The Horn of Africa and African Great Lakes:
Far from the ratcheting tensions between the Russian Empire, the European Union, and the Republic of China and less of a priority to Russian interests, the east of Africa has none-of-the-less become one of the most dynamic places in the world and up until recent events in North America has been one of the greatest sources of break out states in the world. The nations of East Africa suffered greatly from the Collapse, and yet after the worst of the Collapse they were free of heavy foreign influence and could remake themselves in a way that helped their people, instead of the Great Powers who would seek to exploit them. Now the East African nations manage alliances and trade deals between each other and reach out to other powers on their own terms, seeking to forge their own path in a completely new world.
History: From Horrors to Hope
East Africa of the 2010s was a place of rapid economic growth, but also smoldering tensions. Africa's population was young and burgeoning and could serve as a great asset to the nations, provided infrastructure could keep up. The two greatest powers of the world, the late United States and People's Republic of China, became interested in boosting Africa's potential growth and the states of Africa could try to benefit from the interest. On the other hand, governments in East Africa were frequently corrupt and flawed democracies, and were vulnerable to the large foreign powers and constantly strained by poor resource distribution. In truth, African nations were on a knife's edge, between being able to play a new Scramble of Africa to their own benefit, to falling victim to foreign powers and internal turmoil. But for the decade, the nations in East Africa were generally able to manage the Scramble with impressive skill, until the American Sovereign Default Crisis sent the world into chaos.
By the 2020s, the United States was mired in recession and could not afford any resources to focus any influence in Africa, the Russian Federation had collapsed into civil war, and the African nations were truly left alone with the People's Republic of China. At this point, China was experiencing greater instability due to the growing economic chaos and in its desperation, it tried to alleviate some of its internal socioeconomic turmoil by increasing their exploitation of Africa. Particularly for East African nations, China threw away the fig leaf of a partnership and fully committed to a neocolonialist mindset for acquiring resources from the countries. Chinese money completely bought out East African governments, and Chinese troops repressed African people. So while East Africa continued to experience rapid economic growth, almost none of it was going back to the African communities, and internal violence was barely contained.
These conditions would not last, as the Communist party struggled to deal with growing Chinese anger and increasingly more coordinated African rebels. The PRC started pulling their support out of East Africa by the late 2020s, and abruptly cut all contact when the Bayou Plague[@] reached the region through the Nile River in July 2035. Without the intense suppression from China, support from the dying United States, and the surging Russian Empire distracted elsewhere, the region exploded into a conflagration of violence and death. Nations reeled as their patron vanished and the intercommunity tensions and climate degradation hit with full force. The Democratic Republic of Congo collapsed in October 2035 and this would spark the Second Great African War when other desperate African nations tried to plunder the ruins of the country. The war lasted a little over two years and resulted in 8 million deaths, only ending in a stalemate because the belligerents had all exhausted themselves. Ethiopia descended into an ethnic civil war in February 2038, Ebola became endemic throughout East Africa, and the Great Lakes nations were brought low by famine. By 2043, only a few key alliances of municipalities would have anything like stable control, and the rest would be a free-for-all. It seemed like East Africa's potential star had faded to oblivion.
The light was reignited in the most unlikely of places; Somalia had collapsed into a coalition of city states far sooner than the rest of East Africa, being both a victim of Chinese and later Ethiopian encroachment in the 2020s. But when Ethiopia exploded into a Yugoslavia-like civil war, the city states rallied together under a rekindling of the Dervish movement in 2039. By 2044, the city states turned into a formal confederation along with Djibouti and executed peacekeeping campaigns in Ethiopia's Somali region (which they later annexed). The successful execution of this strategy caught the attention of Oman and the Mataram Sultanate and negotiations between the two sides begun. While Oman and the Sultanate were far richer than Somalia, Somalia's larger size meant that negotiations between them were on even ground. By Somalia acquired needed green technologies and modern infrastructure, while Oman and the Sultanate were able to secure their own positions with the help of the Somalian military.
By the 2050s, the worst of the Collapse had passed, and other states began to recover. The Russian Empire sought to both secure the route to the Suez Canal and assure continued stability in the Upper Nile and supported what was left of the Ethiopian government to restabilize their lands in 2051 and secured them a coast to deter Yemeni piracy[#]. Meanwhile, the Great Lake communities and the coastal cities increased trade and established a formal alliance in 2052. By 2056, the city states and statelets came together under a single constitution as the East African Federation. The late 2050s and 2060s would see the states of East Africa continue to organize and develop as they traded and jostled between one another. And by 2070, Africa has made itself known.
Modern East Africa as of 2075:
Nowadays, East Africa is home to some breakout powers who are all thoroughly uninterested in participating in the developing three-pronged cold war. After repairing the damage from the Collapse, the nations are finally looking outward on their own terms and are communicating with many of the nations in the world.
The Federated Empire of Ethiopia: As a nation that received significant Russian aid in the 2050s, Ethiopia is a one-party state that abides to most of the Russian Empire's wishes. It works with the Russian navy to assure safe passage through the Red Sea and acts as Russia's carrot and stick regarding relations with Egypt [$]. However, Ethiopia is a grudging client state, as the government is still angered by the loss of Somali West but is reined in by the Russian Empire. Still, they willfully rejected the Commonwealth delegates, showing no care for the events occurring in North America.
The Islamic Confederacy of Somalia: Somalia has come a long way from the early 21st century and has benefited massively from the support of Oman and the Mataram Sultanate. Now a constitutional monarchy headed by a descendant of Mohammed Abdullah Hassan, its small but advanced national military frequently ships out to Vietnam and Malaysia in various efforts to support its PACS allies. Despite this, Somalia's economy is extremely reliant on foreign support, especially to help restore their devastated semi-arid and arid ecosystems. To deal with this, Somalia has diversified its foreign relationships and has heavily focused on strengthening relations with India. It has reached some feelers to Europe and China, but sharing a border with a Russian client has given them significant pause.
East African Federation: With a large amount of fertile land and preexisting negotiations, the EAF was uniquely able to recover without too much foreign support. It is an ever changing democracy—if a bit on the conservative side. The country initially more parochial ideologies but they have begun to hit some political limits as the ideologies have poorly coped with the new world. The spread of green technology has been slow as endemic companies have worked to limit it via lobbying and its opinionated views on various subjects have made foreign relationships lukewarm at best. Meanwhile Pan-Africanism is gaining ground in the country especially among the younger generation. Still, the EAF is following a far more independent foreign strategy and has made contacts with every power in the world.
[@] I didn't see a name for the plague that struck New Orleans, so I just threw in some crappy name. I can change it if it's bad.
[#]To help alleviate the initial issue of Somalia's annexation of Ethiopia lands, they helped Ethiopia annex Eritrea and gain access to green tech.
[$] The carrot part involves making sure the Nile River receives enough water to keep Egypt alive, while the stick is pressuring Egypt if they get too friendly with Europe.
-------------------------------
A/N: So here's some attempt at describing the political conditions of a part of Africa. I reduced my view to a very specific part of Africa, because I doubt I wouldn't be able to do justice to the whole continent. I assumed that Africa would probably recover faster than North America since there isn't a Victoria going around crushing any attempt at rebuilding. But maybe I'm totally off my rocker. Up to you PoptartProdigy
