Kenya will not force Somali refugees out, despite deadline for camp closure
NAIROBI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Kenya will not forcibly repatriate some 336,000 Somalis living in one of the world's largest refugee camps, but the government intends to continue with its plans to close the camp within three months for security reasons, a government official said… "While we are committed to the return of all refugees, […]
Training course in Somaliland on fieldwork methodology
In January, RVI organised a five-day training course in the University of Hargeysa in Somaliland, for Somali researchers, on social science research methodologies. The course brought together researchers from Hargeysa, Burco, Borama, Garowe and Mogadishu involved in RVI research projects in Somaliland, Puntland and south central Somalia. They were joined by staff from the University of […]
Kenya softens its position on proposed closure of Dadaab refugee camp
Kenya appears to have softened its stance on the imminent closure of a camp hosting more than a third of a million Somali refugees, weeks after the deputy president, reacting to the massacre at Garissa University, announced it would happen within three months. “While we are committed to the return of the refugees, you […]
The ‘other’ Kenya: A conversation with Mohammed Adow of Al Jazeera
In early January 2014, al-Jazeera correspondent Mohammed Adow was expelled from South Sudan for reporting on the anti-government advance on the capital, Juba. In December 2013, at a meeting of the Nairobi Forum, Adow discussed his recent documentary, Not Yet Kenyan, which aired on Al Jazeera English Channel on 14 November, not long after the […]
Principles in Action in Somalia
On Friday 4 April 2014 the Somali Red Crescent and the British Red Cross launched their case study “Principles in Action in Somalia” at an event hosted by the Nairobi Forum. The study examines the importance of the principles of the international movement of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, first agreed […]
Drugs, divorce and despair: Somalia’s forgotten male war victims
Men in war-torn Somalia suffer high rates of drug addiction, divorce and mental illness, researchers said, urging donors to do more to support men and strengthen families…. “Men find themselves dispensable, with no meaningful role and no stake in the future,” said the World Bank-funded study, based on interviews with 400 men and 90 women […]
Challenges of inclusivity and equality in Somalia
On Monday 10 March, the Office of the European Union Commission for Somalia, IIDA Women’s Development Organization and the Nairobi Forum of the Rift Valley Institute convened a panel discussion on the EC Somalia Country Gender Profile and the Somalia Compact. The event brought together 35 women civic leaders and civil society organisations from across […]
Lake Turkana and development projects on the Lower Omo River
Development projects on the Lower Omo River in Ethiopia threaten to cause major ecological and social changes in Kenya’s Lake Turkana region. The Gibe III Dam—scheduled to start filling in May 2015— will transform annual flood patterns; and the expansion of irrigated plantation agriculture will impinge on current livelihood activities on the river and lake. These developments […]
Our Collective Security: Writers in Conversation
The killings in Mpeketoni on 15 and 16 June are the latest in a series of violent events that are challenging the security of Kenya and the East Africa region more broadly. The words ‘terrorism’, ‘assassinations’, ‘tribal clashes’, ‘violent crime’, ‘domestic violence’ regularly appear in mainstream and social media headlines. Traumatic pictures of the aftermath fill […]
The South Sudan peace forum
The Rift Valley Institute organised a forum bringing together leading chiefs from five states of South Sudan in Nairobi last Saturday. The forum brought together the chiefs to discuss the current crisis in the country and the role they and other traditional leaders played where peace was concerned. The chiefs included Nyuong Danhier Gatluak the […]