RVI’s 2018 Annual Courses
The Institute recently wrapped up its fifteenth year of annual field courses, which were held this year in May and June in Kenya. The one-week intensive courses covered an array of historical and contemporary issues in the Horn of Africa, Sudan and South Sudan, and the Great Lakes regions. They were attended by 83 participants and taught by 32 teachers. […]
Applications open for RVI’s Annual Field Courses 2019
In June and July, the Rift Valley Institute will hold the 2019 annual field courses in Ethiopia. Now in their sixteenth year, each course examines a different sub-region within eastern and central Africa: Sudan and South Sudan, the Great Lakes and the Horn of Africa. They offer a dawn-to-dusk programme of lectures, seminars, panel discussions and debates. Bringing together new research, fresh […]
Blog series on urban insecurity in the eastern DRC
Research on conflict and violence in the eastern Congo often focuses on rural areas, which harbour armed groups, and are the prime sites of military operations against these groups. However, conflict and insecurity do not stop at the borders of cities. The inhabitants of many cities in the Congo are faced with rampant insecurity. […]
Un Ordre Ambigu
Points clés Dans de nombreuses villes de l’est de la République démocratique du Congo, des groupes de jeunes sont impliqués dans le maintien de l’ordre en milieu urbain, opérant dans un espace se situant à la fois entre les acteurs étatiques et non étatiques et entre la gouvernance formelle et informelle. Si l’on doit à […]
Kidnapping à Goma : « Les enfants, une nouvelle cible des ravisseurs »
A form of insecurity that first manifested in rural areas in North Kivu, since 2015, kidnappings for ransom have also become commonplace in the city of Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Here, it is children who are often the victims. In this blog, Passy Mubalama zooms in on the experiences of parents whose […]
La tracasserie prend le dessus sur la sécurité au port de Goma
Roadblocks—infamous for the informal fees travellers must pay—are often thought to be found exclusively in rural areas. Yet, as Evariste Mahamba shows in this blog, the harbor of Goma also has a history of roadblocks. Having become hotspots of extortion, pressure mounted from citizen movements to dismantle the roadblocks. Recently, the new mayor of Goma […]
A System of Insecurity: Understanding urban violence and crime in Bukavu
A System of Insecurity: Understanding Urban Violence and Crime in Bukavu examines the role of state and non-state actors in the provision of security, and citizens’ perceptions of, experiences with and responses to insecurity in Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu province in the eastern Congo. Facing growing urban insecurity, the residents of Bukavu have […]
Vendre à perte ? L’insécurité des femmes vendeuses de Bukavu
Within the city of Bukavu—as elsewhere in the Congo—many women earn a living selling goods and produce at the market or in the streets. In this blog, Alice Mugoli explores the different types of insecurity to which these women are exposed. In particular, women who do not have a stall at the market but rather […]
This Year in the Great Lakes
This blog post was written by Yolande Bouka and Marco Jowell, the Co-Directors of Studies for the Rift Valley Institute’s Great Lakes Field Course, which will be taking place in Ethiopia from 3-7 June 2019. Yolande and Marco will be joined by a team of leading specialists to explore the contemporary complexities of the region as well […]
Insécurité des marchands vespéraux dans la ville de Goma
In the city of Goma, numerous shop-keepers and street vendors—for instance, those selling phone credit, alcoholic drinks or food—work at night. As Alain Mukombe Misege analyzes in this blog, in certain quarters of the city of Goma—in particular, Kyeshero, Majengo and Mugunga—these economic operators run very high risks. Since the end of 2018, there has […]