I was in Juba two weeks ago participating in the Rift Valley Institute’s annual series of lectures at Juba University, whose theme this year was historic peace negotiations. Three sets of negotiations were examined: the 1972 negotiations thatled to the Addis Ababa Agreement, the 1999 Wunlit people-to-people peaceconference, and the 2005…

I was in Juba two weeks ago participating in the Rift Valley Institute’s annual series of lectures at Juba University, whose theme this year was historic peace negotiations. Three sets of negotiations were examined: the 1972 negotiations thatled to the Addis Ababa Agreement, the 1999 Wunlit people-to-people peaceconference, and the 2005…

The Rift Valley Institute’s annual field courses will be held in East Africa in June and July 2015. Course applications are now open. Please apply online here. Locations of courses will be confirmed in early 2015. Taught by teams of leading regional and international specialists, the three courses—now in their twelfth year—provide the basis for…

On 30 November the Rift Valley Institute announced a search for three new senior staff members, to be based in the London and Nairobi offices of the Institute. The RVI London office also has a vacancy for an intern from January 2015. Applications for all posts are due in late December. The Director of Programmes is a key post in the RVI senior…

Aid workers in Somalia, which faces worsening hunger three years after famine struck the country, believe the humanitarian system is "rotten" and are hamstrung by fears of being prosecuted for aiding terrorists, an expert said. "We have been struck by a palpable sense of malaise amongst many of the Western humanitarian actors ... that the…

Aid workers in Somalia, which faces worsening hunger three years after famine struck the country, believe the humanitarian system is "rotten" and are hamstrung by fears of being prosecuted for aiding terrorists, an expert said. "We have been struck by a palpable sense of malaise amongst many of the Western humanitarian actors ... that the…

When the supporters of Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto began systematically attacking the International Criminal Court (ICC) as a neo-colonialist institution biased against Africans in the run-up to Kenya's 2013 election, their prime concern was domestic: to ensure their champions escaped prosecution at The Hague. A publicity campaign that made…

When the supporters of Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto began systematically attacking the International Criminal Court (ICC) as a neo-colonialist institution biased against Africans in the run-up to Kenya's 2013 election, their prime concern was domestic: to ensure their champions escaped prosecution at The Hague. A publicity campaign that made…

Jama Musse Jama, the director of the Redsea Cultural Foundation is one of the winners of this year's Cultura della Solidarietà prize, awarded in a ceremony on 27 September 2014 in Pistoia, Italy. The organising committee commended Jama for his 'exemplary work promoting cultural knowledge and inquiry in Somaliland.' 

Jama is…

Michael Woldemariam and Terrence Lyons discuss the history and future of Eritrea on the 2014 Horn of Africa Course.