The city of Uvira in South Kivu province has long been a hotbed of armed criminality. The victims of these attacks are primarily small-scale economic operators, such as shopkeepers, money changers and those selling phone credits. In this blog, Juvénal…
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In the months following the inauguration of the new provincial government of South Kivu in October 2017, the city of Bukavu in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo was witnessing a series of burglaries and violent attacks. The…
To protect their neighbourhoods against the rampant criminality that engulfs the city of Uvira, in South Kivu province, youth conduct nightly patrols. These patrol groups are also known as ‘balala rondo’ from the Swahili word kulala (to sleep) and…
The latest rebel movement in North Kivu, known as M23, has set back hopes of peace in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. ‘The Congolese state, weak and disorganized, seems condemned to perpetual negotiations with rebels in its…
The 2000-2003 peace process in the DRC is the subject of A Sacred Cause: The Inter-Congolese Dialogue 2000-2003, written by one of the RVI’s co-founders, Philip Winter. Philip Winter was chef de cabinet to Botswana’s ex-President Sir Ketumile Masire,…
On 19 September 2012, Jason Stearns, Director of the RVI Usalama Project, which documents armed groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), gave evidence before the Congressional Foreign Affairs Sub-committee on Africa, Global Health, and Human Rights…
RVI Great Lakes Project Officer Michel Thill writes in opendemocracy.net on the history of anti-government rebellions in the Kivu provinces of the eastern DRC. 'Though triggered by a combination of recent events,' he writes, 'the pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial…
On 2 November 2012, the RVI launched the first of a series of reports on the M23 and other armed groups in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), part of RVI’s Usalama Project on armed groups in…
The recent RVI Usalama Project report on the origins and activities of the M23 rebel group in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), From CNDP to M23: The Evolution of an Armed Movement in Eastern Congo, was featured…
On 17 December 2012, Jason Stearns, director of the RVI Usalama Project, discussed the capture of Goma by the M23 rebel group and the escalation of violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) at a public event…
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,