The third anniversary of an East African crime passed by recently without anyone remarking on it. In early July 2021, eight Kenyans and a Ugandan arrested in Rwanda for hacking Equity Bank were handed eight-year jail terms and fined Rwf56 million (about $55,600 at that time). The nine were part of a 12-man gang arrested in 2019 by the Rwandan Investigation Bureau (RIB), which included three Rwandan nationals.
They deserve what they got, but there was a sliver of good news in their crime — it was an impressive example of cross-country collaboration. They are an unlikely example of what is beautiful about East Africa, and the contradictions of the region. It is a violent region.
War in South Sudan has sent nearly 1.5 million refugees fleeing to Uganda. They have turned the northwestern Uganda town of Bweyale into a lively and flourishing South Sudanese social and business community.
Somalis and Ethiopians have streamed to Kenya and Uganda. Refugees from the conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have streamed in large numbers to Tanzania, Uganda, and Rwanda. Burundi refugees fled in big numbers to Tanzania and Uganda.
The government in Kinshasa accuses Rwanda of backing the M23, the main rebel group of over 120, in eastern DRC, a charge Kigali denies. President Felix Tshisekedi has threatened more than once to invade Rwanda. Rwanda has told him he is playing with fire.
Going by how things turned out the last time Rwanda felt menaced by DRC, which ended in a Kiga.