For a few weeks this year, it looked as though East Africa might finally do what it has rarely managed: agree on a single, region-defining infrastructure project instead of building two rival ones.
At the African Finance Corporation summit and Kenya Mining Investment Conference in Nairobi in April, President William Ruto announced that Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man, would site his regional refinery in Tanga, Tanzania. One refinery, one region, one supply chain. It looked like a rare moment of East African integration by design rather than by treaty.
