We compare new results on S-wave delays and P wave tomography to characterize the rising limb and melt zone of an inferred mantle convection cell beneath the Kenya dome. These results are extended to the Nyiragongo and Ethiopia domes using long wavelength gravity and topography. We suggest that the east African rift results from separation of deeper mantle upwelling into three currents that impinge on and erode the base of the lithosphere. Their thermal buoyancy drives the domal uplift, whereas brittle failure of the upper lithosphere forms the rift grabens.