Though it received its mandate in March, only around 2,000 of the Intervention Brigade's total force of 3,000 troops are currently in place in Congo and supplies and weaponry are still en route from contributing countries. But Jason Stearns,…
News
SEARCH
NEWS TYPES
REGION
… The integration strategy has been viewed as far from favourable, but even so, the Mai-Mai group Yakutumba is on the cusp of being integrated into the FARDC, according a recent report by the Rift Valley Institute (RVI)….
A Congolese army spokesman, Olivier Hamuli, said the rapes were committed by individual solders who are being prosecuted under the country's military law. Military analysts have blamed the indiscipline on poor training and commanders who exercise little control over…
In collaboration with the Réseau pour la réforme du secteur de sécurité et de justice (RRSSJ) and the Centre pour la gouvernance (CEGO), RVI held a national workshop in Kinshasa from 4 to 6 November 2013, to conclude the first phase of the Usalama Project….
An analysis of the situation in Eastern DRC from Reuters: The deployment of a U.N. force of African troops in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo threatens to draw Rwanda into a damaging conflict with African powers and derail its economic 'miracle'…
In a blog for the Christian Science Monitor, Jason Stearns, Director of the RVI Usalama Project describes how a deal to end the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo fell foul of demands from M23 rebels for integration into the Congolese army…
KAMPALA, Uganda—Congo's United Nations-backed troops have halted an offensive against the rebel group known as M23, in a step toward a peace deal that aims to end fighting and revive commerce in the mineral-rich African nation… The move comes…
KAMPALA, Uganda—The biggest rebel group in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on Tuesday declared an end to its 20-month insurgency, after government troops earlier in the day drove fighters from their last remaining strongholds near the Ugandan border….
Le RVI a le plaisir d’annoncer la publication des versions françaises des deux premiers rapports du Projet Usalama sur les groupes armés dans l’est de la République démocratique du Congo. Le premier rapport, intitulé Du CNDP au M23: évolution…
The seventh RVI Usalama report on armed movements in the DRC focusses on two groups operating in Ituri District, the FNI and the FRPI. The report, by Henning Tamm, analyses these two mainly Lendu armed groups and considers the…
Recent Publications

Thinking about Borderlands: Observations and implications from XCEPT programme research
March 31, 2025
Do the ways in which policymakers and national governments view borderlands reflect how the communities living there experience them? Building on this, can a better understanding of the characteristics of borderlands help in promoting development, improving governance and making more

Digital Governance and Security in the Horn of Africa
March 28, 2025
While digital finance—including mobile money—has developed unevenly across Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya, such technologies are nevertheless transforming everyday economic activities. In some cases, borderlands and cross-border financial flows are central to these digital developments and are driving further innovation. From

Legally Informal: Women, conflict and cross-border trade in the Mandera tri-border area
March 28, 2025
In the Mandera triangle—a pastoralist region encompassing the point at which the borders of Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia meet—the reality of local and cross-border trade often diverges widely from official state policies of control. This disjunction has created a grey