One Stop Border: Africa's new border posts
New border infrastructures are currently being built in many regions of Africa. One Stop Border Posts (OSBPs) are located along expanded trade corridors across the continent and are fundamentally changing the face of borders Long waiting times and cumbersome bureaucratic processes are to be greatly accelerated.
Digitised control processes are also intended to increase national security. In addition, the increased use of drones is planned for the future to monitor the open border regions.
African states expect higher customs revenues and economic growth from the new border posts, but also more political control over remote border regions. Another aspect is closer cooperation with neighbouring countries: for East African countries, OSBPs also mean a step towards regional integration. In future, East African citizens will enjoy greater freedom of trade and travel within the region. But, while borders are opening up in some places, border closures are increasing in parallel: Kenya is currently erecting a 700 km border fence on the Somali border as an “anti-terror” measure.
“These boundaries created by colonialists should not separate communities that have lived together and cooperated for many years. (...) We should break down the borders drawn by our former colonial powers. East Africans are one people.”
