South Sudan is once again on the brink of an all-out civil war. President Salva Kiir, clearly in a fit of anger, arrested his key rival, opposition leader Riek Machar, on charges of wanting to foment rebellion. Kiir and Machar have been in a transitional government of national unity that was created to end a 5-year civil war.

The arrest came after Gen Majur Duk and 27 of his soldiers were killed in an attack on the helicopter evacuating them from Nasir town in Upper Nile State. The military has been battling the White Army for several weeks. Kiir says that Machar had assured him that the general would be safe. The White army is an ethnic militia made up of men from Machar’s Nuer ethnic group.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres stated that the peace agreement was in ruins, and was greatly concerned that a return to war was imminent. Kiir reiterated his promise that the country would not be dragged back to war, but few seem convinced.

South Sudan’s neighbour, Sudan, is in its death throes, with no hope for resolution as one country, one people. Sudan’s future is likely as a country torn into balkanised states, the route Somalia and Libya have taken.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), hostilities continue, despite presidents Paul Kagame of Rwanda and DRC’s Felix Tshisekedi meeting in Doha, Qatar. The sit-down, brokered by Qatar’s leader, Emir Sheikh Tamin bin Hamad Al Thani, agreed to an immediate ceasefire.

M23, the militia force that launched the current offensive, is still sitting on the towns it captured. Rwanda is accused of sponsoring M23.

In a surprising twist, Burundi’s President Evariste Ndayishimiye accused Rwanda of plotting chaos in his country. He said he had credible intelligence that Rwanda was backing a Burundian rebel group to destabilise the country. The Rwandan government, of course, denied the accusations. But Rwanda’s Kagame, ordinarily quicker to pull the trigger than draw a chair for talks, finds himself bearing the burden of credibility here.

Somalia is aflame. In March 2025 alone, Al Shabaab militants have launched a major offensive against the Somalia National Army, as well as attempted to assassinate the president.

In February 2025, Al Shabaab militants launched an offensive in Hirshabelle State against the combined forces of the Somalia National Army and the African Union Support and Stabilisation Mission in Somalia. Al Shabaab continues its offensive in several states, and has recaptured substantial territory it had lost.

Barely a month later, a roadside bomb targeted Somalia President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. He survived the blast, but at least 10 people were killed.

In 2024, Al Shabaab suicide bombers killed dozens of people. In August, 32 people died after a suicide bomber detonated an explosive on Lido Beach in Mogadishu, Somalia. A month earlier, seven people had been killed in Mogadishu when another suicide bomber detonated an explosive at a cafe near a police training academy, killing seven people.

When will leaders in East Africa settle down to start working for the people of this region? East Africa has some of the poorest countries in Africa, and the world. But its leaders have completely failed to focus.

Wars expend money on military armaments, equipment and rations, money that goes down the drain with zero impact on people, result in destruction of property, kill off all agricultural or any economic activity, and cause massive displacement requiring huge emergency and disaster response.

Post-conflict countries require huge financial and other resources for rebuilding. Peace in such countries remains tenuous, and investors keep away. The countries remain in doldrums for years.

East Africa is being pulled further down into poverty. The vision of EAC to become a prosperous, competitive, secure, stable and politically united region is right now a pipe dream. It will remain so until the leaders in East Africa stop fighting amongst themselves.

So, when will leaders in the East African Community for once drop their egos and greed and start working for their people?

— gathukara@gmail.com