131-597: The East African Federation ( Swahili : Shirikisho la Afrika Mashariki ) is a proposed federal sovereign state consisting of the eight member states of East African Community in the African Great Lakes region – Burundi , the Democratic Republic of the Congo , Kenya , Rwanda , Somalia , South Sudan , Tanzania and Uganda . The idea of this federation has existed since
262-565: A 'little bit' of some characteristic, like -y or -ish in English). For example, there is kijani "green", from jani "leaf" (compare English 'leafy'), kichaka "bush" from chaka "clump", and kivuli "shadow" from uvuli "shade". A 'little bit' of a verb would be an instance of an action, and such instantiations (usually not very active ones) are found: kifo "death", from the verb -fa "to die"; kiota "nest" from -ota "to brood"; chakula "food" from kula "to eat"; kivuko "a ford,
393-709: A 20-day consultation with local stakeholders in Kenya. At 5,449,717 km (2,104,147 sq mi), the East African Federation (EAF) would be the largest country in Africa and seventh-largest in the world, replacing India . It would span the continent from the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean . With a population of 343,328,958 as of 2024, it would also be the most populous nation in Africa and third in
524-673: A Monkey ;" " Mwalimu Goso, " "Goso the Teacher," a cumulative tale ; and " Sungura na Simba, " "The Hare and the Lion," a story about the trickster hare . Here are some of the proverbs that Steere recorded in Swahili: Here are some of the riddles that Steere recorded in Swahili: British Kenya The Colony and Protectorate of Kenya , commonly known as British Kenya or British East Africa ,
655-519: A back-benchers resolution calling for speedier federation. He publicly stated that talk of a federation had always been a ruse to hasten the pace of Kenyan independence from Britain, but Nyerere denied the truth of this statement. Around the same time, Obote came out against an East African Federation, instead supporting pan-African unity, partly because of domestic political pressures with the semi-autonomous kingdom of Buganda 's opposition to being in an East African federation as part of Uganda but rather as
786-649: A foundation for successful legal claims by former Mau Mau detainees against the British government for crimes committed in the camps. The Colony and the Protectorate each came to an end on 12 December 1963. The United Kingdom ceded sovereignty over the Colony of Kenya under an agreement dated 8 October 1963. The Sultan agreed that simultaneous with independence for Kenya, the Sultan would cease to have sovereignty over
917-467: A fraction of that. According to other sources, around 40% of the Swahili vocabulary comes from Arabic. What also remained unconsidered was that a good number of the borrowed terms had Bantu equivalents. The preferred use of Arabic loan words is prevalent along the coast, where local people, in a cultural show of proximity to, or descent from Arab culture, would rather use loan words, whereas the people in
1048-736: A historical process in which /l/ became elided between the second last and last vowels of a word (for example, kondoo , "sheep" was originally kondolo , which survives in certain dialects ). As a consequence, long vowels are not considered phonemic . A similar process exists in Zulu . Where not shown, the orthography is the same as IPA. Some dialects of Swahili may also have the aspirated phonemes /pʰ tʰ tʃʰ kʰ bʱ dʱ dʒʱ ɡʱ/ though they are unmarked in Swahili's orthography. Multiple studies favour classifying prenasalization as consonant clusters, not as separate phonemes. Historically, nasalization has been lost before voiceless consonants, and subsequently
1179-540: A humanitarian crisis for the populations who could suffer from decreased freedoms and make cooperation amongst the different governing powers more difficult. A survey conducted in Tanzania revealed that 38% of respondents believed that the Union of EAC would make political corruption worse, while only 33% thought it would lessen political corruption. While the union of these nations is recognized as economically advantageous,
1310-595: A joint army went from 26% in 2008 to 38% in 2012, with the majority (53%) still disapproving. 32% support the formation of a unitary government, while 59% disapprove. Surveying in Kenya in 2021 revealed that only 34% of Kenyans had heard some or a great deal on the proposed East African Federation, a 9 point rise from 2008. Awareness is higher amongst men, the elderly, the wealthy, and those with post-secondary education . Support for federalization stood at 44%, with 50% disapproving. 66% of people with post-Secondary education however disapproved. Those with no formal education were
1441-451: A large amount of grammar, vocabulary, and sounds inherited from the Sabaki language . In fact, while taking account of daily vocabulary, using lists of one hundred words, 72–91% were inherited from the Sabaki language (which is reported as a parent language) whereas 4–17% were loan words from other African languages. Only 2–8% were from non-African languages, and Arabic loan words constituted
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#17327730308521572-474: A little. 75% have heard nothing or a little about a joint parliament and 77% have heard nothing or a little about a single East African president. 70% of Tanzanians in 2012 approved of free movement of people, goods, and services, 55% approved the customs union and 54% approved of the proposed monetary union. On all three issues, share of people answering "Don't Know" has more than halved since 2008 indicating higher rates of civic engagement on EAC issues. Approval of
1703-573: A major role in spreading both Christianity and Islam in East Africa . From their arrival in East Africa, Arabs brought Islam and set up madrasas , where they used Swahili to teach Islam to the natives. As the Arab presence grew, more and more natives converted to Islam and were taught using the Swahili language. From the arrival of Europeans in East Africa, Christianity was introduced to
1834-747: A maritime border. Such additional accessions would likely delay the drafting of the Confederation's constitution and further delay the implementation of the monetary union. The East African Confederation is a proposed intermediate step toward the formation of the East African Federation, which is envisioned as a political union of the eight members of the East African Community . The aim is to deepen economic, political, and social integration, allowing member states to coordinate on matters of governance, defense, and economic policies while maintaining some level of national sovereignty during
1965-522: A means of national integration in Tanzania. Key activities mandated for the organisation include creating a healthy atmosphere for the development of Swahili, encouraging use of the language in government and business functions, coordinating activities of other organisations involved with Swahili, standardising the language. BAKITA vision are: "1.To efficiently manage and coordinate the development and use of Kiswahili in Tanzania 2.To participate fully and effectively in promoting Swahili in East Africa, Africa and
2096-652: A pass" from -vuka "to cross"; and kilimia "the Pleiades ", from -limia "to farm with", from its role in guiding planting. A resemblance, or being a bit like something, implies marginal status in a category, so things that are marginal examples of their class may take the ki-/vi- prefixes. One example is chura ( ki-ura ) "frog", which is only half terrestrial and therefore is marginal as an animal. This extension may account for disabilities as well: kilema "a cripple", kipofu "a blind person", kiziwi "a deaf person". Finally, diminutives often denote contempt, and contempt
2227-433: A prenasalized consonant, they are pronounced as [e] , [ɪ] , [o] , and [ʊ] . E is also commonly pronounced as mid-position after w . Polomé claims that /ɑ/ is pronounced as such only after w and is pronounced as [a] in other situations, especially after /j/ ( y ). A can be pronounced as [ə] in word-final position. Long vowels in Swahili are written as doubled vowels (for example, kondoo , "sheep") due to
2358-731: A republic under the name " Republic of Kenya ". In 1948, the Kenyan government consisted of the Governor, the Executive Council advising him and the Legislative Council . The Executive Council consisted of seven ex-officio members, two appointed Europeans, one appointed European representing African interests, and one appointed Asian (Indian) Ambalal Bhailalbhai Patel. The Legislative Council consisted of 16 appointed officials and 22 elected unofficial members. In 1954,
2489-468: A second language spoken by tens of millions of people in the five African Great Lakes countries ( Kenya , DRC , Rwanda , Uganda , and Tanzania ), where it is an official or national language. It is also the first language for many people in Tanzania, especially in the coastal regions of Tanga, Pwani, Dar es Salaam, Mtwara and Lindi. In the inner regions of Tanzania, Swahili is spoken with an accent influenced by other local languages and dialects. There, it
2620-428: A single administrative unit. The colony came to an end in 1963 when a native Kenyan majority government was elected for the first time and eventually declared independence . The Colony and Protectorate of Kenya was established on 23 July 1920 when the territories of the former East Africa Protectorate (except those parts of that Protectorate over which His Majesty the Sultan of Zanzibar had sovereignty) were annexed by
2751-521: A single currency, with full federalization following. This would further induce internal trade and simplify outside economic investment. These economic advantages have been cited as a rationale for global powers such as the US not opposing the federalization of the EAC. A survey conducted in Tanzania revealed that a majority of respondents thought that the union of the EAC would lead to better trading opportunities in
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#17327730308522882-624: A single state began to be discussed, with early estimates of the founding of the federation in 2013. In 2010, the EAC launched its own common market within the region, with the goal of a common currency by 2013 and full political federation in 2015. South Sudan was approved for membership of the EAC in March 2016, and acceded in September 2016. South Sudan acceded as the South Sudanese Civil War occurred. On 14 October 2013,
3013-626: A subject in schools or have developed plans to do so. Shikomor (or Comorian ), an official language in Comoros and also spoken in Mayotte ( Shimaore ), is closely related to Swahili and is sometimes considered a dialect of Swahili, although other authorities consider it a distinct language. In 2022, based on Swahili's growth as a prominent international language, the United Nations declared Swahili Language Day as 7 July to commemorate
3144-462: A substitute for k in advertisements. There are also several digraphs for Arabic sounds, which many speakers outside of ethnic Swahili areas have trouble differentiating. The language used to be primarily written in the Ajami script , which is an Arabic script. Much literature was produced in this script. With the introduction of Latin, the use of Ajami script has been diminished significantly. However,
3275-516: A system of concord but, if the noun refers to a human, they accord with noun classes 1–2 regardless of their noun class. Verbs agree with the noun class of their subjects and objects; adjectives, prepositions and demonstratives agree with the noun class of their nouns. In Standard Swahili (Kiswahili sanifu) , based on the dialect spoken in Zanzibar, the system is rather complex; however, it is drastically simplified in many local variants where Swahili
3406-530: A unit in its own right. By late 1964, the prospects for a wider East African federation had died, although Tanganyika and Zanzibar did form a union in April 1964, eventually becoming Tanzania . It is speculated that colonial powers in Kenya, and the other nations joining the Federation, were incentivized to block the Federation even after these countries achieved decolonization. For Instance, in 1965, when
3537-695: A variety of gender-concord prefixes. This list is based on Swahili and Sabaki: a linguistic history . Modern standard Swahili, written in Latin, is based on Kiunguja, the dialect spoken in Zanzibar City . Swahili literature and poetry, traditionally written in Swahili Ajami , is based on Kiamu , the dialect of Lamu on the Kenyan Coast. But there are numerous other dialects of Swahili, some of which are mutually unintelligible, such as
3668-596: Is a compulsory subject in all Kenyan primary and secondary schools. Swahili is recognized as a national language in the Democratic Republic of The Congo and is widely spoken in the eastern regions. The local dialects of Swahili in Congo are known as Congo Swahili and differ considerably from Standard Swahili. In order to strengthen political ties with other East African Community nations, both Kiswahili and English have been taught in Burundian elementary schools since
3799-550: Is a first language for most of the people who are born in the cities, whilst being spoken as a second language in rural areas. Swahili and closely related languages are spoken by relatively small numbers of people in Burundi , Comoros , Malawi , Mozambique , Zambia and Rwanda . The language was still understood in the southern ports of the Red Sea in the 20th century. The East African Community created an institution called
3930-434: Is an active body part, and mto is an active natural force, but they are also both long and thin. Things with a trajectory, such as mpaka 'border' and mwendo 'journey', are classified with long thin things, as in many other languages with noun classes. This may be further extended to anything dealing with time, such as mwaka 'year' and perhaps mshahara 'wages'. Animals exceptional in some way and so not easily fitting in
4061-545: Is generally only spoken by Somali nationals who have resided in Kenya and subsequently returned to Somalia. Lastly, a closely related language Mushunguli (also known as Zigula, Zigua, or Chizigua) is spoken by some of the Somali Bantu ethnic minority mostly living in the Jubba Valley . It is classified as a Northeast Coast Bantu language as Swahili is and has some intelligibility with Swahili. Swahili played
East African Federation - Misplaced Pages Continue
4192-575: Is not a native language, such as in Nairobi. In non-native Swahili, concord reflects only animacy: human subjects and objects trigger a-, wa- and m-, wa- in verbal concord, while non-human subjects and objects of whatever class trigger i-, zi- . Infinitives vary between standard ku- and reduced i-. ("Of" is animate wa and inanimate ya, za. ) In Standard Swahili, human subjects and objects of whatever class trigger animacy concord in a-, wa- and m-, wa-, and non-human subjects and objects trigger
4323-430: Is one of the early developers. The applications include a spelling checker , part-of-speech tagging , a language learning software , an analysed Swahili text corpus of 25 million words, an electronic dictionary , and machine translation between Swahili and English. The development of language technology also strengthens the position of Swahili as a modern medium of communication. Furthermore, Swahili Misplaced Pages
4454-556: Is one of the few Wikipedias in an African language that features a substantial number of contributors and articles. The widespread use of Swahili as a national language in Tanzania came after Tanganyika gained independence in 1961 and the government decided that it would be used as a language to unify the new nation. This saw the use of Swahili in all levels of government, trade, art as well as schools in which primary school children are taught in Swahili, before switching to English (medium of instruction) in secondary schools (although Swahili
4585-406: Is one of three official languages (the others being English and French) of the East African Community (EAC) countries, namely Burundi , Democratic Republic of the Congo , Kenya , Rwanda , Somalia , South Sudan , Tanzania , and Uganda . It is the lingua franca of other areas in the African Great Lakes region and East and Southern Africa . Swahili is also one of the working languages of
4716-960: Is sometimes expressed against things that are dangerous. This might be the historical explanation for kifaru " rhinoceros ", kingugwa " spotted hyena ", and kiboko " hippopotamus " (perhaps originally meaning "stubby legs"). Another class with broad semantic extension is the m-/mi- class (Bantu classes 3/4). This is often called the 'tree' class, because mti, miti "tree(s)" is the prototypical example. However, it seems to cover vital entities neither human nor typical animals: trees and other plants, such as mwitu 'forest' and mtama 'millet' (and from there, things made from plants, like mkeka 'mat'); supernatural and natural forces, such as mwezi 'moon', mlima 'mountain', mto 'river'; active things, such as moto 'fire', including active body parts ( moyo 'heart', mkono 'hand, arm'); and human groups, which are vital but not themselves human, such as mji 'village', and, by analogy, mzinga 'beehive/cannon'. From
4847-567: Is spoken along the Benadir coast by the Bravanese people . Another Swahili dialect known as Kibajuni also serves as the mother tongue of the Bajuni minority ethnic group, which lives in the tiny Bajuni Islands as well as the southern Kismayo region. In Oman , there are an estimated 52,000 people who speak Swahili as of 2020. Most are descendants of those repatriated after the fall of
4978-582: Is still taught as an independent subject). After Tanganyika and Zanzibar unification in 1964, Taasisi ya Uchunguzi wa Kiswahili (TUKI, Institute of Swahili Research) was created from the Interterritorial Language Committee. In 1970 TUKI was merged with the University of Dar es Salaam , while Baraza la Kiswahili la Taifa (BAKITA) was formed. BAKITA is an organisation dedicated to the development and advocacy of Swahili as
5109-636: Is the 31 October protests in Goma demanding that the DRC leave the EAC due to Rwanda's support of the M23. While the grouping of nations has adopted Swahili as their national language, there is a great deal of ethnolinguistic diversity within these groups. Different regional dialects and entirely different languages are spoken within the nations themselves, even more so when compared to one another. Tanzania achieved an ethnolinguistic score of 0.93 out of 1 by one study, ranking
5240-511: Is the second largest body of freshwater in the world, while Lake Tanganyika , mostly split between the DRC and Tanzania, is the third largest body of freshwater in the world. Lake Victoria and Lake Tanganyika comprise part of the African Great Lakes , caused by the East African Rift , a continental rift zone that bisects Tanzania, Kenya, and Ethiopia. These lakes include Lake Kivu bordering Rwanda, Lake Edward and Lake Albert on
5371-855: The African Union and of the Southern African Development Community . The East African Community created an institution called the East African Kiswahili Commission (EAKC) which began operations in 2015. The institution currently serves as the leading body for promoting the language in the East African region , as well as for coordinating its development and usage for regional integration and sustainable development. In recent years South Africa , Botswana , Namibia , Ethiopia , and South Sudan have begun offering Swahili as
East African Federation - Misplaced Pages Continue
5502-610: The Crater Highlands in Tanzania. Somalia, Kenya, and Tanzania have a combined coastline of 4,985 kilometers on the Indian Ocean. If Somalia were to stabilize, the geography would be pertinent to an expansive port operation. [REDACTED] Dar es Salaam [REDACTED] Kampala The EAC contains 15 cities with populations of over one million (half of which are in Democratic Republic of
5633-671: The Kenya Defence Force , and the Kikuyu Guard during the Mau Mau Uprising . . Throughout the post colonial period, Kenya transitioned to a republic that consisted of two legislative chambers that was outlined in their Constitution created in the mid-1960s. Since its implementation, it has been amended to give the region a unicameral assembly that consists of ministers who sit in on the assembly. Corporal punishment , such as flogging , caning , and birching ,
5764-532: The Sultanate of Zanzibar . There are Swahili-based slangs, pidgins and creoles: In 1870, Edward Steere published Swahili Tales as Told by Natives of Zanzibar , a collection of 23 Swahili tales with facing-text English translation, along with a selection of proverbs and riddles. Some of the tales included are: " Kisa cha Punda wa Dobi, " "The Story of the Washerman's Donkey," also known as " The Heart of
5895-526: The Tanganyika African National Union used Swahili as a language of mass organisation and political movement. This included publishing pamphlets and radio broadcasts to rally the people to fight for independence. After gaining independence, Swahili was adopted as the national language. To this day, Tanzanians carry a sense of pride when it comes to Swahili, especially when it is used to unite over 120 tribes across Tanzania. Swahili
6026-473: The Arabic script (an unmodified version as opposed to proposals such as that of Mwalimu Sikujua) was relatively high. There were also differences in orthographic conventions between cities and authors and over the centuries, some quite precise but others different enough to cause difficulties with intelligibility. Thus despite a lack of official governmental backing, attempts at standardization and Swahilization of
6157-482: The Arabic script continued into the 20th century. Swahili nouns are separable into classes , which are roughly analogous to genders in other languages. In Swahili, prefixes mark groups of similar objects: ⟨m-⟩ marks single human beings ( mtoto 'child'), ⟨wa-⟩ marks multiple humans ( watoto 'children'), ⟨u-⟩ marks abstract nouns ( utoto 'childhood'), and so on. And just as adjectives and pronouns must agree with
6288-1082: The Colony and Protectorate from the 1880s included the East African Regiment which became the King's African Rifles ; the East African Military Labour Service 1915–1918; the East African Mounted Rifles during the First World War 1914–17; the East African Ordnance Corps; the East African Pay Corps; the East African Pioneer Corps; three East African Reconnaissance Regiments; the East African Artillery
6419-529: The Congo alone), the largest being Kinshasa. Kampala is the largest urban centre located on Lake Victoria , the second largest freshwater lake in the world and Mwanza coming in second and Kisumu third. The Treaty for the Establishment of an East African Community created four key goals of the community, later referred to as the "integration pillars". The first pillar is a customs union , introduced in 2005, which in theory allows for free trade within
6550-637: The Customs Union. Religions of the EAF Data comes from CIA World Factbook or 2020 Pew Research estimates. Swahili language Swahili , also known by its local name Kiswahili , is a Bantu language originally spoken by the Swahili people , who are found primarily in Tanzania , Kenya , and Mozambique (along the East African coast and adjacent littoral islands). Estimates of
6681-628: The EAC Heads of State adopted the Political Confederation model as a transitional step towards a full political federation. Since 2020, national consultations have been held in multiple EAC member states in order to draft the confederal constitution. At 5,449,717 km (2,104,147 sq mi)—including both the DRC and Somaliland—the EAF would be the largest country in Africa and seventh-largest in the world, replacing India . The EAF would span
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#17327730308526812-566: The EAC and Ethiopia were in the final stages of negotiation for admission into the bloc. This was later contradicted by Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Nebiu Tedla said that Ethiopia had made no request to join the EAC and that "the information is baseless." In addition, Kenyan President William Ruto raised the idea of Comoros joining the EAC while signing an agreement for deeper bilateral cooperation between Kenya and Comoros in July 2023. Comoros and existing member Tanzania have
6943-500: The EAC as per the treaty. Additionally, EAC insiders have stated that the DRC rarely takes part in meetings. DRC Foreign Minister Christophe Lutundula stated the DRC joined the EAC “for regional integration and economic reasons, but also to better plead the Congo’s security cause, where Rwanda is making its voice heard,” referencing the March 23 Movement , a successionist militia operating in
7074-672: The East African Communities lead Summit Chairperson. Deng Alor Kuol , the Minister for East African Community Affairs in South Sudan, is the current Chairperson of the EAC Council of Ministers. Veronica Nduva is the current Secretary General of the EAC, having been appointed on 7 June 2024 following Kenya's recall of former EAC Secretary-General Peter Mathuki for alleged misallocation of $ 6 million in funds from
7205-418: The East African Federation is eventually created. In September 2018, a committee of regional constitutional experts and drafters was formed to begin the process of drafting a regional constitution. The committee, led by retired Ugandan Chief Justice Benjamin Odoki and deputized by former Kenyan Attorney General Amos Wako , plans on holding consultations in every member state to lead with local stakeholders of
7336-427: The East African Kiswahili Commission (EAKC) which began operations in 2015. The institution currently serves as the leading body for promoting the language in the East African region , as well as for coordinating its development and usage for regional integration and sustainable development. Swahili is among the first languages in Africa for which language technology applications have been developed. Arvi Hurskainen
7467-424: The East African Road Construction Corps; the East African Scouts from March 1943, which served as 81st (West Africa) Division 's reconnaissance unit in Burma; the East African Signal Corps; the East African Army Service Corps, expanded quickly at the start of the campaign against Italy in 1941 from 300 to 4,600; the East African Transport Corps; the Kenya Armoured Car Regiment; the Kenya Regiment of white settlers;
7598-508: The Eastern DRC which has been found by multiple United Nations reports to have been militarily supported by both Uganda and Rwanda. The DRC recalled its ambassador to Kenya in December 2023 due to Kenyan President William Ruto denial of Rwandan involvement in the M23 offensive. On 9 May 2023, the drafting process resumed with a 20-day consultation with local stakeholders in Kenya. Salva Kiir disclosed on 7 June 2024 that consultations would be held in South Sudan in July 2024 and urged expediting
7729-413: The Federation initially fell through, Britain required Kenya that all facets of the settler economy be protected against neighboring countries (those attempting to conjoin with Kenya for the Federation). This posed a barrier to entry for Kenya and was one of several factors that prevented the Federation from unionizing in the 1960s. In the early 2010s, a federation of the current East African Community into
7860-408: The Governor as president, a Speaker as vice-president and 56 members. Of the 56, eight sat ex-officio, 18 were appointed by the Governor and took the government whip, 14 were elected Europeans, six were elected Asians, one was an elected Arab, and eight were appointed Africans sitting on the non-government side. There was one appointed Arab sitting on the non-government side. Military forces formed in
7991-413: The Indian pressed his case, white South Africa rose in alarm. If the Indian became a recognized man, landholder and voter in Kenya, what of Natal? The British Government speculated and procrastinated and then announced its decision: East Africa was primarily a "trusteeship" for the Africans and not for the Indians. The Indians, then, must be satisfied with limited industrial and political rights, while for
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#17327730308528122-439: The Indians asked rights, the whites replied that this would injure the rights of the natives. Immediately the natives began to awake. Few of them were educated but they began to form societies and formulate grievances. A black political consciousness arose for the first time in Kenya. Immediately the Indians made a bid for the support of this new force and asked rights and privileges for all British subjects—white, brown and black. As
8253-456: The Peace Fund at the Secretariat. In the 1920s, Colonial Secretary Leo Amery sought to create a white-ruled East African Dominion composed of Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika. The Permanent Mandates Commission , which oversaw Tanganyika (a mandated territory), opposed Amery's plan. The plan was opposed by nonwhite populations in Africa. In the early 1960s, around the time Kenya , Tanganyika , Uganda and Zanzibar were gaining independence from
8384-464: The Protectorate of Kenya. In this way, Kenya became an independent country under the Kenya Independence Act 1963, which established the independent Commonwealth realm of Kenya , with Queen Elizabeth II as head of state. Mzee Jomo Kenyatta was the first prime minister. On 26th May 1963, Kenya had its first elections and a new red, green, black and white flag was introduced. Exactly 12 months after independence, on 12 December 1964, Kenya became
8515-425: The UK ran concentration camps and "enclosed villages" in Kenya during the 1950s, where nearly the entire Kikuyu population was confined. Many thousands were tortured, murdered, or died from hunger and disease. The British government systematically destroyed almost all records of these crimes, burning them or dumping them at sea in weighted crates, and replaced them with fake files. However, Elkins's book later served as
8646-409: The UK. The Kenya Protectorate was established on 29th November 1920 when the territories of the former East Africa Protectorate which were not annexed by the UK were established as a British Protectorate. The Protectorate of Kenya was governed as part of the Colony of Kenya by virtue of an agreement between the United Kingdom and the Sultan dated 14 December 1895. In the 1920s, natives objected to
8777-574: The Uganda-DRC border, Lake Rukwa in Tanzania, and Lake Turkana in Kenya, amongst many smaller but still significant lakes. The lakes are a source of water vapour, and also lead to the formation of lake breeze systems , which affect weather across large areas of East Africa. The east to west river valleys within the rift system, including the Turkana Channel in northern Kenya and the Zambezi river valley, concentrate low-level easterly winds and accelerate them towards Central Africa . This leaves East Africa drier than it otherwise would be, and also supports
8908-486: The United Kingdom, the political leaders of the four nations had become interested in forming a federation. Julius Nyerere even offered in 1960 to delay the imminent independence of Tanganyika (due in 1961) in order for all of the East African territories to achieve independence together as a federation. In June 1963, Kenyan Prime Minister Jomo Kenyatta met with the Tanganyika President Julius Nyerere and Ugandan Prime Minister Milton Obote in Nairobi. The trio discussed
9039-486: The Zambia-DRC border, with feeder roads connecting DRC copper mines to the new railway. The East African Rift is the largest seismically active rift system on Earth today. This would make the EAF subject to many large earthquakes and volcanic activity. The EAF would include a number of active and dormant volcanoes, among them: Mount Kilimanjaro , Mount Kenya , Mount Longonot , Menengai Crater, Mount Karisimbi , Mount Nyiragongo , Mount Meru and Mount Elgon , as well as
9170-410: The academic year 2005/2006. Kiswahili is now used widely in Burundi but is not recognised as an official language; only French, Kirundi, and English have this distinction. Since 2013, Swahili has been included in the all Burundian education system. Uganda adopted Kiswahili as one of its official languages (alongside English ) in 2022, and also made it compulsory across primary and secondary schools in
9301-415: The alphabet system from Arabic to Latin. After the First World War, Britain took over German East Africa, where they found Swahili rooted in most areas, not just the coastal regions. The British decided to formalise it as the language to be used across the East African region (although in British East Africa [Kenya and Uganda] most areas used English and various Nilotic and other Bantu languages while Swahili
9432-413: The authority to suspend or expel member states that violate the confederal constitution. Key proponents of this confederation are primarily Kenya , Uganda , and Tanzania , with the additional interest of Rwanda , Burundi , and South Sudan . The concept has been under discussion for years, with leaders and policymakers addressing challenges such as differing political systems, economic disparities, and
9563-735: The black native—the white Englishman spoke! A conservative Indian leader speaking in England after this decision said that if the Indian problem in South Africa were allowed to fester much longer it would pass beyond the bounds of domestic issue and would become a question of foreign policy upon which the unity of the Empire might founder irretrievably. The Empire could never keep its colored races within it by force, he said, but only by preserving and safeguarding their sentiments. The population in 1921
9694-459: The central idea of tree , which is thin, tall, and spreading, comes an extension to other long or extended things or parts of things, such as mwavuli 'umbrella', moshi 'smoke', msumari 'nail'; and from activity there even come active instantiations of verbs, such as mfuo "metal forging", from -fua "to forge", or mlio "a sound", from -lia "to make a sound". Words may be connected to their class by more than one metaphor. For example, mkono
9825-515: The coast of East Africa played a role in the growth and spread of Swahili. With the arrival of the Arabs in East Africa, they used Swahili as a language of trade as well as for teaching Islam to the local Bantu peoples . This resulted in Swahili first being written in the Arabic script. The later contact with the Portuguese resulted in the increase of vocabulary of the Swahili language. The language
9956-432: The community. The second pillar, a common market , is the current phase of the EAC. The theoretical common market is defined by the treaty as a "single market in which there is free movement of capital, labour, goods and services." This involves the harmonization of monetary and fiscal policy including convertibility of currency, exchange rate policy, and interest rate policy. Integration and standardization in these facets of
10087-468: The continent from the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean , with a population of 343,328,958 as of 2024. Kinshasa would be the most populous city within the current member states by city limits and metropolitan area, with Dar es Salaam second by population within city limits and Nairobi second by population in the metropolitan area. The EAF would have significant fresh water reserves. Lake Victoria , currently split between Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya,
10218-468: The country. The Swahili language is not widespread in Somalia and has no official status nationally or regionally. Dialects of Swahili are spoken by some ethnic minorities on the Bajuni islands in the form of Kibajuni on the southern tip of the country and in the town of Brava in the form of Chimwiini ; both contain a significant amount of Somali and Italian loanwords. Standard Swahili
10349-662: The county governments, private sector, civil society, political leaders, clergy, and academia. This was launched with a five-day consultation meeting in Burundi from 14 to 18 January 2020, where it announced that a confederation constitution would be drafted by the end of 2021, with establishment by 2023. This was delayed by the accession of the DRC and the Covid-19 Pandemic. In April 2021, consultations were held in Uganda. In April 2020, Yoweri Museveni restated his desire for
10480-440: The culmination of the East African Federation in an address to the nation, reinforcing his stance that the East African Federation could provide political and economic benefits for the region. On 8 April 2022, the DRC officially acceded into the EAC and on 11 July 2022, DRC officially became a member. Since its accession, the DRC has failed to remit any money, owing US$ 14.7 million , and has yet to align its legal instruments with
10611-523: The date that Julius Nyerere adopted Swahili as a unifying language for African independence struggles. Swahili is a Bantu language of the Sabaki branch . In Guthrie's geographic classification , Swahili is in Bantu zone G, whereas the other Sabaki languages are in zone E70, commonly under the name Nyika. Historical linguists consider the Arabic influence on Swahili to be significant, since it takes around 15% of its vocabulary directly from Arabic , and
10742-431: The early 1960s but has not yet come to fruition for several reasons. Though the federation has not yet been established, many steps have been taken to advance this goal. Institutions and governing bodies already exist for the eventual union of these nations, with representatives from all of the related nations working together towards this common goal. A voluntary confederation will be formed as an intermediate step prior to
10873-419: The economy under a common market makes the area more economically appealing to a multinational corporation looking to operate in the region. Rather than navigating each member states' tax and fiscal policies, they would be dealing with one unified set of rules, leading to lower operating costs in the region. Following the customs union and common market, the EAC treaty states there is to be a monetary union under
11004-600: The election is not as heavily corrupted. An even more significant concern for this Union is the unilateral lack of free governance throughout the eight nations. According to the Freedom House metric system, Kenya and Tanzania boast the highest Freedom scores of the eight nations and still only rank as partly free. Censorship of media outlets, restriction of voter rights, ballot fraud, and more instances of voter repression are present in all states. Merging nations with such corruption and anti-democratic establishments could pose
11135-481: The entire world over". Although other bodies and agencies can propose new vocabularies, BAKITA is the only organisation that can approve its usage in the Swahili language. Tanzanians are highly credited for shaping the language to appear the way it is now. In Kenya, Kiswahili has been the national language since 1964 and is official since 2010. Chama cha Kiswahili cha Taifa (CHAKITA) was established in 1998 to research and promote Kiswahili language in Kenya. Kiswahili
11266-476: The establishment of a full political federation. In September 2018, a committee was formed to begin the process of drafting a regional constitution, and a draft constitution for the confederation was set to be written by the end of 2021 with its implementation by 2023. However, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted plans to draft and implement a constitution. On 9 May 2023, the drafting of the constitution resumed with
11397-421: The fevers of the tropics and here England proposed to send her sick and impoverished soldiers of the war. Following the lead of South Africa, Britain took usurped five million acres of the best lands from the 3,000,000 native inhabitants, herded them towards the swamps giving them nothing as compensation, even there, no sure title; then by taxation the British forced sixty percent of the black adults into slavery for
11528-508: The following: Maho (2009) considers these to be distinct languages: The rest of the dialects are divided by him into two groups: Maho includes the various Comorian dialects as a third group. Most other authorities consider Comorian to be a Sabaki language, distinct from Swahili. In Somalia , where the Afroasiatic Somali language predominates, a variant of Swahili referred to as Chimwiini (also known as Chimbalazi)
11659-442: The former are kisu "knife", kiti "chair" (from mti "tree, wood"), chombo "vessel" (a contraction of ki-ombo ). Examples of the latter are kitoto "infant", from mtoto "child"; kitawi "frond", from tawi "branch"; and chumba ( ki-umba ) "room", from nyumba "house". It is the diminutive sense that has been furthest extended. An extension common to diminutives in many languages is approximation and resemblance (having
11790-477: The founding of the confederation. Somalia applied for membership in the EAC in March 2012, and acceded in December 2023. Somalia ratified the agreement on 4 March 2024, thus becoming the eighth member of the EAC. As of 7 June 2024, Somalia is preparing to integrate into both the Customs Union and Common Market. Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta proposed expanding the EAC to include Ethiopia in 2022. Speaking at
11921-482: The gender of nouns in some languages with grammatical gender, so in Swahili adjectives, pronouns and even verbs must agree with nouns. This is a characteristic feature of all the Bantu languages . The ki-/vi- class historically consisted of two separate genders, artefacts (Bantu class 7/8, utensils and hand tools mostly) and diminutives (Bantu class 12/13), which were conflated at a stage ancestral to Swahili. Examples of
12052-473: The government was reformed to create a Council of Ministers as "the principal instrument of government". This council consisted of six official members from the civil service, two nominated members appointed by the governor, and six unofficial members appointed by the governor from among the members of the Legislative Council. Of the unofficial members, three were Europeans, two were Asian, and one
12183-613: The high rainfall in the Congo Basin rainforest . Regions of higher elevation, including the Ethiopian Highlands and the Kenyan Highlands are hotspots of higher rainfall amid the semi-arid to arid lowlands of East Africa. The eastern region of the DRC has plentiful mining operations, in particular the mining of cobalt . The mining sector of the EAC contributes around 2.3% of national GDP, with gold being
12314-529: The highest out of 81 countries. Integrating a region where so many regional dialects are spoken will be difficult and could inhibit some of the economic benefits of the EAC. These countries also vary greatly in terms of the adoption of democracy. Rwanda practically has closed elections with Paul Kagame having served as the president for the past 24 years and garnering over 99% of the vote in the 2024 general election to win his fourth term. In contrast, other member countries like Kenya host multi-party elections where
12445-583: The interior tend to use the Bantu equivalents. It was originally written in Arabic script . The earliest known documents written in Swahili are letters written in Kilwa , Tanzania , in 1711 in the Arabic script that were sent to the Portuguese of Mozambique and their local allies. The original letters are preserved in the Historical Archives of Goa, India . Various colonial powers that ruled on
12576-463: The language continues to have a tradition of being written in Arabic script. Starting from the later half of the 19th century, continuing into the 20th century, and going on in the 21st century, a process of "Swahilization" of the Arabic Script has been underway by Swahili scribes and scholars. The first of such attempts was done by Mwalimu Sikujua , a scholar and poet from Mombasa . However,
12707-526: The leaders of Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda and Burundi began a meeting in Kampala intending to draft a constitution for the East African Federation, but by December 2014, efforts for a full political federation had been pushed back to 2016 or later. In February 2016, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni described the union as "the number one target that we should aim at". In November 2016, the EAC Council of Ministers agreed to create an East African Confederation before
12838-466: The location of Eami has not yet been decided. The GDP (PPP) estimate would be US$ 1,027.067 billion, making it the 34th largest in the world and the third largest in Africa, following Nigeria and Egypt . The GDP (PPP) per capita estimate is approximately US$ 2,991, putting the East African Federation 172nd in the world. As of 7 June 2024, Salva Kiir Mayardit , the President of South Sudan , serves as
12969-421: The mechanics of conforming to the EAC's standards has posed economic issues for some countries seeking to join the EAC. The economic prosperity of the nations attempting to join here varies greatly, with Burundi holding the lowest GDP at approximately US$ 3 billion, more than 100 billion less than Kenya's GDP (US$ 115 billion). This discrepancy in wealth has impeded the less wealthy nations from conforming with some of
13100-626: The most likely to approve. 52% approved free movement of people, goods, and services while 49% approved a monetary union. Awareness of EAC Organs in Kenya is low; 43% had heard nothing of the EALA, with only 29% hearing "some" or "a great deal". 47% of Kenyans said that their EALA representatives should be elected directly instead of elected by the Kenyan Parliament . Surveying in May 2015 in Uganda found that 69% support free movement across borders in
13231-402: The name of the language ( سَوَاحِلي sawāḥilī , a plural adjectival form of an Arabic word meaning 'of the coasts'). The loanwords date from the era of contact between Arab traders and the Bantu inhabitants of the east coast of Africa, which was also the time period when Swahili emerged as a lingua franca in the region. Due to concerted efforts by the government of Tanzania , Swahili
13362-589: The need for a common legal framework. The East African Community has been putting forward initiatives to fast-track political integration since 2004. A special summit held in Nairobi on 27–29 August 2004 examined ways and means of accelerating the integration process through a fast-track mechanism. The summit set up a Committee to Fast-Track the EAC Political Federation, dubbed the Wako Committee, to carry out wide consultations and finalise
13493-422: The number of Swahili speakers, including both native and second-language speakers, vary widely. They generally range from 60 million to 150 million; with most of its native speakers residing in Tanzania. Swahili has a significant number of loanwords from other languages, mainly Arabic , as well as from Portuguese , English and German . Around 40% of Swahili vocabulary consists of Arabic loanwords, including
13624-668: The opening of the One Stop Border post in Moyale in 2020, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed affirmed his commitment to regional integration saying that the east African people are one people and economic integration is a key goal for the region to achieve so as to unlock its potential. In April 2023, Secretary General Peter Mathuki suggested the EAC should consider admitting Ethiopia following Somalia's accession. On 8 April 2024, Ministry of EAC Arid and Semi-arid Lands and Regional Development Cabinet Secretary Peninah Malonza claimed
13755-405: The original emphatic consonants /dˤ, sˤ, tˤ, ðˤ/ and the uvular /q/ , or lengthening a vowel, where aspiration would be used in inherited Bantu words. Swahili is now written in the Latin alphabet. There are a few digraphs for native sounds, ch , sh , ng ' and ny ; q and x are not used, c is not used apart from the digraph ch , unassimilated English loans and, occasionally, as
13886-626: The other classes may be placed in this class. The other classes have foundations that may at first seem similarly counterintuitive. In short, Borrowings may or may not be given a prefix corresponding to the semantic class they fall in. For example, Arabic دود dūd ("bug, insect") was borrowed as mdudu , plural wadudu , with the class 1/2 prefixes m- and wa- , but Arabic فلوس fulūs ("fish scales", plural of فلس fals ) and English sloth were borrowed as simply fulusi (" mahi-mahi " fish) and slothi (" sloth "), with no prefix associated with animals (whether those of class 9/10 or 1/2). In
14017-535: The population within these territories lives in urban areas. According to a 2013 published report, the monetary union was slated for 2023. However, due to Covid-19 and the admission of new member states such as the DRC and Somalia, the date for the implementation of the monetary union has been pushed back to 2031. This would involve the creation of an East African Central Bank, called the East African Monetary Institute (Eami) . Currently,
14148-402: The possibility of merging their three nations (plus Zanzibar) into a single East African Federation, declaring that this would be accomplished by the end of the year. Subsequently, discussions on the planning for such a union were initiated. Privately, Kenyatta was more reluctant regarding the arrangement and as 1964 came around, the federation had not come to pass. In May 1964, Kenyatta rejected
14279-521: The process of naturalization of borrowings within Swahili, loanwords are often reinterpreted, or reanalysed, as if they already contain a Swahili class prefix. In such cases the interpreted prefix is changed with the usual rules. Consider the following loanwords from Arabic: Similarly, English wire and Arabic وقت waqt ("time") were interpreted as having the class 11 prevocalic prefix w- , and became waya and wakati with plural nyaya and nyakati respectively. Swahili phrases agree with nouns in
14410-449: The region, and a majority also responded that the union would provide better job availability in the region. The population of the constituent parts of the theoretical EAC is composed of 65% under 30-year-olds. This youth bulge is anticipated to grow to 75% of the population under the age of 25 in this region by 2030. Compared to the global percentage of the population that falls under the age of 25, which sits at 42% currently, this reflects
14541-409: The region. In Burundi, 64% supported free movement among the region. A combined 56% of Ugandans thought the EAC "helps a lot", "helps somewhat", or "helps a little" in their country. 71% of Kenyans thought the EAC helps in some capacity while 57% of Tanzanians thought the EAC helps in some capacity. Outside of these countries, little polling has been done. A possible indicator of Congolese support however
14672-407: The region. While the Arabs were mostly based in the coastal areas, European missionaries went further inland spreading Christianity. As the first missionary posts in East Africa were in the coastal areas, missionaries picked up Swahili and used it to spread Christianity, since it contained many similarities with other indigenous languages in the region. During the struggle for Tanganyika independence,
14803-578: The reservation of the White Highlands for Europeans, especially British war veterans. Bitterness grew between the natives and the Europeans. Describing the period in 1925, the African–American historian and Pan-Africanist W. E. B. Du Bois wrote in an article which would be incorporated into the pivotal Harlem Renaissance text The New Negro , Here was a land largely untainted by
14934-658: The second highest exported product following petroleum in the fourth quarter of 2023. In the southeastern DRC lies the Copperbelt , known for its copper mining . Currently, the copper is majority exported via road with the exception of the Lobito Atlantic Railway , which stretches from Lobito , Angola to Kolwezi . The Lobito Corridor project, with $ 250 million in U.S. financial investment, would construct around 550 km (350 miles) of railway in Zambia along
15065-421: The specifics, it has been historically purported that around 16–20% of the Swahili vocabulary is derived from loan words, the vast majority Arabic , but also other contributing languages, including Persian , Hindustani , Portuguese , and Malay . Omani Arabic is the source of most Arabic loanwords in Swahili. In the text "Early Swahili History Reconsidered". However, Thomas Spear noted that Swahili retains
15196-619: The spread of a standardized indigenous variation of Arabic script for Swahili was hampered by the colonial takeover of East Africa by the United Kingdom and Germany . The usage of Arabic script was suppressed in German East Africa and to a lesser extent in British East Africa . Nevertheless, well into the 1930s and 1940s, rural literacy rate in Arabic script as well as a local preference to write Swahili in
15327-682: The standards set for the EAC. For instance, South Sudan took four years to accede to the EAC and still fails to meet many of the criteria set for the Community. The South Sudanese president has asked for aid from fellow member countries to meet these standards, citing a lack of staffing at customs, immigration, and revenue/tax collection as the main source for failure to meet the standards of the EAC integration process. Member nations have not been quick to help; nations such as Kenya and Uganda are still charging visa fees on South Sudanese citizens, something EAC countries are supposed to be exempt from as part of
15458-520: The ten thousand white owners for the lowest wage. Here was opportunity not simply for the great landholder and slave-driver but also for the small trader, and twenty-four thousand Indians came. These Indians claimed the rights of free subjects of the empire—a right to buy land, a right to exploit labor, a right to a voice in the government now confined to the handful of whites. Suddenly a great race conflict swept East Africa—orient and occident, white, brown and black, landlord, trader and landless serf. When
15589-408: The transition. Once the confederation is successful and stable, the ultimate goal would be to create the East African Federation, which would function as a fully unified political entity with a shared government, currency, and legal systems. Membership in the confederation will be voluntary, while membership in the future federation will be mandatory for all partner states. The confederation would have
15720-401: The voiced consonants have devoiced, though they are still written mb, nd etc. The /r/ phoneme is realised as either a short trill [ r ] or more commonly as a single tap [ ɾ ] by most speakers. [x] exists in free variation with h, and is only distinguished by some speakers. In some Arabic loans (nouns, verbs, adjectives), emphasis or intensity is expressed by reproducing
15851-418: The work on the political federation. The Committee presented its report to the summit on 29 November 2004. As a result of the consultative process, the office of Deputy Secretary-General responsible for Political Federation was established in 2006. Between 2006 and 2008, national consultations with stakeholders and various studies were undertaken to examine and facilitate political integration. On 20 May 2017,
15982-502: The world. Its population would be greater than that of Russia , Japan , Pakistan , Brazil , Mexico , and Indonesia , slightly surpass that of the United States , and be behind only India and China . Swahili has been proposed as an official lingua franca . The proposed capital is Arusha , a city in Tanzania close to the Kenyan border, which is also the current headquarters of the East African Community . Currently, 22% of
16113-461: The youth and opportunity of this region. Providing opportunities through the economically advantageous East African Community is paramount for the region and has been expressed as a driving force for the union. Support and awareness of EAC organs and federation plans remains low in member states. Surveying of Tanzania in 2012 revealed that only 45% of Tanzanians have heard somewhat or a lot about an East African Federation while 55% have heard nothing or
16244-470: Was African. The Executive Council continued in existence with all the members of the Council of Ministers also being members of the Executive Council. In addition, the Executive Council also included one Arab and two appointed Africans. The full Executive council retained certain prerogatives, including approving death sentences and reviewing draft legislation. The Legislative Council in 1956 consisted of
16375-430: Was estimated at 2,376,000, of whom 9,651 were Europeans, 22,822 Indians and 10,102 Arabs . Mombasa , the largest city in 1921, had a population of 32,000 at that time. The Mau Mau rebellion , that was a revolt against British colonial rule in Kenya, lasted from 1952 to 1960. The rebellion was marked by war crimes and massacres committed by both sides. Caroline Elkins's 2005 book, Britain's Gulag , uncovered that
16506-535: Was formalised in an institutional level when the Germans took over after the Berlin conference . After seeing there was already a widespread language, the Germans formalised it as the official language to be used in schools. Thus schools in Swahili are called Shule (from German Schule ) in government, trade and the court system. With the Germans controlling the major Swahili-speaking region in East Africa, they changed
16637-495: Was initially spread by Arab slave traders along the East African coast. The word `Swahili' comes from an Arabic name for the area, meaning "coasts": The core of the Swahili language originates in Bantu languages of the coast of East Africa. Much of Swahili's Bantu vocabulary has cognates in the Unguja , Pemba , and Mijikenda languages and, to a lesser extent, other East African Bantu languages . While opinions vary on
16768-586: Was mostly restricted to the coast). In June 1928, an inter-territorial conference attended by representatives of Kenya , Tanganyika , Uganda , and Zanzibar took place in Mombasa . The Zanzibar dialect was chosen as standard Swahili for those areas, and the standard orthography for Swahili was adopted. Estimates of the total number of first- and second-language Swahili speakers vary widely, from as low as 50 million to as high as 200 million, but generally range from 60 million to 150 million. Swahili has become
16899-524: Was part of the British Empire in Africa from 1920 until 1963. It was established when the former East Africa Protectorate was transformed into a British Crown colony in 1920. Technically, the "Colony of Kenya" referred to the interior lands, while a 16 km (10 mi) coastal strip, nominally on lease from the Sultan of Zanzibar , was the "Protectorate of Kenya", but the two were controlled as
17030-450: Was the primary legal punishment for many crimes used in colonial Kenya, particularly against young offenders. Though the metropolitan Colonial Office was sceptical of the use of such punishments, its unease did little to hinder their application by local authorities. Prisons were eschewed by most judges, due to the belief that it would erode the morality of convicts and consign them to a positive feedback loop of criminality. Corporal punishment
17161-571: Was used to strengthen solidarity within the nation, and remains to be a key identity of the Tanzanian people. Standard Swahili has five vowel phonemes : /ɑ/ , /ɛ/ , /i/ , /ɔ/ , and /u/ . According to Ellen Contini-Morava , vowels are never reduced , regardless of stress . However, according to Edgar Polomé , these five phonemes can vary in pronunciation. Polomé claims that /ɛ/ , /i/ , /ɔ/ , and /u/ are pronounced as such only in stressed syllables. In unstressed syllables, as well as before
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