Despite the focus on small boats, most refugees stay in poor countries. I went to Sudan, where nearly 1/3 of the population has left their homes, to see how the UN is coping with Trump's cuts and the west's retreat. Sudan is a brutal, forgotten war. Please do read: as.ft.com/r/7db76b9a-8...

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Deadline extended! EWNET’s Diaspora Membership call for #Ethiopian women researchers based abroad. Join a growing network supporting collaboration, mentoring and #Ethiopia-focused scholarship. Full application details: tinyurl.com/bdwhrbuu Apply by email: [email protected]

Gulf States on the Frontline of U.S.-Iran Volatility by Kristian Coates Ulrichsen agsi.org/analysis/gul...

Somaliland's president pitches deals at World Economic Forum in Davos. #Somaliland #Somalia www.reuters.com/world/africa...

Worth 5 mins of your time. @newsagents.bsky.social Emily Maitliss on the MAGA fantasy being realised in MN. www.thenewworld.co.uk/emily-maitli...

Great critique of Said via Amin by @ingridhk.bsky.social Afrihistosky

50 free copies: www.tandfonline.com/eprint/WYGQY...

🎧 NEW EPISODE | The Horn This week, we discuss the new public Saudi-UAE rift and its implications for Sudan, Somalia and the wider region. www.crisisgroup.org/pod/africa/h...

🆕Valentine Opanga & Detlef Müller-Mahn examine land cartels in #Nairobi’s largest informal settlements, showing how they sustain authority & shape urban development through performative politics that mask systemic failures. 🔗 doi.org/10.1177/0002... CC: @giga-hamburg.de @sagepub.com

Using the Somali language for AI - podcast from Mogadishu. Abdimalik and I talking with Aweis (SPA) on importance and challenges of translation for digital rights, and our collaboration with AGA (Af Soomaali/Somali) www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BIR...

It took me years and dozens of interviews to write this book with the goal to unpack what is really at the core of Gulf states’ behavior/thinking anyday. Now it’s yours. OUT TODAY in very affordable format (offer ends in 10 days!) for @manchesterup.bsky.social Info & buy: tinyurl.com/mph2dp6u

SAVE THE DATE | Join EWNET for an online webinar exploring how #Ethiopia has been written into global knowledge and how Ethiopian thinkers have written the world from Ethiopia. Fri 30 Jan 2026| 13:30 Cambridge | 15:30 EAT Register: tinyurl.com/3kbm7xuj

Read this work by the great Ricardo Soares de Oliveira oms-www.files.svdcdn.com/production/d...

Should the Sahel Research Group stay on Bluesky? Yes? No? Whatever? Is there still anybody interested in the West African Sahel out there?

What does mobility look like in conflict-affected borderlands? Episode 2 of the Beyond Series reflects on digital connection, migration and survival across Somaliland, Puntland and South Sudan. Listen: tinyurl.com/BeyondXCEPT2 More about this project: xcept.riftvalley.net

Our January 2026 RVI Newsletter is now live. Catch up on the latest updates, insights and stories from across the region. Read it here: tinyurl.com/yruj2p5j Not subscribed yet? Join our mailing list here: tinyurl.com/RVINewsletter

More movement by China to cut US financial architecture out of its global trade. #Kenya strikes preliminary duty-free trade deal with China www.reuters.com/world/asia-p...

A warm welcome to Dr @rita-abrahamsen.bsky.social joining @osgaoxford.bsky.social in HT26! Dr Abrahamsen will be teaching a course ‘Pan-Africanism: Past, Present, Futures’. Read our interview to discover why Dr Abrahamsen is so excited to be joining OSGA! ▶️ www.osga.ox.ac.uk/article/inte...

Restart?

#SIPRI and its Chadian partner, #BUCOFORE, carried out field research in four refugee camps in eastern #Chad, focusing on the situation of Sudanese refugee women and girls. This policy brief by Marie Riquier and Prisca Nandoumabe presents the main findings of the research. More: ➡️ bit.ly/4qVhQnQ

Reminder that in the UK an incoming radical, populist government would have immediate access to immense, unchecked executive power. And the current government is doing nothing to protect us from that.

Read our latest article: Beyond war and politics: Somali kinship and everyday service delivery - co-authored with Abdirahman Edle and Karuti Kanyinga🇸🇴🇰🇪🇩🇰 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Wikipedia was created 25 years ago, today – since then it’s become the largest collection of relatively reliable knowledge in history But how vulnerable is it to those willing to pay top dollar to polish their reputations? And how do British PR firms help them do it?

📌 #Israel-Somaliland: strategic shift in the Red Sea? Israel’s recognition of #Somaliland signals more than diplomacy It reflects strategic, economic, and security calculations with major implications for the #region My take @OrionPolicyIns 👇 orionpolicy.org/israels-reco...

Israel’s Recognition of Somaliland: Northeast Africa at a Critical Juncture By Belete Belachew Yihun for African Arguments africanarguments.org/2026/01/isra...

“The Roots of Political Transformation in Ethiopia: A Review Essay” published in JMAS. I bring into conversation three recently published books on the politics and history of Ethiopia. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

🚨New issue of @MidEastPolicy out now!📘 Among many excellent contributions, my #article looks at the new #security #configuration of the #RedSea—and what it means for #regional order and #global dynamics. A must-read issue👇 #Yemen #Sudan #Somalia #Somaliland #Israel #Gaza

Learning for Impact | Local knowledge drives better decisions. Since 2004, RVI’s education & training programme has equipped thousands with the context, analytical tools & networks needed to navigate complex challenges. Learn more about RVI’s Education & Training Programme: courses.riftvalley.net

📍Seminar series “Histories across the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf” Join our online seminar series at 🔗 unito.webex.com/meet/redmix #ERC #ERCCoG #REDMIX @erc.europa.eu

1/ Read my @ecfrmena.bsky.social analysis of the big Saudi-UAE rupture. Yemen was the spark, as Riyadh really felt the Emiratis were taking them for a ride. But this is much bigger than Yemen. Even bigger than the Red Sea. It is about Israel. 👉 Full piece: ecfr.eu/article/from...

Crisis Group is the best think tank in my field but the kind of policy language below reveals the deep crisis of peace advocacy: recommendations are addressed to people we know are incapable of following a desirable course of action. Or perhaps completely coincidentally.

An intriguing analysis of the state of the field, raising long-overdue questions about whether, and how, the study of conflict and violence can be salvaged by disentangling it from its legacy as 1990s policy science.

In the new @dissentmag.bsky.social issue, out today, @yguichaoua.bsky.social and I diagnose the crisis of conflict studies in a piece that is part intellectual history, part personal experience. What was conflict studies for? And what can its travails tell us about how wars have changed?

Good backgrounder on Saudi-UAE conflict and its implications for regional security. By @kristianulrichsen.bsky.social theconversation.com/saudi-uae-bu...

UK government co-owns Somaliland port at centre of Horn of Africa crisis - https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/uk-government-co-owns-somaliland-port-spotlight-over-horn-africa-crisis

UAE removing its military from Bosaso after angry Somalia ends agreement - https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/uae-removing-its-military-bosaso-after-angry-somalia-ends-agreement

#CFP #EISA Workshop #2026 🚨 Co-organising with May Darwich a workshop in Izmir: Hybrid #Security in a #Fractured World: The #RedSea and Beyond (WS CB) 📅 Submissions open: 12 Jan ⏰ Deadline: 10 Feb Submission🔗 eisa-net.org/ewis-2026/ab... #EISA #CFP #RedSea #SecurityStudies

A core part of “why Labour is failing” is that the backbenchers given prime retirement seats - the people who ought to be the brains of the party - are not asking “what decisions should we be taking to defend ourselves and our allies and to increase resilience?” “How do we reform public services?”…

Bonkers. UAE cuts funds for citizens keen to study in UK over Muslim Brotherhood tensions - giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... via @FT

Analysis of Saudi repositioning on Yemen, drawing in wider Red Sea regional dynamics and engagement with Horn of Africa. Nadwa Al-Dawsari for MEI. mei.edu/publication/...

Interesting analysis from Farea Al-Muslimi (Chatham House) Oman, eastern Yemen, and the fragile geometry of neutrality www.chathamhouse.org/2026/01/oman...

I know there’s a lot going on in the world right now. But this spectacular fallout between Saudi and UAE is going to reshape the region and impact events beyond. It’s hard to overstate the Saudi anger at the UAE that’s expressed by revealing step-by-step details + officer names in the UAE operation

🚨 Saudi Arabia launches new air strikes on southern Yemen as STC leader fails to travel to Riyadh for talks aimed at ending the crisis.

Despite the Trump administration’s efforts to memory-hole Jan. 6, thousands of videos from the riot live on ProPublica’s website and other places. Additionally, much of the deleted DOJ database can be found on the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine. (Published Jan. 2025)

Thank you, to All Things Considered for presenting a great documentation of what actually happened on January 6, 2021. As someone who studies memory and power, this kind of report is essential to counter official efforts to promote collective forgetting of the real history.

Yemen’s Continuing Crack-Up – Gregory D. Johnsen agsi.org/analysis/yem...

Threatening to strip someone of their citizenship is no joke - giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... via @FT

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