After a two-year hiatus caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, RVI held its first in-person residential course at the end of June 2022 in Naivasha, Kenya. The programme restarted with the popular Horn of Africa course, which focuses on the history, politics and culture of Somalia, Somaliland, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti. The course was directed by Dr Michael Woldemariam and Dr Peter Chonka who…

The Institute recently wrapped up its fifteenth year of annual field courses, which were held this year in May and June in Kenya. The one-week intensive courses covered an array of historical and contemporary issues in the Horn of Africa, Sudan and South Sudan, and the Great Lakes regions. They were attended by 83 participants and taught by 32 teachers.

'We first heard about it early last year when we saw Japanese airplanes, followed by strangers (land surveyors) walking around the area, carrying notepads, pens and fancy equipment, just like you' say community members of Isiolo County about the Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia (LAPSSET) Transport project. Awareness of LAPSSET seems to be extremely limited in Isiolo, despite the fact that the…