The African Union recognises 14 states in the East Africa region, of which five – Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and (from 2016) South Sudan, joined by Burundi (from the Central Africa region) – are also members of the East African Community (EAC), one of the regional economic communities also recognised by the AU. The EAC, re-launched in 2000, aims to create a similar zone of free movement as that which ECOWAS has established in West Africa; in 2016 Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda started issuing a common form biometric passport.
The East African region has some of the most severe challenges relating to statelessness in Africa. These include the consequences of the collapse of government in Somalia which has led to a large outflow of refugees, many of whom have been unable to integrate as nationals in neighbouring states despite long residence. The processes creating Eritrea and South Sudan, which have split from Ethiopia and Sudan, have also left large populations at risk of statelessness. Somaliland and Puntland also claim independence from Somalia, and have been issuing ID cards, but have not been recognised by the African Union.
The legal traditions of the region vary very widely, but, like other regions of Africa, East African countries increasingly permit dual nationality and respect equal rights of men and women; though discrimination on the basis of sex remains in place in several countries. A handful of laws, including in Uganda and Somalia, explicitly restrict access to citizenship on the basis of ethnicity; in others such discrimination is widespread in practice.
By Victor Raballa & Angeline Ochieng Over the years, different groups of Kenyans have sued the British government for one reason or another. There were maimed and bereaved families in Samburu that sued after unexploded ordnances were left behind by…
The minister was reacting to a question from a journalist at Uganda Media Center on Saturday about complaints from the community that they are treated differently because of their ethnicity. .. ICT and National Guidance minister, Dr Chris Baryomunsi, says…
by TRACY MUTINDA Members of the Stateless Asians of Kenya Community were awarded Kenyan citizenship certificates on Thursday. Fify-two Asians went home with their certificates as the government vowed to end statelessness. In attendance during the award ceremony were Director…
by GORDON OSEN AND FAITH CHEBET Some 52 stateless Asians living in the country without legal status can now live freely after the government granted them Kenyan citizenship on Thursday. They are descendants or children of pioneer Asians who came…
On 16 July, the Organic Law governing Rwandan nationality was passed outlining procedures and requirements for acquisition and application of Rwandan nationality. The new Organic law No.002/2021 replaces the 2008 Nationality Code and provides for more restrictive rules. It emphasises…
By Ayang Macdonald Members of a ‘stateless’ community in Kenya known as the Shona have received digital ID cards from the Kenyan government, ending approximately five decades of their statelessness. Kenyan outlet The Star, in a feature report, chronicles the…
BY KETRAH JJEMBA, KAMPALA A RIFT between Banyarwanda, a community of Rwandan origin living in Uganda and the immigration offices at the Ministry of internal Affairs over passport issuance has deepened. Their war has now reached High Court in Kampala…
by AKELLO ODENYO and CHRISTINE NTINYARI “We were alive and dead at the same time, like ghosts, because we had no identity.” Those were the words of Zephaniah Muungani, a member of the Shona community living in Kenya. “Generation after…
NAIROBI, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) — Unable to secure Kenyan citizenship for years, the Shona community who reside mainly in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, and neighboring Kiambu County had long resigned to a fate of statelessness. This unwanted status had…
By Abubakar Juma Kwale, Kenya: Omari Siriako, 74, is in pain and on the point of despair as he sits outside his grass-thatched hut. He has been ailing of diabetes and has had physical injuries for a long time, dating…