Cost of security challenges adds up

Ensuring the safety of drivers, vehicles and cargo adds costs, which are diluting the gains being made in other areas to promote trade in the region. Road freight operators and cargo owners moving goods in East Africa are reportedly facing higher insurance premiums due to elevated safety and security risks, such as cargo theft, hijackings, accidents on poor roads, and insecurity on key corridors like the Northern Corridor. Other cost drivers include poor infrastructure, non-tariff barriers, inconsistent levies and security risks, with per- container transport rates often estimated to exceed $2 per km based on 2023-2025 data. These costs have persisted into 2025-2026 amid limited improvements, despite investments such as the African Development Bank’s $214.47 million for the South Sudan- Ethiopia-Djibouti corridor aimed at reducing logistics expenses, according to operators. Ongoing conflicts in East Africa and the Horn (Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia and DRC) include the civil war in Sudan, which started in April 2023. It has shut down regular trade routes across the country and made the Red Sea Port Sudan a risky, capacity-constrained hub. Intermittent conflict in the Tigray, Oromia and Amhara regions of Ethiopia increases the risks of using corridors such as Addis Ababa–Djibouti, and Addis–Kenya. Ongoing conflict in the south and central regions of Somalia disrupts Kenyan–Somali border crossings and raises transport costs and insurance premiums for goods moving into and out of Kismayo and Mogadishu. In South Sudan, armed clashes, inter-communal violence, and the proliferation of “community defence forces” are reported to be making key supply routes, such as the Juba–Bor and Juba–Yei roads, increasingly dangerous. Reliefweb reports that there is still fighting in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, which blocks the critical Goma–Bukavu– Kalemie corridor, which is believed to be largely under the control of the Rwanda- backed M23 group. ER