The membership of South Sudan in the East African Community has been delayed due to the current conflict.
Leaders of the member countries delayed the admission at a meeting in Nairobi on Friday.
President Salva Kiir, Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, and Paul Kagame of Rwanda met to discuss the current crisis and the threat of Al-Shabab militants in Kenya.
They discussed South Sudan’s membership in the bloc at the sidelines of the meeting.
“They told the president conditions countries should have before them to join,” explained Ateny Wek Ateny, Presidential Press Secretary.
The conditions include security. South Sudan has to be stable in order to join the regional economic bloc.
“South Sudan should bring peace because you cannot joint if you are a country still in war,” Mr Ateny added.
“All member countries should benefit in terms of trade and exchange of skills, so any country where there is conflict has no right to joint directly.”
South Sudan summited its application to the bloc block after independence in 2011.