If the Great Lakes Region and Kenya are considered part of the east, then the only habitable place in the north of East Africa would be the Ethiopian Highlands, with the obvious drawback being its inconvenient transportation and distance from the coast.
In fact, this is indeed the case. Among several major regions in the north of East Africa, ranked by economy and population size in descending order, are the Ethiopian Highlands, the eastern coast (Somali region), Azande Plateau, Nile River basin, and the western coast (Gabon and Cameroon).
Although the terrain of the Ethiopian Highlands is not ideal, backed by the Abyssinia Empire as a large market, its economic development is not considered poor.
