On 18 February 2013, RVI Fellow Douglas Johnson gave a lecture on the role of archives in nation building, based on his 40-year experience of working with Southern government archives and his recent work with RVI on rescuing, rehabilitating,…
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The headquarters of Sudan's Communist Party is a shabby place. The peeling leather chairs in its meeting room are watched over by dusty photos of its most famous leaders since 1946, most of whom died at the hands of…
The Sudd Institute, founded by RVI Fellow Jok Madut Jok, is a newly established research organisation that aims “to improve the quality, impact, and accountability of local, national, and international policy and decision-making in South Sudan.” The Institute’s first…
By Magdi El Gazouli Four students were found dead Friday in a feeder irrigation canal of an experimental farm next to the main campus of the University of Gezira. The students drowned to death; their bodies carried no marks…
As fighting continues in Kordofan and Darfur, in Sudan, a report by the Kampala-based International Refugee Rights Initiative (IRRI), The disappearance of Sudan? Life in Khartoum for citizens without rights, examines the experiences of people from South Sudan and Western…
Princeton Lyman, US special envoy for Sudan and South Sudan, is stepping down. A White House source characterised Lyman’s departure as “the kind of personnel change that is normal at the end of a president’s first term and start…
By Magdi El Gazouli The contradictions ravaging the Sudanese Islamic Movement (SIM) matured in the folds of its 8th General Conference into an antagonism between loyalists and dissidents, an antagonism that the state attempted to resolve by means of…
The News reported that a last minute oil deal reached between Sudan and South Sudan offers no quick fix for Khartoum’s economic crisis and remains tied to progress on security issues. Analysts said that both sides agreed Juba would…
By Magdi El Gazouli Sudan’s major grain producers, the landowners of Gedaref, complained bitterly to the press this week of an acute shortage of labour and warned of yet another failed agricultural season. The local farmers’ union in the…
By Magdi El Gizouli Instead of Sadiq al-Mahdi, the imam of the Ansar, it was Abd al-Mahmoud Abbo, the Secretary General of the Ansar Welfare Association, who led the prayer last Friday in Sayed Abd al-Rahman al-Mahdi mosque in…
Recent Publications
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

The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church in Post-2018 Ethiopia: Navigating church–state and inter-religious dynamics
April 4, 2025
This report examines the complex and shifting situation of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (EOTC) in post-2018 Ethiopia, highlighting its struggle to maintain influence amid political, social and religious changes. In addition to examining both the current EOTC relationship with

Thinking about Borderlands: Observations and implications from XCEPT programme research
March 31, 2025
Do the ways in which policymakers and national governments view borderlands reflect how the communities living there experience them? Building on this, can a better understanding of the characteristics of borderlands help in promoting development, improving governance and making more