Nuruddin Farah and Binyavanga Wainaina in conversation
On 18 April, the Rift Valley Institute’s Nairobi Forum, in partnership with Kwani Trust, hosted an evening with renowned Somali author Nuruddin Farah. Nuruddin is winner of the Neustadt International Prize for literature and the Lettre Ulysses Award, and has been nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature several times. His body of work includes […]
Challenges for the Somali money transfer sector
Key points Money Transfer Operators (MTOs) have played a vital role in the Somali economy for many years, functioning effectively despite chronic conflict and absence of government. With the global tendency towards tighter regulation of financial flows, intended to counter crime and terrorism, Somali MTOs are finding it increasing difficult to retain direct access to […]
The Story of the Sudan Open Archive
The Sudan Open Archive (http://www.sudanarchive.net) is free resource developed by the Rift Valley Institute. It provides online and offline access to digital versions of thousands of books and documents about Sudan and South Sudan. From its origins in a shipping container in Lokichokio in northern Kenya, the Sudan Archive has come to include historical and […]
Eastleigh and Beyond
Key points Nairobi’s Eastleigh neighbourhood hosts one of the largest ethnic Somali communities outside Somalia—composed of Kenyan Somalis as well as Somali nationals whose numbers have swelled since the collapse of their state. Eastleigh has become an important centre of Somali diaspora life and a hub for a trust-based trading community that operates across East Africa […]
Continuities and Change in Somalia
The Nairobi Forum and the British Institute in Eastern Africa co-hosted the launch of a special Somalia edition of the Journal of Eastern African Studies on 19 April. The meeting, entitled ‘Continuities and change: Social, political and economic dynamics in Somalia since 1991’, examined the strengths and weaknesses of hybrid political structures, the roles of local authorities, […]
Another Humanitarian Crisis in Somalia?
In July 2014, humanitarian agencies and the government of Somalia warned of a new severe drought in Somalia, only three years after more than 250,000 people died in a deadly famine. In a report for Tufts University and the Rift Valley Institute, Daniel Maxwell and Nisar Majid examine the lessons arising from the international response […]
Pastoralism and Development in Africa
On 29 April 2013, the Hon. Mohamed Elmi (MP, Tarbaj) presented a paper at thce Nairobi Forum on Lessons from the Ministry of Northern Kenya, reflecting on the work of his former ministry in supporting pastoralism and development in Kenya’s arid and semi arid lands. The former minister was one of several speakers at a […]
Talking Peace in the Ogaden
‘Objective, analytical and balanced.’ IBRAHIM FARAH, UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI Summary Talking Peace in the Ogaden outlines the modern history of ethnic Somalis in relation to the Ethiopian state from the late 19th century to the present day, and assesses prospects for a peaceful settlement between the Ethiopian government and the Ogaden National Liberation Front. Written […]
Nuruddin Farah remembers Chinua Achebe
The life of the Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe (1930-2013) was celebrated on 6 May 2014 at Bard College, New York, where Achebe taught for many years. There were spoken tributes from Nigerian author and art historian Teju Cole, from historian Myra Armstead, and from anthropologists Yuka Suzuki and John Ryle. The Somali writer Nuruddin Farah […]
The Supreme Price
On Friday 18 November 2016, the Rift Valley Forum and Human Rights Watch screened the film The Supreme Price, by Joanna Lipper, followed by a discussion. The Supreme Price tells the story of Hafsat Abiola, daughter of the human rights heroine Kudirat Abiola, and Nigeria’s then-President-elect M.K.O. Abiola, who won a historic vote in 1993 that […]