It might be shorter to list those who were not critical of international election observers in Kenya.  Following the historic decision of Kenya’s Supreme Court to nullify the August 8 presidential elections, international election observation missions (EOMs) have been pummelled. Leading human rights activist Maina Kiai said: ‘There is something…

Aweil is lush and green with rains at the moment. Fields that I had last seen hard and crisp with dried seedlings, back in June 2015, are now months away from yielding. Aweil town continues to bustle, with football tournaments every evening at Independence Square, and donkey carts careering past pedestrians hopping puddles. It is often said…

In July Durham played host to a meeting of curators and researchers concerned with the heritage of material culture taken from the lands now comprising South Sudan. These include items of jewellery, clothing, furniture, weaponry and sculpture bought, bartered or stolen sometime in the nineteenth or early twentieth centuries. Some of these…

Last month in Yirol I bought a heifer—a brindled two-year old, not yet in calf. In the Dinka cattle-naming system a cow like this is called nyang, the crocodile, a reference to the colour-pattern of her hide. I bought my nyang at the livestock auction on the edge of Yirol town, the administrative centre of Eastern Lakes state…

For six years rebel forces in Sudan’s South Kordofan and Blue Nile states (the Two Areas) have been battling the Sudanese government. Round after round of negotiations mediated by the African Union (AU) in Addis Ababa have failed to bring an end to what is a continuation of the second Sudanese civil war (1983-2005) fought by the Sudan People’s…

Fatima Ahmed Ibrahim, a Sudanese veteran communist politician and feminist, passed away in London on 12 August. She is survived by her son Ahmed with the late al-Shafie Ahmed al-Sheikh, a communist trade union leader who met his death at the gallows at the orders of President Nimayri in the aftermath of the failed 19 July 1971 communist coup…

Le groupement Waloaluanda est situé dans le secteur de Wanianga, en territoire de Walikale (Nord-Kivu). Majoritairement peuplé des Batembo, ce groupement est parmi les plus enclavés de Walikale et se situe à cheval entre les territoires de Masisi (Nord Kivu) à l’est et celui de Kalehe (groupement de Ziralo et Mubuku, au Sud Kivu). Waloaluanda…

Depuis la mise en œuvre de la Police de Proximité (PdP) dans le cadre de la réforme de la police dont Bukavu était un site pilote (2009-2014), des tableaux accrochés sur les murs intérieurs et extérieurs de la plupart des commissariats à travers la ville annoncent aux visiteurs dix règles d’or que les policiers sont tenus de respecter. La…

But there was an air of optimism. In the various focus groups both women and men agreed that the affirmative action led to more women in positions of power and decision-making, and it was indeed a good thing that needed to be supported. One woman noted that the fact that women are in leadership positions in the county was motivation for girls…

On Wednesday 29 November 2017, Eye Radio and the Rift Valley Institute aired the fifth and, for now, final radio show in the South Sudan National Archives radio series, in coordination with the South Sudan Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports and UNESCO, with Norway’s financial support. The show was hosted by Clement Wani Cirisio and looked at…