Ardhiziwa, officially the Federal Republic of Ardhiziwa, is a country located in the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered to the north by Ethiopia and South Sudan, to the northeast by Somalia, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south by Mozambique and Malawi, and the southwest by Zambia. It has a population of around 306.6 million people, making it the most populous country in Africa by far. It is also the 4th largest country in Africa, with a land area of 703,182 sq miles, behind Sudan. It’s capital is Arusha, located in Tanzania.
Ardhiziwa’s precursor was the East African Community (EAC), an intergovernmental organization consisting of numerous countries in East Africa. Plans were made for the EAC to be reformed into the “East African Federation”, a full political federation consisting of the member states of the EAC. However, the 2026 Sudanese Crisis between Sudan and South Sudan, an EAC member state, delayed this political federation from being established entirely. Instead, the countries of the EAC, then excluding South Sudan, united into the East African Federation in January of 2027, following the establishment of a monetary union. The EAF was often referred to as Ardhiziwa, rather than the Federation or anything similar. Initially, the Democratic Republic of the Congo applied to join the Federation, even though they had previously been planning to unite themselves with the Republic of the Congo. The president of the DRC promised negotiations with the ROC on how the ROC could potentially join EAF too, but the Congolese coup d’etat of 2027 prevented those negotiations. The new Congolese government, led by Joseph Alongi, strongly opposed both the DRC joining Ardhiziwa, and the unification of Ardhiziwa.
A brief civil war saw rebels swiftly overthrow a brief Ardhi military junta in 10 days, in the 2035 Ardhi Crisis. Only a month after the Ardhi Crisis, South Sudan joined the Federation, which was renamed to the Federal Republic of Ardhiziwa shortly after. The revelation of Ardhi support of rebels in the Kivu region (in the Kivu War) led to shelling of Ardhiziwa by the DRC, which in turn prompted a full-scale Ardhi invasion in 2036. Fighting lasted for 3 years before a peace agreement sponsored by the Federation of Ethiopia went into effect (called the Addis Ababa Accords). Following that, and after elections in 2043 bringing in a pro-Ardhi into the office of the president of the DRC, the DRC and Ardhiziwa began warming relations. The Democratic Republic of the Congo and Republic of the Congo merged in late 2044 into the United Republic of the Congo. The United Republic then asked Ardhi officials if they could join the Ardhiziwa, and Ardhiziwa accepted the request. On March 20, 2045, the United Republic joined Ardhiziwa.
Since the unification of Ardhiziwa, and the Kivu War, the Ardhi Human Development Index has ranked among the highest in all of Africa, and the highest in Sub-Saharan Africa, at 0.80. It ranks high in life expectancy, years of education, and GDP. It maintains the fastest growing economy in the world, and has been ranked as one of the least corrupt nations in Africa, but its per capita income remains far below the world average, similar to most African nations. Nevertheless, Ardhiziwa's economic growth has never ceased, and while the "Ardhi Miracle" has generally been seen to represent rapid economic growth in Ardhiziwa, its levels of growth have barely fallen. Universal healthcare and positive human rights are present, and it is a well-known example of democracy in Africa. Ardhiziwa is generally considered to be one of the most Westernized African nations, and maintains close ties with the West. Ardhiziwa is a member of the United Nations, the African Union, the OIF, and the East African Community. It is also an AfDB Beneficiary country.
History (wip)[]
1st East African Community and 2nd EAC (1967-2022)[]
The first recognized predecessor to the first East African Community (which lasted from 1967-1977) was the East African Currency Board, a currency union of Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania (albeit only the mainland portion, as Tanganyika), all of which were British colonies at the time. It was succeeded by the East African High Commission, which was formed in 1948 and formalized cooperation between the three territories. Just before most of the territories became independent nations, they proceeded to form the East African Commons Services Organization, in 1961, replacing the EAHC. Finally, the first East African Community was formed in 1967, with all member nations being sovereign. Each of the organizations provided a common currency, a customs union, and other measures of cooperation between member states.
However, a period of decline began in the East African Community, generally considered to have begun in the early 1970s. One specific date for the beginning of its decline was January 25, 1971, when General Idi Amin overthrew the Ugandan leader, Milton Obote, and installed himself as a dictator of the nation. This date is generally chosen because Tanzania generally favored Milton Obote as a leader, and did not want to see a military junta representing Uganda. However, many other factors are known to have led to its downfall, such as Kenya demanding more seats than Uganda and Tanzania in decision-making, and the different economic systems between Tanzania, which was socialist, and Uganda and Kenya, both of which were capitalist. These differences may have been highly exacerbated due to the international tensions regarding the Cold War.
The EAC dissolved in 1977, without any successor. In October of 1978, Uganda and Tanzania would erupt into open warfare when Amin had Ugandan forces invade Tanzania and annex the town of Kagera. Tanzania formally declared war, counter-attacked, recaptured Kagera, and proceeded to invade Uganda and overthrow Amin by force. Damage to both countries in the war was severe. Not long after Amin’s defeat, the Ugandan Bush War, an effort to re-oust Milton Obote, began in October of 1980. Tanzania initially supported Uganda, up until a coup that ousted Milton Obote and replaced him with General Tito Okello in July 1985. The National Resistance Movement/Army, which was the main rebel group in the war, refused to compromise with Okello’s government, and now with assistance from Tanzania and many communist nations, the NRA captured the Ugandan capital, Kampala, and ended the war. The NRA’s Uganda would set up a Rwandan Tutsi rebel group, consisting of Rwandan Tutsi refugees who helped the NRA gain power, and the rebel group, the Rwandan Patriotic Front, would invade Rwanda in October of 1990 and start the Rwandan Civil War.
Despite the collapse of the EAC, its former member states still intended to engage in cooperation with each other. Thus, on November 30, 1993, the heads of state for the nations, Daniel arap Moi of Kenya, Ali Hassan Mwinyi of Tanzania, and Yoweri Kaguta Museveni of Uganda, signed the Treaty of East African Cooperation in Kampala. This established the Tripartite Commission for Cooperation. Ties between the 3 began to increase again as a result. The TCC was eventually reformed into the second East African Community in 1993, when a treaty for the EAC’s re-establishment was signed exactly 6 years after the TCC’s creation. The EAC was officially re-established on July 7, 2000, over a score after the first EAC’s collapse. A customs union was made again, and a common system of tariffs for third world countries was established for the EAC. Burundi and Rwanda were moved into the organization on July 6, 2009.
By July of 2011, South Sudan had applied, shortly after gaining independence from Sudan following a referendum done in January of 2011. South Sudan was considered to be a likely candidate for joining the EAC, as shown by various signs of South Sudan moving dependence from Sudan to EAC member nations. South Sudan’s lack of economic development, along with its severe internal conflict, and many other factors, delayed its accession into the Community until April of 2016, despite most members of the Community being on board with the idea. On September 5, 2016, South Sudan formally joined the East African Community. However, civil war in South Sudan would continue until February of 2020. In addition, the Democratic Republic of the Congo was seen as a potential member of the EAC, despite it spanning all the way to the western coast of Africa. The DRC applied for the EAC in June of 2019- two years later, the EAC began a verification mission to see if they should join. Eventually, on July 11, 2022, the DRC joined the East African Community.
The EAC also had various applicants for the EAC, and many aspiring members, including (but not limited to) Mozambique, Zambia, Ethiopia, Somalia, Angola, Malawi, and Sudan (although Sudan’s application was declined, due to alleged persecution of black Africans and disputes with South Sudan and Uganda).