Rwanda — Where an ID card became a murder weapon, and what the nation did after
The ID card issued by Belgian colonial authorities listed ethnic group. In 1994, that card was used to categorize…
Ethiopia — The only African country never colonized, and has its own calendar seven years behind the world
Ethiopia maintained independence throughout the period when European powers divided Africa, and still uses its own calendar, script…
Somalia — The world's weakest passport, and a passport-issuing territory that almost no one recognizes
Somalia's passport ranks near the bottom of every ranking. But the more instructive data lies in Somaliland — a territory that operates like…
Djibouti — Small nation hosting military bases of multiple superpowers simultaneously
Djibouti has fewer than a million people yet hosts permanent military bases of multiple superpowers on the same land. This is…
Comoros — Where the citizenship-selling industry and statelessness meet, and break
Comoros once sold citizenship in batches to Gulf countries to grant to stateless people living there. This was the…
Tanzania — The world's second nation formed from two countries, and the nation that naturalized the most refugees
In 1964, Tanganyika and Zanzibar united into one nation — the second case in this library after Yemen, and the first…
Uganda — Where 80.000 people were expelled in 90 days, and where the world's most open refugee policy was born
In 1972, Uganda expelled nearly the entire South Asian community in ninety days. Fifty years later, this same nation…
South Sudan — The world's youngest nation, and the challenge of granting citizenship to a people without documentation
South Sudan became independent in 2011, the world's youngest nation. It had to do something nearly no country had done in modern times…
Madagascar — Where citizenship law revised in 2017 gave a way out for a four-generation community
Until 2017, a Madagascan mother could not pass citizenship to her children. The heaviest consequences fell on a community that had been here…
Eritrea — One of very few countries taxing citizens by CITIZENSHIP, wherever they live
Eritrea levies a fee from overseas citizens based on their citizenship itself, not residence. Very few countries do th…
Kenya — A country trying to turn refugee camps into towns, and issuing documents to people living there
Kenya has two of the world's oldest refugee camps, where many people were born and grew up without ever having identification…
Burundi — Where over a hundred thousand people left and were granted citizenship by another country
Burundian refugees are the group Tanzania naturalized over a hundred thousand of — the ONLY remedial case ever…