Kenya in almost every African country was birthed by the ending of empire. Our borders were not of our own drawing.

They were drawn in the distant colonial metropoles of London, Paris, and Lisbon, with no regard for the ancient nations that they cleaved apart.

Today, across the border of every single African country

live our countrymen with whom we share deep historical, cultural, and linguistic bonds. At independence,

had we chosen to pursue states on the basis of ethnic, racial, or religious homogeneity, we would still be

waging bloody wars these many decades later. Instead, we agreed that we would settle for the

borders that we inherited. But we would still pursue continental political, economic, and legal integration.

Rather than form nations that looked ever backward into history with a dangerous nostalgia,

we chose to look forward to a greatness none of our many nations and peoples had ever known.

We chose to follow the rules of the organization of African unity and the United Nations Charter, not because our borders satisfied us, but because we wanted something greater forged in peace.

We believe that all states formed from empires that have collapsed or retreated have many peoples

in them yearning for integration with peoples in neighboring states.

This is normal and understandable.

After all, who does not want to be joined to their brethren and to make common purpose with them?

However, Kenya rejects such a yearning from being pursued by force.

We must complete our recovery from the embers of dead empires in a way that does not plunge us back into new forms of domination and oppression.

We rejected irredentism and expansionism on any basis, including racial, ethnic, religious or cultural factors.

We reject it again today.

I'm Sarah Kensier, the author of the bestsellers, the view from fly over country and hiding in plain sight,

and of the upcoming book they knew available for

pre-order now. I'm Andrea Chalupa, a journalist and filmmaker and the writer and producer of the

journalistic thriller Mr. Jones about Stalin's genocide famine in Ukraine, history that is unfortunately repeating today. And it's a film that

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