26-29 MAY 2025

THEME: TURBULENT WATERS IN THE HORN

Led by Ken Menkhaus

The Horn of Africa is entering a fifth year of extreme turbulence, a period that is testing the resilience of its states and citizens. The onset of the era of crisis began with the 2020 COVID pandemic and Ethiopia’s bloody Tigray war and has not abated. Today, the region is roiled by armed conflict, unrest and fragmentation within states, deep political tensions between states and the spillover of violence, forced displacement of populations, climate crisis and terrorism across state lines.

The expression ‘turbulent waters’ is a metaphor for an environment that is difficult to navigate politically, but we chose the expression as the theme for the RVI Horn of Africa course 2025 for its literal meaning as well. Never have the waters emanating from and surrounding the Horn been such a source of tension and conflict, from dangerous disputes over the Nile waters to global and regional contestation over the region’s increasingly valuable seaports, fisheries and offshore oil in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean. This year’s course will include sessions devoted to the region’s many ‘water wars’ and what they reveal about wider political economy dynamics in the Horn of Africa.

The fee for the course is USD 3,850.

Learn more about RVI’s education and training programme here.