Hiding in Plain Sight: Nuruddin Farah at 2015 Kwani? Litfest
On Saturday 5 December the Rift Valley Forum and Kwani? Litfest 2015 hosted Nuruddin Farah for the launch of his book Hiding in Plain Sight. Nuruddin, a frequent guest of the Rift Valley Forum, is the winner of the Neustadt International Prize for Literature and the Lettre Ulysses Award, and has been nominated for the […]
South Sudan: Beyond the ceasefire
After fifteen months of civil war in South Sudan, regional and international mediators continue to broker talks for a permanent ceasefire and power-sharing arrangement acceptable to both sides. But such a settlement will be just the beginning of a process towards lasting stability in a country where the potential for conflict is rooted in a […]
Launch of The Economics of Elections in Somaliland
On 9 February 2016, the Rift Valley Institute’s Rift Valley Forum will host a panel discussion launching the report of the study The Economics of Elections in Somaliland: The financing of political parties and candidates. After the November 2012 elections in Somaliland, candidates, political parties and political associations reported that spending on individual campaigns had […]
The Politics of Peace in the Ogaden
The armed conflict between the Ogaden National Liberation Front and the Ethiopian state is one of the longest running conflicts in the Horn of Africa. While multi-ethnic federalism, enshrined in Ethiopia’s 1995 Constitution, held the promise of improved relations between the people of the Somali Regional State of Ethiopia and the Ethiopian federal government, repeated […]
Plundered Sea
It is difficult to know how much Somalia loses to illegal fishing by foreign vessels, but estimates range from USD 100 million to over USD 450 million per annum. Illegal fishing costs Somalis jobs in fishing and post-harvest fish processing, and it costs the Somali state revenue that could be secured from landing fees, licenses, […]
Building Evidence into Policy and Practice in Kenya
Considerable time and effort are expended on monitoring and evaluation and on studies to improve humanitarian response in the East African region, but little is known about how the resulting evidence is used and valued by different actors in the humanitarian system. In 2014, to shed light on this, DFID supported Development Initiatives to conduct […]
Peace and Security in North East Kenya
In 2015 the attack on Garissa University seemed to mark a new low for a region long beset by insecurity. As 2016 begins, there is hope that a new regional security approach, led by national officials with local roots, will help reduce violence in the region. Security in the North East is nonetheless a complicated […]
AMISOM in Transition
The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) is in a period of transition. After a year of military successes it needs a new mandate to support the new Federal Government of Somalia, which has identified provision of security across the country as a priority. Both the UN Security Council and the African Union’s Peace and […]
A Somali Spring?
Key points The so-called Arab Spring is not an appropriate analogy: there was no single authority to bring down and there was no popular uprising. The election of Hassan Sheikh Mohamud as President of Somalia was the culmination of a Somali-owned process and showed that the people of Somalia were eager for change. Military success […]
Rethinking state-building in Somalia
Key points The concept of a hybrid political order is useful in understanding post-conflict state formation, in the Horn of Africa and elsewhere. For policy-makers supporting the re-establishment of government institutions in Somalia, the example of Somaliland is instructive. Hybrid political orders are not an alternative model for state-building; they are the outcome of a […]