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…

'We first heard about it early last year when we saw Japanese airplanes, followed by strangers (land surveyors) walking around the area, carrying notepads, pens and fancy equipment, just like you' say community members of Isiolo County about the Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia (LAPSSET) Transport project. Awareness of LAPSSET seems to be…

In 1977, following allegations of poor leadership and disloyalty towards the Mobutist regime, the then mwami, Simba Nyamugira Henri, laid down his administrative functions, which were taken over by his eldest son, Ndare Simba. However, Ndare was not customarily designated by the banjoga (the Fuliiru ‘guardians of custom’)…

In the parallel universe that has become South Sudan, negotiations between the government and the political and armed opposition groups have been just as problematic as Sudan’s internal peace talks, although international mediation from the AU, IGAD and others has been more successful in brokering an agreement. Early in 2015 the Sudan People’s…

In 2015, Sudan experienced a further escalation of wars, associated with gross human rights violations in Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile. Despite numerous rounds of peace negotiations, no breakthrough has been made. The entire political landscape of Sudan continues in disarray. Both political and armed and opposition groups suffer from a…

In Ethiopia, elections in May 2015 resulted in victory for the ruling Ethiopian Peoples Democratic Front (EPRDF) with 100 percent of the seats in parliament. While met with incredulity abroad, this outcome meant that the EPRDF, despite the death of long-time leader Meles Zenawi in 2012, would continue to function as before. Meanwhile, peaceful…

Electoral season has hit the Great Lakes region and has brought with it an increase in contentious politics, open conflict and uncertainty. Last year, a violent crisis gripped Burundi after the ruling party announced that President Pierre Nkurunziza would run for a third term, despite arguments by the opposition that the bid was in violation of…

In the course of 2015, recruitment for certain factions of the Raia Mutomboki armed group intensified in the area of Bunyakiri, located in Kalehe territory in the province of South Kivu (Democratic Republic of the Congo). In this blog, Lebon Mulimbi suggests that the reasons for this recent upsurge in recruitment are primarily to be found in…

Vendredi 10 mai 2013 à 23 heures mourrait assassiné par balles Teso Ntarubibi, chef du village Chifunzi en groupement de Kalonge, territoire de Kalehe. L’infortuné était une des grandes personnalités de la famille royale Nakalonge régnant sur Kalonge. Son assassinat ne tardât pas à créer la panique dans le milieu. De centaines de familles…

La présence sur le sol congolais des Forces Démocratiques de Libération du Rwanda  (FDLR), un mouvement armé des combattants Hutu rwandais créée en 1999/2000, remonte à la période post-génocide au Rwanda après 1994. En République démocratique du Congo (Zaïre à l’époque), ces combattants commencèrent à se regrouper et à se réarmer dans les…