The August 2015 peace agreement in South Sudan is in mortal danger. RVI senior researcher Aly Verjee argues in the East African that the collapse of the process will destabilise South Sudan further, with untold consequences for neighbouring states….
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The RVI scholarship fund is relaunched this month as the RVI Shading Tree Fund. This follows a generous donation from the family of Ranald Boyle, a former District Commissioner in South Sudan. Since the Institute was founded, the scholarship…
This blog post first appeared on the Mipakani Project website (www.mipakani.net). The Mipakani Project is an open-access knowledge base covering development initiatives in the border areas of eastern Africa. It was written by Liz Mahiri. Liz is a Programme…
The RVI Board of Trustees announced today that the Executive Director of the Rift Valley Institute, John Ryle, will step down at the end of 2016 after fifteen years as head of the organisation. The trustees have appointed Mark Bradbury—currently RVI Horn of Africa and…
RVI senior researcher Aly Verjee discusses the economics of elections in Somaliland, electoral delays and drought. Early warning from Somaliland The experience of Somaliland already provides such evidence, and a warning. In collaboration with Adan Y. Abokor, Haroon A. Yusuf,…
The prospect of devolved county government has been met with particular enthusiasm in Kenya’s former Coast province since the passage of the new constitution in 2010. Many see devolution as offering a panacea for decades of the Coast’s perceived…
The following commentary was published on IRIN commentary and was signed by 10 leading academics and humanitarian professionals, including RVI Fellow Nisar Majid and associate Abdullahi Khalif. Six years after a famine killed a quarter of a million people in…
This article was written by RVI Fellow Aly Verjee. On 23 March, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, speaking to the United Nations Security Council, declared: “There can be no real dialogue for as long as South Sudan is ravaged…
The conflict in South Sudan has entered its fourth year and the situation continues to deteriorate for many desperate civilians. There is an urgent need for the citizens of the East African region to impress upon their leaders the…
Under the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium, the South of Sudan was treated very differently to the North. For Major-General Herbert Kitchener, the British assault in southern Sudan on September 2nd 1898 was an exercise in both conquest and revenge. 13 years…
Recent Publications
Minor Demarcations, Micro-Dams—Major Drama? Ethno-territorial expansionism and precarious peace in the Oromia–Somali borderlands of eastern Ethiopia
May 20, 2025
The report highlights the overlapping claims to and distributive struggles over territory and resources in the Oromia-Somali borderlands which animated inter-regional competition between the Oromia Regional State (ORS) and Somali Regional State (SRS), resulted in the brief 2023 uptick in
When Women Sing: How Murle women use arts and cultural mediums to communicate
May 16, 2025
This research explores how Murle women in the Greater Pibor area of central eastern South Sudan use not just songs but dance, hairstyles, body marks and beads to express themselves. Its objective is to draw attention to the ways Murle
Effectiveness of Women in Politics and Improving Gender Equality in South Sudan
May 2, 2025
This report argues that, in order to improve women’s participation in politics and promote gender-responsive policies in the country, there is a need to enlarge government capacity for women’s leadership by introducing equal gender quotas for decision-making positions. Summary Women’s