The CinRift project aims at studying the kinematics of the East African Rift in relation to the interactions between the Nubia, Victoria and Rovuma plates around the triple junction of Mbeya (SW Tanzania). It will cover the region corresponding to the intersection of the Eastern and Western branches of the rift in Tanzania as well as the nascent NW-SW trending rift branch that cross-cuts the Katanga Province of the RDC and part of Zambia. This project will apply modern observation techniques of crustal movements by a triple approach involving geophysics (seismology), spatial geodesy (GPS), and geology (neotectonics and paleoseismology. It will allow to realize a synergy between several research and cooperation projects at a national and international level which will reach maturity at the time of its initiation. The expected scientific results (geological and geodetic rates of deformation, better knowledge of the historical and instrumental seismicity, identification of earthquake sources and active faults) will allow to validate and improve the existing kinematic models. These results will have an important practical impact for the evaluation of the seismic risk in particular for the large urban centres that rapidly develop in an anarchic way in the Great Lakes Region.