After a long battle with cancer, our friend and colleague Santino passed away on 28 October 2020 in Khartoum in the care of his family. Santino was deeply dedicated to learning and teaching. Born in Wedweil village north…
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Dr Adan Yusuf Abokor (‘Dr Adan’ to his colleagues and friends) who died last week in Turkey, was a remarkable man. Born in Hargeisa, Somaliland, in 1946, he grew up in Aden, Yemen, where he attended a Catholic mission…
Over the past five years of RVI’s South Sudan Customary Authorities (SSCA) project, the Institute has built a strong level of trust with customary authorities across the country. Continued engagement with chiefs is essential, particularly in finding ways to…
The Somali Dialogue Platform (the ‘Platform’) is a multi-year programme funded by the FCDO, USAID, BUILD and DANIDA. The Somali Dialogue Platform provides a neutral space for political dialogue on contentious issues in Somalia’s political settlement, such as…
Applications are invited from eligible candidates for a doctoral studentship on the history of constitution-making in Sudan since the 1950s. The doctorate will be supervised by Justin Willis (Durham University) and Willow Berridge (Newcastle University). This funded doctoral…
The Rift Valley Institute is seeking a highly experienced and dynamic educator to design and manage a professional development programme for early career researchers in eastern and central Africa. The position will be based in one of the countries…
Serving as a creative hub for ideas designed to strengthen inclusive global governance, the Queen Elizabeth II Academy for Leadership in International Affairs was established in 2014, adding the capacity to develop a new generation of leaders to Chatham…
In collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, Museums and National Heritage, is sharing selected, approved documents from the South Sudan National Archives through social media channels to showcase the range of information available in the collection. This project is…
The Rift Valley Institute (RVI) is pleased to receive a grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York. The grant will support early career African researchers to develop their skills in applied research and to develop research communities of…
Every two weeks the Rift Valley Institute, in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, Museums and National Heritage, is sharing selected, approved documents from the South Sudan National Archives through social media channels to showcase the range of…
Recent Publications

Commodification and Conflict in the Horn of Africa Borderlands
April 1, 2026
This report synthesizes findings from the Rift Valley Institute’s X-Border Local Research Network (2019–2025). In the surveyed studies, 25 leading local and international area specialists conducted extensive qualitative fieldwork across borderlands in South Sudan, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya and the Somali

Peace and Instability: Tigray since the Pretoria Agreement
March 26, 2026
CONFLICT TRENDS ANALYSIS / MARCH 2026 Summary THE ETHIOPIA PEACE RESEARCH FACILITY This conflict trends analysis was produced by the Ethiopia Peace Research Facility (PRF). The PRF is an independent facility combining timely analysis on peace and conflict from Ethiopian

Political Economy of Cash and Markets in Sudan
February 27, 2026
The research provides a snapshot of the war in Sudan in the period from February to April 2025. However, the war is dynamic, with political alliances and territorial control changing. The April 2023 conflict between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF)