community (EAC).
All the talk of the crisis gripping Europe in the wake of Ireland's Lisbon Treaty No has gone unnoticed by the members of the EAC, Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.
The five nations are pressing ahead with their own regional integration at a blistering pace.
Influenced by the EU's role in rebuilding the Continent's post-war economy, the EAC was set up in 2001 to promote co-operation in east Africa, one of the world's poorest regions. The group has made no secret of its use of the EU as a template, and its development has closely followed the path of European integration.
A customs union came into force in 2005 and co-operation on issues from immigration to fisheries has increased at a rapid pace since then.
The community was enlarged last year to Burundi and Rwanda, the smaller Francophone neighbours of the three founding members. The next step is a single market that will prepare the ground for a common currency, the East African Shilling, to be launched in 2012.
The EAC's institutions are almost a mirror image of the EU's. It has a council of ministers with a rotating presidency which issues regulations, directives and recommendations.
These are scrutinised by a parliament, interpreted by a court and enforced by an executive. However, unlike its European counterpart, the EAC hasn't drawn the line at monetary union.
By 2013, its members plan to form what Europe's founding father, Jean Monnet, aspired to but did not achieve - a political federation.
Ceding influence (how much is not yet clear) to a president and parliament in Arusha - the Brussels of east Africa - is a bold step by member states whose relations have rarely been smooth.
An earlier incarnation of the EAC collapsed unceremoniously in 1977 after quarrelling between Kenya and Tanzania, and there have been two regional wars since.
At times, east African leaders seem to have little common ground other than a shared desire to cling to power. This makes their enthusiasm in transferring sovereignty to the EAC all the more surprising.
The politicians' fervour is shared by most of east Africa's citizens. Even among those with little understanding of its purpose, integration enjoys levels of support that would make Messrs Cowen and Sarkozy envious. "An east African president would be able to help those in each of the countries," says Eddy, a Ugandan street vendor who insists his Arsenal jerseys are real. "But if he favoured just one country, then it would be dangerous."
"There is a worrying new trend in Africa for leaders who lose elections to force their rival to negotiate rather than giving up power," says Frida Gachagua, a Kenyan studying IT at Kampala's Makerere University.
"If there was a political federation it would be more difficult to cling to power."
Voters in Afrosceptic Tanzania, however, are less keen than their neighbours on a political federation and there are fears they could reject it if a referendum planned for next year goes ahead.
Although its economies are poorly linked, culturally east Africa is better suited for integration than Europe ever was. Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda were all governed by the British during imperial times, at various stages sharing a postal service, currency and lingua franca.
Like much of the continent, the region is characterised by ethnic divisions - Uganda alone has about 30 tribes, 25 dialects and five monarchies - so national allegiances are weak. People here feel almost as much affinity for east Africa as they do for Uganda, a country born just a century ago with a stroke of the pen of a colonial cartographer.
Economic blocs have emerged before around the continent. The most advanced is Ecowas, a group of 15 west African nations based in Nigeria. An economic and monetary union is up and running in eight of its members and more plan to join next year.
Currency unions and free trade zones are also developing in central and southern Africa.
The ultimate result, pan-Africanists like Libyan president Muammar al-Gadafy hope, will be a continent-wide trade bloc to rival the EU.
These collaborations are not solely aimed at escaping economic torpidity. Unlike in modern day Europe, the threat of war in many parts of Africa is still real. The insight that catalysed the European project - that economic interdependence makes military aggression unprofitable - has been taken on board by African leaders.
If however there's a lesson from Europe that the EAC has not yet learnt, it's the one that Lisbon teaches: integration can be a tortuous process with potential derailments around every corner. In this light, the ambitious timeframe currently set for future east African integration seems highly aspirational.