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 Liberation Movement-in Government (SPLM-IG) and…

Nimo-llhan Ali and Rashid Abdi discuss migration, the meaning of tahriib, and the challenges faced by returning youth in Somaliland and diaspora. The discussion took place on the 2014 Horn of Africa Course.

The RVI scholarship fund is relaunched this month as the RVI Shading Tree Fund. This follows a generous donation from the family of Ranald Boyle, a former District Commissioner in South Sudan. Since the Institute was founded, the scholarship fund has enabled young scholars and activists from Eastern and Central Africa to participate in RVI annual field courses and attend classes at…

This June, RVI hosted the Institute’s fourteenth Annual Field Courses in Entebbe, Uganda, covering Sudan and South Sudan, the Great Lakes and the Horn of Africa. The innovative, dawn-to-dusk programme of seminars, lectures, group discussions and special events covered a variety of social, political and economic issues in the region, including migration, elections, armed groups, humanitarian…

The Great Lakes Course covered the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Rwanda and Burundi. The state and its institutions were cross-cutting themes this year. In the DRC, the Course looked into the debates around the electoral process and the ongoing violence in the Kivus. For Burundi, the shrinking political space ahead of the 2015 elections and its impact on democratic processes were…

Political rivalry and unending civil wars in the Sudans continue to jeopardise social and economic development. Understanding the histories of state formation and conflict is more important than ever. The 2015 Sudan and South Sudan Course addressed the challenge of working in this complex, fluid environment, linking analysis of current events to contextual understanding of history, society and…

The Horn of Africa Course covered Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia, Somaliland, Puntland, and Northern Kenya. The 2015 course offered a multi-disciplinary examination of the crises afflicting the Horn and explored continuity and change under new political leadership at the national and sub-national level across the region.

The Horn of Africa Course covers Ethiopia, the Somali regions, Eritrea, Djibouti, and northern Kenya.  The social and political histories of each country in the Horn of Africa are examined to contextualise the continuities and transformations that are taking place across the region. A variety of disciplinary perspectives and new research is brought to bear on conflict, climate and…

The 2016 RVI Sudan and South Sudan Field Course will take stock of the world that the Comprehensive Peace Agreement made in the tenth year after it was signed. The democratic transformation promised by the CPA has not taken root in either country. In Sudan the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) has further entrenched its position against a divided opposition while intensifying its military…

The Great Lakes Course covers the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Rwanda and Burundi, providing a deep historical and social context to the current political and humanitarian dynamics in the region. In the DRC, the Course will look into the debates around the electoral process and the ongoing violence in the Kivus. For Burundi, the ongoing political crisis and its impact on domestic…