{UAH} She stole my heart, then she took my money too... - Comment - www.theeastafrican.co.ke

http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/OpEd/comment/She-stole-my-heart-then-she-took-my-money-too/-/434750/1928206/-/wl9pwo/-/index.html

Editors and columnists receive all sorts of e-mails every day, but once in a while one comes along that blows their socks away.

I received such an e-mail from a brother in South Sudan. He argued very eloquently that there could soon be what he described as ''Possible East African Civil War over Cross-Border Women."

After a good chuckle, I paid serious attention because clearly this was no laughing matter for him.

DV, to abbreviate his name, told me that Kenyan and Ugandan women are breaking the hearts of South Sudanese men in record numbers.

In his case, he was married to a Kenyan woman for six years, he wrote. They "married in a lavish church wedding in Kenya," he revealed, and moved to South Sudan when his country became independent.

She started a small business, made some money, then abandoned him and took her cash back to Kenya with her.

"Many women from both Kenya and Uganda have joined this illicit business of getting married to South Sudanese for commercial purposes," he wrote with indignation.

Sometimes, when the Kenyan and Ugandan women arrive in South Sudan, they claim they are single, then hook up with a Sudanese man. However, some months down the road, their Kenyan or Ugandan husbands show up in Juba, writes DV, "causing a lot of violent domestic conflicts."

The East African women are also threatening the internal harmony of the new nation, DV wrote: "A third category of these [Kenya and Ugandan] women move from one man to another chasing riches, causing conflicts among South Sudanese men."

Closing in grand fashion, DV implored me to bring this grave matter to light "and save a lot of lives," before war breaks out between South Sudan and Kenya and Uganda.

Of course as someone who is a great believer in the freedom of movement of people, goods, and services in the region, I will be the last person to write against cross-border romance — even of the illicit variety.

But DV did offer us some interesting insights into South Sudan that make a good case for admitting it into the East African Community.

Over the past 50 or so years before South Sudan's Independence in July 2011, millions of its citizens were refugees in Kenya and Uganda.

Some refugee communities are often changed little by their host countries. They maintain strong links to home, and mostly intermarry among themselves. It seems the South Sudanese became more assimilated into Kenyan and Ugandan culture, developing an appreciation for the local women, which they have taken back home with them.

Seems the new nation is strewn with many Kenyan and Ugandan in-laws. As EAC members, East African courts could help them recover some of their loot from absconding Kenyan and Ugandan partners.

The South Sudanese border officials also seem to have the same attitude toward female cross-border informal traders as the Kenyans and Ugandans. In fact, most African border officials do.

Generally, "mama mbogas" crossing borders are hassled less by officials, because they are considered more bona fide traders.

The men tend to attract more suspicion — they could be (and frequently are) car thieves, rebels, or opposition activists in flight. How more East African could South Sudan be?

Charles Onyango-Obbo is Nation Media Group's executive editor for Africa & Digital Media. E-mail: cobbo@ke.nationmedia.com. Twitter: @cobbo3