According to an announcement relayed on Friday from Nairobi, citizens of the Democratic Republic of the Congo can now travel to Kenya without a visa.
According to Kenya, the new policy is a component of ongoing legislative changes made to facilitate the DRC's entry into the East African Community.
The upcoming change in policy was announced last week in a notification sent to all Kenyan diplomatic missions overseas and the regional administration chiefs of Kenya. It said that the visa waiver will go into effect on September 1, according to a report by The East African, an Eastern African publication.
“The government of Kenya has removed the Democratic Republic of Congo from Category 2 to Category 1 of the visa regulations in compliance with the East Africa Community Regulations of free movement of persons within the member states,” said the circular dated August 25. “In this regard, Kenya has waived visa requirements for all nationals of the Democratic Republic of Congo effective September 1, 2023,” the circular adds.
In May of last year, the DRC joined the EAC as its seventh member. Additionally, Kinshasa has often relied on bilateral agreements with existing member nations for visas, even if it hasn't yet advanced to some of the protocols like those on free movement and the customs union. Under that arrangement, Kenyans do not require visas to enter the DRC.
The Congolese government has been anticipating this action for a while. Christophe Lutundula mentioned how crucial it is to make it easier for people and products to move throughout the EAC region a few months ago.
According to the Congolese foreign minister, the port of Mombasa in Kenya receives the majority of the products arriving from the Indian Ocean. In addition, he mentioned that products also travel through Tanzania's Dar Es Salam port in addition to the port of Mombasa.
The Congolese authorities however stated that they anticipated that because of participation in the EAC, the Congo and its residents would now enjoy the same customs facilities as other members of the East African community.
Since five of the nine neighboring countries (Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, and South Sudan) are in the East and are members of the East African Community, the minister, who spoke weeks before this decision, claimed that the DRC has every reason to pursue regional integration and to be successful in joining the East African bloc.
For this reason, President Félix Tshisekedi concentrated his diplomatic efforts on his eastern neighbors as "the most integrated bloc in Africa" as the former president of the DRC used to remark, as soon as he took office in January 2019.