Conflicts
Until recently, several East African countries were riven with political coups, ethnic violence and oppressive dictators. Since the end of colonialism, the region has endured the following conflicts:
- Northern East Africa
- Darfur Conflict in Sudan
- Ethiopian Civil War 1974-1991
- Eritrean War of Independence 1961-1991
- Eritrean-Ethiopian War 1998-2000
- Ogaden War 1977-1978
- Somali Civil War 1991-ongoing
- Second Sudanese Civil War 1983-2005
- South Kordofan conflict 2011-ongoing
- East African Community
- Burundi Civil War 1993-2005 and the Genocide of Hutus in 1972 and genocide of Tutsis in 1993
- Uganda-Tanzania War 1978-1979
- Ugandan Bush War 1981-1986
- Lord's Resistance Army insurgency in Uganda, South Sudan and Democratic Republic of the Congo ongoing
- Rwandan Civil War 1990-1993 and the Rwandan Genocide of Tutsis
- Zanzibar Revolution 1964
- Outside East Africa with East African participation
- First Congo War 1996-1997 and Second Congo War 1998-2003
- Kivu Conflict (Laurent Nkunda Rebellion)
Kenya has enjoyed relatively stable governance. However, politics have been turbulent at times, including the attempted coup d’état in 1982 and the 2007 election riots.
Tanzania has known stable government since independence although there are significant political and religious tensions resulting from the political union between Tanganyika and Zanzibar in 1964. Zanzibar is now a semi-autonomous state in the United Republic of Tanzania. Tanzania and Uganda fought the Uganda-Tanzania War in 1978–1979, which led to the removal of Uganda's despotic leader Idi Amin.
Djibouti, as well as the Puntland and Somaliland regions, have also seen relative stability.
South Sudan peacefully seceded from Sudan in 2011, six and a half years after a peace agreement ended the Second Sudanese Civil War. South Sudanese independence was nearly derailed by the South Kordofan conflict, particularly a dispute over the status of the Abyei Area, and both Abyei and South Kordofan's Nuba Hills remain a source of tension between Juba and Khartoum.
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