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The Eastern Nilotic languages are one of the three primary branches of the Nilotic languages, themselves belonging to the Eastern Sudanic subfamily of Nilo-Saharan; they are believed to have begun to diverge about 3,000 years ago, and have spread southwards from an original home in Equatoria in South Sudan. They are spoken across a large area in East Africa, ranging from Equatoria to the highlands of Tanzania. Their speakers are mostly cattle herders living in semi-arid or arid plains.
The Omo River in southern Ethiopia is the largest Ethiopian river outside the Nile Basin. Its course is entirely contained within the boundaries of Ethiopia, and it empties into Lake Turkana on the border with Kenya. The river is the principal stream of an endorheic drainage basin, the Turkana Basin.
The Mursi are a Surmic ethnic group in Ethiopia. They principally reside in the Debub Omo Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region, close to the border with South Sudan. According to the 2007 national census, there are 11,500 Mursi, 848 of whom live in urban areas; of the total number, 92.25% live in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region (SNNPR).
Turkana is the language of the Turkana people of Kenya and Ethiopia. It is spoken in northwestern Kenya, primarily in Turkana County, which lies west of Lake Turkana. It is one of the Eastern Nilotic languages, and is closely related to Karamojong, Jie and Teso of Uganda, to Toposa spoken in the extreme southeast of South Sudan, and to Nyangatom in the South Sudan/Ethiopia Omo valley borderland; these languages together form the cluster of Ateker Languages.
Teso is an Eastern Nilotic language spoken by the Teso people of Uganda and Kenya and some speakers are in South Sudan. It is part of the Teso–Turkana language cluster.
Ateker, or ŋaTekerin, is a common name for the closely related Jie, Karamojong, Turkana, Kumam, Lango, Toposa, Nyangatom and Teso peoples plus their languages. These ethnic groups inhabit an area across Uganda and Kenya. Itung'a and Teso have been used among ethnographers, while the term Teso-Turkana is sometimes used for the languages, which are of Eastern Nilotic stock. Ateker means 'clan' or 'tribe' in the Teso language.
The Toposa are an ethnic group in South Sudan, living in the Greater Kapoeta region of the erstwhile Eastern Equatoria state. They have traditionally lived by herding cattle, sheep and goats, and in the past were involved in the ivory trade. They have a tradition of constant low-level warfare, usually cattle raids, against their neighbors.
South Omo Zone is a zone in the Ethiopian Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region (SNNPR). South Omo is bordered on the south by Kenya, on the southwest by the South Sudan, on the west by Bench Maji, on the northwest by Keffa, on the north by Konta, Gamo Gofa and Basketo, on the northeast by Dirashe and Konso, and on the east by the Oromia Region. The administrative center of South Omo is Jinka.
The Nyangatom also known as Donyiro and pejoratively as Bumé are Nilotic agro-pastoralists inhabiting the border of southwestern Ethiopia, southeastern South Sudan, and the Ilemi Triangle. They speak the Nyangatom language.
Kuraz is one of the woredas in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region of Ethiopia. It is the homeland of Daasanach people. Part of the Debub Omo Zone, Kuraz is bordered on the south by Kenya, on the west by the Ilemi Triangle, on the north by Nyangatom, and on the east by Hamer. The Omo River is flowing through Kuraz to Lake Turkana at the border of Kenya. The administrative center of this woreda is Omorate. Nyangatom woreda was separated from Kuraz.
The Teso–Turkana languages are a group of closely related Eastern Nilotic languages spoken in southeastern South Sudan, northeastern Uganda, northwestern Kenya, and southwestern Ethiopia. In effect they form a dialect cluster consisting of c.2 million people. According to Gerrit Dimmendaal, most of these languages – Karimojong, Jie, Toposa, Turkana, and Nyangatom – are mutually intelligible, and for the most part differ only in regard to tone. Teso belongs to the same broad group but is not described as being as closely related to Turkana as the others.
The Karamojong language is a Nilotic language spoken by the Karamojong people in Northeast Uganda.
The Lopit language is an Eastern Nilotic language spoken by around 117,000 people in Eastern Equatoria State, South Sudan. Lopit is part of the Lotuko-Teso subfamily and is related to Lotuko, Turkana and Maasai. Lopit is a VSO language and has a complex tonal system.
Toposa is a Nilo-Saharan language spoken in South Sudan by the Toposa people. Mutually intelligible language varieties include Jiye of South Sudan, Nyangatom of Ethiopia, Karimojong, Jie and Dodos of Uganda and Turkana of Kenya. Teso is lexically more distant.
The Kwegu are an ethnic group that lives on the western banks of the Omo River in the newly formed South Ethiopia Region. Some members of the Kwegu also live on the eastern banks of the river among the Mursi. Previously they were hunter-gatherers, but today they are engaged in a mixed economy of hunting, farming, beekeeping, and fishing.
The greater Turkana Basin in East Africa determines a large endorheic basin, a drainage basin with no outflow centered around the north-southwards directed Gregory Rift system in Kenya and southern Ethiopia. The deepest point of the basin is the endorheic Lake Turkana, a brackish soda lake with a very high ecological productivity in the Gregory Rift.
The Lokiriama Peace Accord is a peace treaty between the Turkana people of Kenya and the Matheniko of Uganda signed in December 1973 as a commitment by both parties to peacefully co-exist. The accord derives its name from Lokiriama, a remote town in Turkana District, North Western Kenya that is inhabited by the Turkana. A symbolic monument for this accord is situated at Lokiriama on the Kenya – Uganda border. It is believed that elders from both Turkana and Matheniko buried instruments of conflict, honey, milk and traditional brew in a pit over which the monument was constructed.
The water conflict between Ethiopia and Kenya is a development dispute due to the receding water resource along the border between Ethiopia and Kenya.
The Ethiopia–Kenya border was first identified by the United Kingdom in 1907 and refined in 1947 in the aftermath of the East African Campaign of World War II. When Kenya became independent, it was finally approved in 1970. The border stretches 861 kilometers bounded by Marsabit, Turkana, Wajir and Mandera Counties on the side of Kenya, and Borena and Dhawa Zones in the Ethiopian side. The border features enormous biodiversity and wildlife, most notably, several communities such as Mursi, Nyangatom, Daasanach and Turkana, which are agro-pastoralist in response to harsh climate and erratic weather patterns.