Living with your Neighbours

The riots and killings following the Kenyan elections in December were reported around the world. It had been hoped that this flagship of East African democracy would not fall into the trap of the corruption and rigged elections of which Mwai Kibaki has been accused by Raila Odinga. A month later and we are still waiting to see what the outcome will be and praying for the success of Kofi Annan’s present diplomatic efforts.

We remember well reading of similar crises in other countries when we were living in the UK. They seemed very distant, and although we knew they were serious for the country involved, we hardly gave a thought to any knock-on effects in other countries.

As an island, the British Isles has always enjoyed a certain measure of security from the effects of uncertainty and instability in other countries. Even during the 2nd World War, whilst Belgium, France and other countries experienced invasion the buffer of the English Channel helped to protect us from the same fate.

Living now in Uganda we find just how different life can be for a country that not only has land borders with its neighbours, but is totally landlocked. Whereas Britain can, when it chooses, enjoy a sense of splendid isolation, Uganda has no choice. Its present and future is tied up inextricably with the lives of its neighbours.

Whilst we have not personally experienced much disturbance, the fragile economy of Uganda has been considerably disrupted by the events in Kenya. Until the present crisis almost all of Uganda’s imports came through the port at Mombasa. The riots following Kenya’s elections closed that port and the road between Mombasa and Uganda. In particular, oil is an essential import, and the sudden loss of supplies drove up the price of petrol and diesel, for a while by 100%. In Arua, the supply of heavy diesel for the power station has been significantly reduced, and the town now has only 8 hours of electricity each day with the consequent effects on businesses in and around the town. Oil is now getting through from Tanzania, albeit not in the previous quantities, but the price is still very high. Whether it likes it or not Uganda is dependent on its neighbours for most of its imported commodities.

All this is, of course, exacerbated by the influx of frightened Kenyans in eastern Uganda, which are additional stresses for the Ugandan economy on top of refugees in the south-west from DR Congo and Rwanda, and in the north from southern Sudan. For a landlocked country like Uganda to thrive the keyword must be not independence, but interdependence.

This is, perhaps, a characteristic the economically powerful western nations, including our own island race, would do well to foster. It is also, perhaps a quality which we as individuals should seek to nurture in our own communities.