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Abstract
This article argues that there is a likelihood of inter-state disputes in Eastern Africa as natural wealth is discovered in the borderlands. After providing an overview of the current state of Eastern African borders the article points out that the escalating trans-boundary resource disputes are due to the colonial boundary-making errors, undefined and unmarked borders, poor or lack of border management, poor governance, and population bulge. Besides using a number of case studies to contextualise trans-boundary resource conflicts, the article concludes by recommending establishment of a regional mechanism to address border disputes and a regional framework for managing and sharing trans-boundary resources.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Drs Jakkie Cilliers and Epaminondas Bellos for their insightful comments on the paper, and Jimmi Lutete Larsen for his research assistance.
Notes
1. CitationCooney and Nanto, “Minerals Price Increases and Volatility.”
2. Richard CitationDevetak defines borders as lines drawn to demarcate state boundaries (or establish sovereignty), and frontiers as marginalised peripheral areas of a state where the population feels excluded from the centre. CitationDevetak, “The Project of Modernity,” 27–30.
3. “Scores Die in Ethiopia Oil Attack,” BBC News, April 24, 2007, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6588055.stm.
4. United Nations, Report of Expert Panel on Illegal Exploitation, and CitationICJ Ruling on Case Concerning Armed.
5. CitationKum, “The Central African Subregion,” 49–71.
6. CitationEnglebert, Tarango and Carter, “Dismemberment and Suffocation,” 1098. Also, CitationAsiwaju, “West Africa,” 72–99.
7. CitationDeng, “Justice in Sudan.”
8. CitationKibulya, “Geographic Contrasts,” 11.
9. CitationKibulya, “Geographic Contrasts,” 2.
10. CitationLanglands, “The Uganda–Congo Boundary,” 57.
11. CitationHertslet, Map of Africa by Treaty, 642–52.
12. CitationHertslet, Map of Africa by Treaty, 70.
13. CitationBrownlie, African Boundaries, 983; CitationMcEwen, International Boundaries, 154–5.
14. CitationBrownlie, African Boundaries, 1003.
15. CitationCollier, “The Colonial Survey Committee and Mapping of Africa.”
16. CitationCollier, “The Colonial Survey Committee and Mapping of Africa.”
17. CitationCollier, “The Colonial Survey Committee and Mapping of Africa.”. Boundary-making is an expensive endeavour that has radically evolved over the years. In the old days surveying was done on foot then later four-wheels and helicopters, and now by satellite technology. See CitationSmith, “The Backbone of Colonial Mapping in Eastern Africa.”
18. CitationColonial Survey Committee, Surveys and Explorations of British Africa.
19. CitationDonaldson, “Pillars and Perspective,” 477.
20. CitationDonaldson, “Pillars and Perspective,” 485.
21. CitationDonaldson, “Pillars and Perspective,” 486.
22. Africa Union, From Barriers to Bridges.
23. CitationAfrican Union, Constitutive Act, Article 4(i).
24. CitationOwhotu, “Borderland Equilibrium in Africa,” 248.
25. CitationLaremont, “Borders, States and Nationalism,” 2.
26. “11 DR Congolese Fishermen Arrested in Uganda,” African Press Agency, October 26, 2008.
27. Monitor Reporter, “Involve Locals in Oil Deals – Civil Societies,” Daily Monitor, September 8, 2008.
28. “Kinshasa, Kampala Discuss Efforts to Demarcate Common Border,” Xinhua, June 11, 2008.
29. “Who is to Blame for Falling Lake Victoria Water Level?” The New Vision, January 27, 2009.
30. A point openly acknowledged by the Tanzanian Director of Water Resources in the Ministry of Water and Irrigation, Washington Mutayoba.
31. CitationWekesa, “Old Issues and New Challenges.”
32. CitationMatshanda , “The ‘Scramble for Fish’ in Lake Victoria.”
33. CitationHabati, “Politics of Fish.”
34. CitationMcEwen, International Boundaries, 200.
35. CitationMcEwen, International Boundaries, 200.
36. CitationBrownlie, African Boundaries.
37. CitationAnderson, International Boundaries.
