Darfur: The Ongoing Crisis and Humanitarian Responses
The horrific fighting in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, has grabbed news headlines since violence broke out on 15 April 2023. This violence shattered Khartoum’s reputation as an island of stability, with many noting that Khartoum had not been attacked in such a manner since the 19th century. The novelty of the attacks on Khartoum has however […]
SUDAN CONFLICT: ASSESSING THE RISK OF REGIONALIZATION
This paper focuses on the potential for a regionalization of the conflict between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), including external involvement by Sudan’s neighbours and cross-border spill-over. It is the second in a series of briefing papers from Rift Valley Institute for the UK government’s XCEPT (Cross-Border Conflict, Evidence, […]
HEMEDTI CHALLENGES SAF’S CONTROL OVER SUDAN
This paper focuses on the origins and the political and military objectives of the two main internal actors – the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) — in Sudan’s ongoing conflict. It is the first in a series of briefing papers from Rift Valley Institute for the UK government’s XCEPT (Cross-Border […]
THE CRISIS IN LASANOD: IMPLICATIONS FOR TRADE AND LIVELIHOODS IN ETHIOPIA’S SOMALI REGION
The current conflict over the contested city of Lasanod has the potential to expand into a crisis affecting several of the Somali-speaking territories. This blog – building on research the author conducted in 2021 – looks at the conflict from the perspective of Ethiopia’s Somali Regional State (SRS), focusing on the humanitarian fallout and the […]
RESISTANCE IN THE PERIPHERIES: CIVIL WAR AND FRAGILE PEACE IN SUDAN & ETHIOPIA’S BORDERLANDS
Summary • Historically, the people living along the Blue Nile – Benishangul-Gumuz borderlands in what is now Sudan and Ethiopia have been politically and socially marginalized within their respective political entities. As such they have sought ways to address this marginalization by undertaking a number of strategies. They have sought to mobilize and increase their […]
HOW ARMED GROUPS PLAY THE LONG GAME IN THE SUDAN-ETHIOPIA BORDERLANDS
Armed opposition groups in Sudan and Ethiopia’s border regions have a history of leveraging support, often military, from their neighbours to aid their political aspirations at home. These dynamics have fluctuated in line with broader changes in the region and geopolitically, but rebel groups are used to waiting, and take their opportunities when they emerge. This […]
BAY AND BAKOOL: HOW SOMALIA’S BREADBASKET TURNED INTO AN EPICENTER OF HUMANITARIAN CRISIS
The site of recurrent famines and humanitarian crises, Somalia’s Bay and Bakool regions were once considered the country’s breadbasket. In this blog, researcher and former development worker Abdirahman Edle explains how, over the past two decades, the region has changed from being a land of plenty to one of scarcity. The blog is the second […]
THE PRICE OF LIFE: REVOLUTIONARY AGENCY AND POLITICAL IMPASSE IN POST-BASHIR SUDAN
In Sudan, the revolutionary upsurge of 2018/2019 signalled the implosion of the country’s postcolonial political order. The political parties of old have seen their social bases wither away and their ideological hold over the Sudanese people corrode under the sustained pressure of a hyper-extractive political economy. The so-called ‘transitional period’ that followed the overthrow of […]
ONE YEAR AFTER THE COUP: WHAT NEXT FOR SUDAN’S JUBA PEACE AGREEMENT?
This briefing considers the changing political situation in Sudan with a particular focus on the future of the Juba Peace Agreement ( JPA). It explores how the relationship between two key factions in the conflict has complicated the ongoing discussions around the formation of a new political arrangement in Sudan. Contrary to what many in Sudan’s […]
FIXING THE PRICE: THE POLITICS OF THE KHAT TRADE BETWEEN ETHIOPIA AND SOMALILAND
As part of a wider attempt to increase export revenues amidst weak economic performance, Ethiopian authorities doubled the price of khat for exports to Somaliland and Djibouti in April 2022. Following much controversy, the decision was reversed a few months later. What was behind this trade price ‘fix’ and why does it matter? This report […]