With its scrubland, unpaved roads and mud brick huts, the Jebel Amer area in Darfur, western Sudan, can look like a poor and desolate place. Under the ground, though, lies something sought by people everywhere: gold. In the past…
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A particularly apt description of the funding dilemma can be found in the latest Rift Valley Institute report, which quotes a commentator as saying: The donors, either they are stupid or they are totally naive. The government [i.e. GoNU] didn’t put…
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….
John Ryle, Director of the Rift Valley Institute, discusses Tayeb Salih on Sudan National Television, 2010….
On 15 June 2013, Miraya FM in Juba broadcast a feature on the process of digitizing documents for the South Sudan National Archives. The project is a collaboration between the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, RVI, UNESCO, UNOPS and the…
In the 2014 global go-to think tank ratings by the University of Pennsylvania the Rift Valley Institute has been ranked as the ninth most noteworthy think tank in East Africa, thirty-fifth in the continent. The following report is condensed from the…
Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir has unveiled a partially new cabinet, replacing two vice presidents in a move prompted by urgent calls for reform in his 24-year-old regime. The changes, announced on Sunday, come less than a week after leading…
Speakers at a Nairobi forum sponsored by the Rift Valley Institute expressed concern for the future of South Sudan following a ceasefire agreement brokered in Addis Ababa late last week. Participants also raised issues concerning the presence of Ugandan…
Sudanese President Umar al-Bashir’s appointment as vice president of a former military officer who helped him seize power a quarter-century ago strengthens the country’s army against Islamists who may threaten his rule, according to Magdi El Gizouli at the…
Recent Publications
Writing Ethiopia into the World, Writing the World from Ethiopia
October 7, 2026
The Ethiopian Women Researchers Network (EWNET) hosted an online scholarly webinar on Friday, 30 January 2026, titled ‘Writing Ethiopia into the World and Writing the World from Ethiopia’. The webinar examined how Ethiopia has been represented within global knowledge production
The Political Economy of Coffee in the Kaffa–Bench-Sheko–Sheka Belt, Southwest Ethiopia Region
October 6, 2026
This study provides a critical political economy analysis of the coffee sector in the Kaffa–Bench-Sheko–Sheka belt in Southwest Ethiopia Peoples’ Regional State, the genetic and cultural heartland of Arabica coffee (Coffea arabica). Based on 47 key respondent interviews, the study
The Political Economy of Coffee in the Jimma–Ilu Aba Bora–Buno Bedele Belt, Oromia Region
October 5, 2026
The findings of this study reveal a number of critical insights about the political economy of coffee in the Jimma–Ilu Aba Bora–Buno Bedele coffee belt. The coffee economy is shaped by a small number of influential actors, including state institutions,