A year after the independence of South Sudan, RVI Executive Director John Ryle gave a lecture on Africa's newest and most contentious border at the Centre for Federal Studies of Addis Ababa University on 25 October 2012. Demarcation of the boundary line between Sudan and South Sudan involves complex local questions of land ownership, use, and rights. Oil resources on both sides of the border…

The new hostilities between Sudan and South Sudan have generated renewed interest in two RVI publications: Douglas Johnson's When Boundaries Become Borders and Eddie Thomas' The Kafia Kingi Enclave. The books offer the most detailed available account of border communities in the Sudans, their shared resources and disputed boundaries. Meanwhile Douglas Johnson has published a follow-up note on…

The third Great Lakes Course was held in Bujumbura, Burundi from 7 to 13 July. The Director of Studies was Jason Stearns, also director of RVI's Usalama Project and author of the acclaimed Dancing in the Glory of Monsters. The Deputy Director of Studies was Emily Paddon, Trudeau Scholar and Lecturer in International Relations at the University of Oxford. The Director of the course was Aly…

In September 2014, a conflict erupted between South Sudanese and Ugandans in the borderlands of Kajokeji County, South Sudan and Moyo District, Uganda. Several people were killed, many more injured and thousands displaced. On 16 June 2016, the authors launched the Rift Valley Institute publication, Dividing Communities in South Sudan and Northern Uganda, in a public lecture at Makarere…

ركز النقاش الدائر حول السودَانيْن، الشمالي والجنوبي، على مسالة أين يمر خط الحدود بينهما. ويفحص التقرير الاول في سلسلة الحدود المتنازع عليها، حينما تصير الحدود الاداريّة حدوداً دوليّة، موضوعاً آخر لكنه يتميّز بنفس القدر من الأهميّة هو: الأثر المحتمل للحدود الجديدة على سكان الاراضي الحدوديّة وعلى التطورات السياسيّة على المستوى المحلّي. وفي تقصّي شامل للمصادر الارشيفيّة والبحوث الراهنة تلخّص…

Discussion of the border between Sudan and South Sudan has focused on the question of where the boundary line is to be drawn. When Boundaries Become Borders examines a different, but equally important issue: the potential impact of the new boundary on the peoples of the borderlands and political developments at the local level. In a comprehensive survey of archival sources and current research…

When South Sudan became a separate state in 2011, its northern boundary with the Republic of Sudan became an international border, the longest and most contentious in the region. At the westernmost extremity of Sudan, Kafia Kingi is a key meeting point between the two countries. This mineral-rich area is currently under the administration of South Darfur state, in Sudan, but is due to be…

‎تُعتبر كفيا قنجي الواقع على الطرف الغربي الأقصى للسودان نقطة إلتقاء رئيسية بين دارفور وجنوب البلاد؛ وتخضع هذه المنطقة الغنية بالمعادن حالياً لإدارة جنوب دارفور، لكن من المتوقع إعادتها إلى مقاطعة راجا في جنوب السودان بموجب بنود اتفاقية السلام الشامل لعام 2005. ويحكي هذا التقرير الثاني من سلسلة تقارير الأراضي المتنازع عليها، المستند إلى بحث ارشيفي مكثف ومئات المقابلات في السودان، قصة أهل كفيا…

In September 2014, a conflict erupted between South Sudanese and Ugandans in the borderlands of Kajokeji County, South Sudan and Moyo District, Uganda. Several people were killed, many more injured and thousands displaced. In Dividing Communities in South Sudan and Northern Uganda, the authors argue that the boundary dispute is not simply the result of a failure of governments to…

Between Somaliland and Puntland analyses the political evolution of the Republic of Somaliland (created in 1991), and the federalist Puntland State of Somalia (established in 1998). Based on extensive ethnographic research, it describes the efforts by those living in between the two polities to create their own autonomously governed states. Markus Hoehne provides an account of the…