SUMMARY • Dire Dawa, Ethiopia’s second largest city, is a multi-ethnic and multi-religious economic hub in the country’s eastern region, sitting on the contested boundary between the Oromia and Somali regions. Despite an overarching sense that the city’s historical…
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SUMMARY • Gondar city is known for centuries of peaceful coexistence between its Muslim and Orthodox Christian community members. These inter-religious relations have, however, deteriorated over recent decades, erupting into view in the April 2022 attack on Muslim mourners…
ማጠቃለያ በአገር አቀፍ ደረጃ የፖለቲካ ለውጥ ቢደረግም በኦሮሚያ ክልል በሚገኙት ሁለቱ የጉጂ ዞኖች (ጉጂ እና ምዕራብ ጉጂ) የማዕድን ቁፋሮ ሥራ የአካባቢውን ማኅበረሰቦች ማግለሉን ቀጥሏል። ይህ እውነታ በተለይ በሳውዑዲ ቢሊየነር ሼክ መሐመድ ሁሴን አል አሙዲ ባለቤትነት በሚተዳደረው የሚድሮክ የማዕድን እና…
SUMMARY • Despite political change at the national level, resource extraction in the two Guji zones (Guji and West Guji) of the Oromia Region continues to exclude local communities. This is particularly so in the case of MIDROC –…
INTRODUCTION Social science knowledge production in Ethiopia, as elsewhere in Africa, has Eurocentric roots. This is because Ethiopian Studies was born outside of Ethiopia, with the first generation of scholars consisting mainly of academics from Western countries or Ethiopians…
HISTORY, POLITICS AND INTER-RELIGIOUS RELATIONS INTRODUCTION Religious affiliation is almost universal in Ethiopia, which means that religions amass significant political capital but may also act as potential catalysts for conflict. After five decades of ostensibly secular politics—first under a…
This conflict trend report was produced by the Ethiopia Peace Research Facility (PRF). The PRF is an independent facility combining timely analysis on peace and conflict from Ethiopian experts with support for conflict sensitive programming in the country. It…
This briefing was produced by the Ethiopia Peace Research Facility (PRF). The PRF is an independent facility combining timely analysis on peace and conflict from Ethiopian experts with support for conflict sensitive programming in the country. It is managed…
This briefing was produced by the Ethiopia Peace Research Facility (PRF). The PRF is an independent facility combining timely analysis on peace and conflict from Ethiopian experts with support for conflict sensitive programming in the country. It is managed…
This paper provides an analysis of the six-month conflict trends in Ethiopia’s Benishangul-Gumuz Regional State, particularly Metekel zone. As well as providing an overview of the conflict and its main actors, it also examines the political processes that have…
Recent Publications
Digital Governance and Security in the Horn of Africa
March 28, 2025
While digital finance—including mobile money—has developed unevenly across Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya, such technologies are nevertheless transforming everyday economic activities. In some cases, borderlands and cross-border financial flows are central to these digital developments and are driving further innovation. From
Legally Informal: Women, conflict and cross-border trade in the Mandera tri-border area
March 28, 2025
In the Mandera triangle—a pastoralist region encompassing the point at which the borders of Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia meet—the reality of local and cross-border trade often diverges widely from official state policies of control. This disjunction has created a grey
Making Sense of Borderlands
March 27, 2025
This think piece is an extract of a longer paper taking stock of the roughly 40 X-Border studies carried out between 2019 and 2025 under the auspices of the Rift Valley Institute’s XCEPT programme. If we are to fully grasp