Why East Africa’s Borders Are Blowing Up

Lines between countries used to have little importance in Africa’s most dynamic region. How times have changed.

August 7, 2014 (Foreign Policy) — In one short week in July, tension along East Africa’s borders yielded nearly 120 deaths and one nasty lawsuit — offering along the way vivid evidence of the dynamics that are shaping the region’s future.

On July 3, an anonymous farmer from the Gambella region on Ethiopia’s border with South Sudan began legal action in the British courts. The claimant accused the British government of complicity with its Ethiopian counterpart’s policy of forcibly relocating thousands of Ethiopians. On July 5, nearly 30 people were killed near the shores of the Indian Ocean during an attack on a village and police post close to Kenya’s border with Somalia. On the same day more than 90 people were killed during raids on police posts close to Uganda’s border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. Read more…