Roadblocks—infamous for the informal fees travellers must pay—are often thought to be found exclusively in rural areas. Yet, as Evariste Mahamba shows in this blog, the harbor of Goma also has a history of roadblocks. Having become hotspots of…
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Within the city of Bukavu—as elsewhere in the Congo—many women earn a living selling goods and produce at the market or in the streets. In this blog, Alice Mugoli explores the different types of insecurity to which these women…
This blog post was written by Yolande Bouka and Marco Jowell, the Co-Directors of Studies for the Rift Valley Institute’s Great Lakes Field Course, which will be taking place in Ethiopia from 3-7 June 2019. Yolande and Marco will be joined…
In the city of Goma, numerous shop-keepers and street vendors—for instance, those selling phone credit, alcoholic drinks or food—work at night. As Alain Mukombe Misege analyzes in this blog, in certain quarters of the city of Goma—in particular, Kyeshero,…
This blog was written by Yolande Bouka and is part of RVI’s Research Collaboration project in partnership with the Groupe d’Etudes sur les Conflits et la Sécurité Humaine (GEC-SH) and funded by the Knowledge Management Fund of KPSRL. The project examines the political…
Between 2016 and 2018, civil society organizations in the city of Bukavu recorded 17 attacks on money-changers (cambistes), both on the streets and in their homes. Often in possession of large sums of cash, money-changers are a favoured target…
The growing insecurity in the city of Goma created by maibobo or street children, prompted the creation of the so-called anti-gang in 2007 around Virunga market. The anti-gang is a group of youth who ensure security in a particular…
This blog was written by Irène Bahati and is part of RVI’s Research Collaboration project in partnership with the Groupe d’Etudes sur les Conflits et la Sécurité Humaine (GEC-SH) and funded by the Knowledge Management Fund of KPSRL. The project examines the political…
The city of Goma, in North Kivu province, is home to numerous former child soldiers. After leaving armed groups that are active in rural areas, they often go to the city. This is because the communities where they used…
This blog was written by Elisée Cirhuza and is part of RVI’s Research Collaboration project in partnership with the Groupe d’Etudes sur les Conflits et la Sécurité Humaine (GEC-SH) and funded by the Knowledge Management Fund of KPSRL. The project examines the political…
Recent Publications
State Capture in Africa: How elite networks undermine democracy, development and security
June 24, 2026
Key points State capture has been increasingly recognized as a major governance challenge due to the way it helps to drive many of the most pressing problems facing contemporary states, including democratic erosion, corruption, economic exclusion, insecurity and declining trust
The New Geopolitics of Eastern Africa
June 17, 2026
On 20 May, the British Institute of Eastern Africa (BIEA), Chatham House, and the Rift Valley Institute (RVI) convened a group of experts to discuss the ‘The New Geopolitics of Eastern Africa’. The closed-door roundtable considered the ongoing transformation of
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