South Sudan: Is Peace Possible?
Thousands have died and hundreds of thousands have been displaced as a result of the political crisis in South Sudan. Armed conflict continues as peace talks between government and opposition begin in Addis Ababa. READ THE MEETING REPORT Leading South Sudanese civil society institutions came together in Nairobi to sponsor discussion of the current […]
Oral history and customary authorities in South Sudan
The third phase of RVI’s South Sudan Customary Authorities Project, funded by the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA), is now underway. The project aims to deepen understanding of customary authorities’ role within, and with, their communities, and to amplify their voices. The work builds on previous phases of the project, activities and findings […]
Dutch Embassy team visit to the South Sudan National Archives
On Thursday 3 August, the full eighteen member Dutch Embassy national and international staff team in South Sudan visited the National Archives as part of their annual team outing. The Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports staff presented a summary of the development of the National Archives, its current situation and the ongoing work taking […]
Juba Lectures 2014: Negotiating peace in South Sudan—Historical agreements and their lessons for the future
The fourth annual Juba University Rift Valley Institute lecture series took place on 22, 23 and 24 October, in the New Hall at Juba University. The 2014 series examined three historic peace agreements and their implications for the current peace negotiations in South Sudan: the 1972 Addis Ababa Agreement, which brought the first civil war […]
Fatima Ahmed Ibrahim (1933-2017): emancipation as a craft
This article was written by RVI Fellow Magdi El Gizouli. It was originally published on StillSUDAN and republished with permission from the author. 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 […]
Letter from Yirol
RVI’s ongoing South Sudan Customary Authorities Project is seeking to deepen understanding of the changing role of chiefs and traditional authorities in South Sudan. As part of this project, RVI is working with a team of researchers, most of whom have been trained in oral history research under the project, to conduct research with customary authorities and their […]
Book review – South Sudan: A new history for a new nation by Douglas H. Johnson
This book review was written by Richard Stupart. The book, South Sudan: a new history for a new nation, was written by RVI Fellow Douglas H. Johnson. There are precious few history books about South Sudan that look beyond its recent origins. South Sudan: a new history for a new nation is an excellent example of just […]
Juba University students discuss customary authorities
As part of its ongoing South Sudan Customary Authorities project, RVI, in coordination with staff and students at the University of Juba, organized an event which discussed the role of chiefs. The discussion centred around the screening of RVI’s film We Are Here for the Sake of the People. The role of Chiefs and Traditional […]
Why doesn’t South Sudan’s refugee exodus spur East Africa to action?
Aly Verjee is a visiting expert at the United States Institute of Peace and a fellow of the Rift Valley Institute. Migration crises in Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa reconfigured global politics. So why – as the millionth South Sudanese took refuge in Uganda earlier this year, and with the total number of […]
Letter from Gogrial
RVI’s ongoing South Sudan Customary Authorities Project is seeking to deepen understanding of the changing role of chiefs and traditional authorities in South Sudan. As part of this project, RVI has trained a team of researchers in oral history to conduct research with customary authorities and their constituents in different parts of South Sudan, and with displaced […]