Title:
THE EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY: PEOPLE WHO STRADDLE THE SOUTH SUDAN AND UGANDA BORDER

Authors:
Gogonya Logo Martin and Professor Yosa Wawa

Abstract:
This paper is about the East African Community and the free movement and settlement of its peoples. It pays close attention to chapter 17 of the EAC articles of association which deals with the free movement of people, labor, services and right of establishment of residence. The historical research method was used in the investigation as the paper dealt with the communities that straddle the South Sudan and Uganda border. The paper confirms the arbitrariness of African countries and boundaries created following the Berlin conference of 1884-1885. The above-mentioned articles of association is tailored to cater for the elites of the East African Community member states, in this case for those of South Sudan and Uganda, and neglecting the needs of the ethnic groups that straddle the border and those who lived along these border lines long before these colonial states were created. The paper recommends that the amendments to the articles of association of the East African community to cater the interests of the border land communities through recognition of clan boundaries, and granting of dual citizenship for the communities that straddle the borders. This latter option makes borderland communities become bridges rather than barriers in East Africa.

Keywords:
East African Community (EAC), South Sudan–Uganda Border Communities, Free Movement of Persons, Colonial Boundaries (Berlin Conference), Dual Citizenship, and Cross-Border Ethnic Groups

DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37500/IJESSR.2026.9114

Date of Publication: 26-02-2026