Fan-Fiction: The East African Federation Options

[Svea Rike]

The continent of Africa has long been troubled with rebels, disease and war. Africa is the only populated continent that has not had a proper superpower over the years, and has been seen as the underdog for many centuries. In the past, the continent has been colonized and used by other superpowers to gain more power and influence in the world, and it was seen that the country with the most land in Africa would dominate the Central World. Even after the many colonized regions became independent during the 20th century, things did not go so well. Without a proper parent country to look after the regions, local warlords and dictators rushed in to grab power. Even though many were toppled and countries were given relief efforts, the population was still not quite happy. They wanted true independence, no help from any foreign nation. During the 21st century, one lucky nation received just that. The East African Federation.

Federation of Eastern Africa

Leader: The Federal Council
Capital: Dodoma
Population: 125,000,000 (2045 estimate)
Manpower: 3,000,000


The countries of Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique had it bad in the modern Africa, but not the worst. Local guerilla groups and terrorist organizations ran rampant across the countries, and it seemed like they would never disappear. The countries’ saving grace was the Global Liberation Army though (quite ironically). Because of the Global War on Terror, the United States of America sent several thousand men down to the Horn of Africa in order to subjugate the pro-GLA organizations there, and hopefully bring stability to the country. Their naval forces moved through the Suez Canal, while land forces moved from South Africa, up through the countries. During the way the US decided to gain some allies by hunting the guerillas in the troubled countries. When they were through, most of the terrorists had been subjugated and the countries were stable again. As a thank you, Kenya promised to deliver minerals and raw materials to the United States when needed. The US was much obliged.

However, all was not safe. The Global War on Terror and the GLA spread into Africa. While the Horn might have been stabilized, the Central African countries became plagued with GLA fundamentalists trying to topple the governments. As the US prepared to move into the Congo, they suddenly initiated a mass retreat from the continent. Left with no supporters, the President of Kenya met with the leaders of Tanzania and Madagascar – Mozambique had already been drawn into the conflict in the southern regions and became unstable – and came forth with a proposition. He wanted to create a unified country in eastern Africa that would stand as a superpower amidst the chaos. Kenya, Tanzania – and later Madagascar – accepted the proposal and created the East African Confederation, a joint military, economic and scientific alliance between the three countries as well as several other island nations in the Indian Ocean. In the end, they hoped to create a full-fledged standing federation, born out of the three nations.

The leaders of the Confederation were situated in a Federal Council, consisting of the leaders of the member nations. The countries were at this point not yet fully unified, so the countries still had their own governments and capitals, but they were led by the Federal Council and the Confederation itself. When the GLA’s Death Merchant created his haven for terrorists in Central Africa, local fighting and proxy wars happened on the border. The nations issued national conscription, which bolstered their army but started civil unrest in the less stabilized nations. In-fighting, city riots and GLA-supporters became a common sight in the major cities. The governments issued a full relocation of all scientific and educational facilities to the much more stable island of Madagascar, which became their new home. Later the same year, the European Continental Alliance initiated their Operation ‘Nemesis’, which triggered the African Resource Rush. Closest to the Confederation were the Chinese, who made landfall in the Horn of Africa and Egypt. With less pressure on their northern borders, the EAC could concentrate all their manpower on defending the border with the GLA. The EAC was however unable to withstand the pressure from the fundamentalists. The Americans and Chinese came forth with a proposal; if they would be allowed to station a contingent of troops in Kenya from the Pacific Peace Alliance, they would provide support for the anti-terrorist operations they conducted. The EAC accepted.

Just a year later, the PPA retreated from Kenya after a massive failure in Russian-occupied Africa. The GLA had re-emerged at the borders and the EAC found itself in a desperate situation. In the nick of time, Russian President Suvorov approached the EAC with a partnership offer. The Russians would protect the EAC in exchange for their resources. The Federal Council accepted the offer, and more than 150,000 Russian soldiers arrived in Kenya and Tanzania the next month. Unexpectedly, the Russian military took control of most of the cities’ public utilities, telecommunications and police force. They even banged down the hatches on the newly erected Dodoma Parliament, seat of the Confederation’s government. On TV, people could witness Suvorov have an awkward conversation with a member of the Council, who was obviously uncomfortable being in a room where 90% of the armed agents were Russian. Protests emerged, both peaceful and violent, across the countries.

Russian tanks arriving in Nairobi

The Russians put a certain nationalist general whose name remains unknown to this day in charge of cleaning up the protests. On one particular day in the town of Tanga, the protests became so violent the general ultimately snapped and ordered his troops to open fire on the protestors. In what became known as the Tanga Massacre, thousands of peaceful and violent protestors were massacred by bullets fired from AK-74s, wielded by foreign soldiers who had no right to be on their soil. The corpses flooded the sewers with blood, which drained into the ocean. The people believed the city had been cursed, because the sea had turned blood-red. This sparked even more violent protests, even from the religious community who believed this was an act of Satan, and the Russians needed to move away from the Confederation. Suvorov of course had the gung-ho general departed, fired and trialed for his act of murder, but the situation in the EAC continued to go in an anti-Russian favor. Soon, the Russians were pushed to the brink, and Suvorov were forced to move them all into the pro-Russian South Sudan, where the overabundance of troops and shortage of supplies ultimately led to Russia’s retreat from Africa. The stability in the Confederation had returned, but the governments now realized they could trust no foreign power of helping them. They also believed all Caucasian people were like this, and the population grew negative relations with the white citizens. A sort-of ‘mirror apartheid’ developed, where the black had more rights than the white. This caused much heated debate in the Federal Council, the Parliament and even the United Nations, who believed all people in the world would not have to put up with such a situation again – which was probably the most interesting political debate the organization had cared about for the last couple of years.

In the end, the white were given just as many rights as the black, because the governments had more important things to take care of. With the loss of two great potential alliances, the Confederation was now on an unspecified path which could lead to either the desired goal of unification or civil war. Preparations were taken and the Parliament did their best to ensure the upcoming poll would be in favor of unifying the nations. The country of Mozambique had interest in joining the EAC, but a GLA incursion into their southern regions and the absorption of their northern regions by Tanzania literally erased the country from the global map. Nonetheless, the poll was taken and it turned out more than 79% of the population felt that unifying the nations of the Confederation would be the best thing to do. So, in 2043, the East African Federation was born, and thus an African superpower was born. With a standing army of more than 3 million, the country could hold its fair share of ground against the GLA, and could resist pressure from the Chinese in the north.

Realizing a great threat could destroy their chances of success, Anwar Sulaymaan orders his cynical chemist Tahar Ibrahiim to “cause some trouble out east�. Ibrahiim ordered two of his best agents to smuggle a chemical bomb into the capital and near the Parliament. Should it be successful, the EAF would be left without leaders and be thrown into anarchy, little resistance for the GLA army to march over. However, unbeknownst to them, the EAF police force had received proper training and were able to identify and stop the truck delivering the bomb. The GLA terrorists were transported to Asia and Europe in order to face the proper authorities. As a thank you, the ECA presented the EAF with a joint task-force program. Several battalions of French Foreign Legionnaires, British SAS and the newly formed East African Army Elite Regiment would join forces in Central Africa to go on an anti-GLA campaign across the rainforest. However, when the operation was to be signed, no ECA military leaders or politicians showed up. Apparently, the Russian Federation had attacked the alliance. The EAF was now alone with no allies, with both the GLA and Chinese pushing on their borders. But, they knew they were going to make it as long as their population stayed united, strong and willing to do what is necessary.

The Dodoma Parliament, where the government resides

The unified countries presented the EAF with better solutions for their many problems. Using combined efforts, they rebuilt their infrastructure and provided better services for their population. Since pretty much the rest of Africa was destabilized, being under either warlord or foreign control, many people considered the EAF to be a last remaining safe haven for Africans. Millions of people migrated to the country, which created a population boom for the EAF. With the much-needed manpower boost, the EAF could bolster their forces and embark on a large anti-terrorist operation in the Congo and Horn of Africa. Thousands of pro-GLA soldiers were captured and sent to the proper authorities in Europe and Asia. With better living standards and peace in the country, the scientific community was attracted to the country. Universities, research complexes and labs were erected across the nation, were scientists flourished and they could continue their research on African animals and mineral extraction. Most prominently, after years of scientific research, scientists at the East African Institute of Biological Research were able to create a fully living Dodo bird. It was brought to its natural habitat, the island of Mauritius, were many of its brothers and sisters were born. Many tourists flocked to the EAF to witness the reborn bird, which boosted the EAF economy. It seemed as if Africa would finally get a modern superpower.

Today, at the height of the Russo-European War – where the ECA has just detonated their nuke and America has joined the war – the East African Federation stands as a glimmer of hope for the people of Africa, that true independence can be achieved and it is only a matter of time. The EAF itself can be described as a second-world country, with not the best infrastructure or services, but better than Central Africa.
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I was going to wait by uploading this, because I would need canon-check by MARS, but I couldn't wait by uploading it. So I did.
EDIT: I have made a major revision to the central part of the fan-fic, á la MARS and Crusher information further down.

This post has been edited by swedishplayer-97: 21 Oct 2013, 17:39

[Svea Rike]

Also, here's a news article I was going to include but I chose not to:

[MARS]

Gonna give this a proper read tomorrow, but that faux-website looks pretty neat. Would be cool to see more of that kinda stuff or maybe an in-universe conspiracy or pop-culture website as well. I've prepared some Africa-related lore for a future GLA update, but the East African Federation doesn't receive a lot of coverage in it, so chances are much of your story might be compatible for lack of actual canon. Still, more on that tomorrow or early next week. Nice work though.

[MARS]

Okay, gave this a read now. I definitely like the premise of an African nation rising out of the chaos mostly via its own power without remaining a client state of either of the superpowers. I do however feel that the Russian invervention seems uncharacteristically brutal and reckless for ROTR's version of Russia and Suvorov. He didn't make himself out to be a blatant imperialist who strongarms people into submission as a standard MO, so him deploying troops into a sovereign country and bullying its leaders into a partnership seems a bit extreme. Instead, the whole thing should start out as a purely diplomatic deal between the two governments, but you could explain that the local political opposition is against it because they don't want the newly created EAF to instantly marginalise itself to a puppet state. As for the massacre, you could keep that in, but it'd be more fitting if you marked it down as the failure of some particularly gung-ho Russian Army general (just make one up) who jumped the gun and got subsequently reprimanded by the President. The public opinion would remain anti-Russian despite the gesture, thus putting pressure on the EAF government and explaining how the Russians got driven out of Africa that quickly once the GLA showed up; the population went up in arms against them, so their government had to urge the Russians to leave in order not to be swept away by GLA sympathisers. Rest is good though, even the part with the dodo although I went with this flag for my upcoming update. It also explains that the states were consolidated into a proper federation -after- the Russian retreat, but you could describe the previous state as a provisional confederation that was already far in the process of integration before the Russians arrived and disappeared. Just move the timeframe a little, maybe deliver the details on the exact nature of the federation to the point after 2041.

[Svea Rike]

Ah yes. I also thought about that after I re-read the story. I'll probably edit it later. And I also chose the other flag because the one you showed doesn't have the proper countries in the middle.

[__CrUsHeR]

A fanfiction with great potential, I also like the idea of an African superpower, actually I believe it would be the second because South Africa certainly has become a regional superpower.

You could explain a little better why the nations joined instead of going straight to the point - the idea of facing a common enemy, the GLA, is good - Russian intervention in the country also pleases me.

[Svea Rike]

Independent superpower, dear Crusher. I will edit it a little later with the points you and MARS said, and thanks for interest!

[__CrUsHeR]

Independent superpower, dear Crusher. I will edit it a little later with the points you and MARS said, and thanks for interest!

Hmmm, yes, I believe that should exist willpower on the part of African governments to constitute an independent nation in Africa, however their existence as 'independent in fact' seems not likely because Africa has become the cue ball in the game interests between the developed nations. Anyway you reported well the foreign intervention in this process.

[Svea Rike]

Isn't South Africa controlled by the United States? I believe that wouldn't make it independent.

[__CrUsHeR]

Isn't South Africa controlled by the United States? I believe that wouldn't make it independent.

Yes, it is controlled by the USA. The new federation could aspire the desire to be 'independent' but who would give approval for such action? Foreign powers would allow this to occur? Remember that the African continent is coveted by all parties involved in ROTR, and maybe they do not have an interest in the existence of an independent superpower in the region. I find interesting this fanfiction in the sense that shows an attempt at independence by the nations in Africa, however in practice it is hard to materialize the dream since it would drastically change the 'balance of power' in the continent most troubled in ROTR.

How well you mentioned the Russia intervened in his favor trying to align the newly created federation, certainly other potential rivals would also manipulate the government in order to align the nation, in the end the state would split as in the case of Ukraine, perhaps decades later when the pressure decreases in the region any nation would support its independence in fact constitute a powerful autonomous state.

Just a rational analysis of the situation in Africa, but I see this federation as a dream has failed in the way for foreign forces.

[Svea Rike]

You prove a valid point, yet remember that in the fan-fiction, the East African Federation is presented as a regional superpower with enough money and manpower to hold its own in the colony conflict. It did have several short-lived alliances with Russia and the United States, which proves their interest in the nation, and the Chinese are pushing tight on their borders. Perhaps the Chinese are in no need to control the EAF since they already have a large portion of land in their occupied territories, and they did steal minerals from the EAF convoys.

As improbable as it may sound, an independent nation rising in Africa amidst all chaos is more interesting than yet another sub-nation being subdued by another superpower. You also said a split like with Ukraine, I believe this is not the case because the population is stated to be happy with the current situation, and would want anything but a split with foreign intervention, as per the protests.

Also, just above, MARS said it is entirely reasonable for the EAF to become independent, and that's why I believe it should stay that way. He is the master behind the lore, after all.

I will now edit some things in the fan-fic, most prominently changing the Russians' approach to becoming a partner with the EAF, some partnership differences and a little bit here and there.

This post has been edited by swedishplayer-97: 21 Oct 2013, 14:05

[MARS]

Little bit of clarification:
It's never been specified how much control the global superpowers actually hold over their client states in Africa. Personally, I always imagined that the local governments made agreements with the superpowers which may or may not be skewed in their favour, so it's not a literal revival of colonialism where all of these African countries have lost their sovereignty and are under de-facto rule of a foreign power. My own personal breakdown would be like this:

ECA client states: Very dependent on Europe since the ECA literally invaded North Africa and installed likeminded regimes, however, they also invested a lot of money to develop and modernise the region, so it's not purely based on exploitation. The ECA client states do have their own rulers and laws and they can do their own thing as long as they stay in line with the ECA.

Chinese client states: It's possible that China used its power to strongarm the local governments of Egypt and North Sudan into making agreements that are legal and bilateral on the basis of international law, but factually lobsided in favour of Chinese business interests. The only area that is literally occupied and governed by the Chinese themselves is Somalia, Djibouti and Eritrea, supposedly to protect the coastal region from pirate interference.

US client states: These agreements are purely brokered by politicians and businesspeople on both sides. The American client states - South Africa in particular - largely do their own thing, but America is their most important superpower ally, so the US do have the right to run military and intelligence agencies in these countries.

Russian client states: Pretty much the same as the Americans but the local population is broadly against it whereas American activities are regarded positively or with apathy.

[Svea Rike]

I have edited the main post now and I believe this version is better.

[__CrUsHeR]

I have edited the main post now and I believe this version is better.

Very good your revision, it became very consistent and plausible - in fact made ​​me think of this possibility - I also liked the flag, unique.

The MARS could make an updated map of Africa with this new configuration.

[Svea Rike]

Actually, I believe it already is on the map:

[__CrUsHeR]

Actually, I believe it already is on the map:

Ah yes, as I did not realize this before...

[Pepo]

now is better but i think that there are two problems:
-gla became powerfull after taking down central africa from russia,therefor it makes no sense that russia sent troops to africa when they were already retreating
-i think is a bit idealistic:africa suffer a lot of problems of corruption and dictatorships.i like the first text were you mention a oligarchy(i'm not sure if his spell like that)were few govern.also i think that you should have mention african traditions,there are still some very traditional people in africa

[Svea Rike]

now is better but i think that there are two problems:
-gla became powerfull after taking down central africa from russia,therefor it makes no sense that russia sent troops to africa when they were already retreating
-i think is a bit idealistic:africa suffer a lot of problems of corruption and dictatorships.i like the first text were you mention a oligarchy(i'm not sure if his spell like that)were few govern.also i think that you should have mention african traditions,there are still some very traditional people in africa

I believe the GLA were powerful all along. It is just that after they took out Russia they really started showing themselves.
I am interested in different government types, and it would be nice to see an oligarchy in the story.
Ah yes, I should have mentioned traditions, but I wouldn't think they would change enough to be relevant to mention.

[MARS]

^ You could argue that ROTR's version of Russia used to be a kleptocratic oligarchy before Suvorov came to power.