Plus, the Sudan angle (UAE airlift of support for RSF via Libya) is also dealt with in detail in the report:
bsky.app/profile/gerr...

Episode 2 of the Beyond Series explores digital connection and mobility across conflict-affected borderlands.

@petechonka.bsky.social reflects on how social media shapes migration dreams and risks for youth in Hargeisa.

Listen: tinyurl.com/BeyondXCEPT2
More about this project: xcept.riftvalley.net

The UK’s radical ‘Preston model’ faces an uncertain future with local elections looming | Andy Beckett A Lancashire council has pushed on with plans to keep wealth and power in the area, despite such ideas being out of fashion in Westminster. But Reform could unravel it all, says Guardian columnist And...

This is what I’d like to see from the next Oxford / Greater Oxford administration.

Unsettled status: the policy and politics of indefinite leave to remain - UK in a changing Europe Sunder Katwala looks at the government's proposed reforms to the settlement rules in the UK as part of its immigration overhaul and asks whether they could meet the fairness challenge. 

📉 "So the fall in immigration risks being a very well-kept secret. There is a time-lag in the data but a bigger lag in the political discourse."

✍️ Sunder Katwala (sundersays) reflects on Labour's immigration policy overhaul

🔗 https://ow.ly/qbqn50YJ35S

The Gulf states’ structural problem: Why they cannot become the European Union The reality is that the Gulf does not have several major powers balancing one another, as Europe does. It has only one

I found this to be exceptionally nuanced and multilayered in its analysis of where the Gulf stands today.

“That fact matters because Saudi Arabia is not simply a Gulf country. It is equally a Red Sea, Levantine, and increasingly a Horn of Africa state with vital national security interests.“

We are set up! Come and see "If we choose to look" all week in Oxford's Bonn Sq. Local NGOs do work that deserves recognition and support #skollworldforum #sidebar

No scenario in latest Mandelson drama makes Keir Starmer look good Something has gone badly wrong in communication between Downing Street and government departments

Today's newsletter: although of the three scenarios that would explain 'he's failed his developed vetting - oh well!', only one is traditionally a resigning matter, all three reveal a man either unwilling or unfit to do the actual job of prime minister.

Through the South Sudan Women’s Research Network (SSWRN), RVI supports women researchers in South Sudan to build skills, strengthen local knowledge and shape evidence based policy and development.

Learn more: tinyurl.com/ysd42m46

It is time for a ceasefire in Sudan and a new way forward The SAF and the RSF cannot shape the future of Sudan alone. All political actors and the Sudanese people must join.

Three years into Sudan’s war, what comes next?

In this Al Jazeera opinion piece, Hala Al-Karib, RVI Fellow and former trustee, argues that a ceasefire must open the way for an inclusive political process led by the Sudanese people.

Read more: aje.news/0ewwrg

Deterrence costs and we will all have to pay
There is a need to stop wishful thinking on defence expenditure
Chris Giles
giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

The April 2026 RVI Newsletter is out!

Explore the latest updates insights and stories from across our projects and initiatives. Read it here: tinyurl.com/RVINewslette...

Stay connected and subscribe to our mailing list: tinyurl.com/RVINewsletter

🇸🇩 | Since the war in #Sudan began three years ago today, it has triggered the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. Khalid Gurashi of the ERRs discusses this on #AfricaAware.

Listen to the episode: www.chathamhouse.org/2026/04/afri...
Read more @chathamhouse.org outputs on Sudan: linktr.ee/CHAfrica

Journalist plans to create new archive of residential school survivor stories — before it's too late | CBC News A new project from award-winning journalist Connie Walker aims to create an archive of testimonies of abuse at residential schools before the accounts are destroyed in September 2027.

an incredibly important project by Connie Walker — most Canadians don't know that the government has an archive of 38,000 residential school survivor testimonies, which are slated to be destroyed next year www.cbc.ca/news/indigen...

Opinion | Reckoning With Israel’s ‘One-State Reality’

My conversation with @ezrakleinbot.bsky.social and @abuaardvark.bsky.social: Reckoning With Israel’s ‘One-State Reality’ www.nytimes.com/2026/04/14/o...

If We Choose to Look. Photography Exhibition - Oxford Festival of the Arts You don’t need to travel the world to see it differently. Just walk to Bonn Square. Step into the open air and meet some of the most extraordinary people on the planet. Through stunning documentary Re...

#Oxford #SkollWorldForum if you are coming to Oxford next week for Skoll or any other reason please swing by Bonn Square and see this free open air exhibition with local NGOs from Syria, Kenya, Sri Lanka, India, USA, and Haiti artsfestivaloxford.org/events/if-we...

A historic decline in foreign aid: Preliminary 2025 ODA data Official development assistance dropped by 23.1% in 2025, the largest-ever annual contraction.

Reading with dismay, not because aid is perfect, or even always helpful, but because war and meanness are so much worse. www.oecd.org/en/data/insi...

What is the Middle East? I'm thrilled to announce publication of my hopefully provocative new Element!

Confused why Pakistan is playing such a key role on an issue in the Middle East? I’ve got a book about that - and its free if you want it.

abuaardvarkghost.ghost.io/what-is-the-...

Judges Fired After Blocking Deportations of Pro-Palestinian Students

BREAKING: the judges who dismissed high-profile cases in immigration court against two international students who have advocated for Palestinian causes, Rümeysa Öztürk and Mohsen Mahdawi, were fired yesterday, alongside four other judges.

/w @haleaziz.bsky.social and @nicknehamas.bsky.social

"In Oxford, similarly, the council pushed ahead with implementation and people have come round to the LTNs. According to research by Oxford Brookes University, twice as many people are strongly in favour of them as are strongly opposed."

Afrori books needs to sell 1000 books in April or they’ll have to close.

afroribooks.co.uk

The Gulf and the Iran Conflict: An Economic Model Under Pressure | ISPI Leggi l'articolo The Gulf and the Iran Conflict: An Economic Model Under Pressure sul sito dell'ISPI.

The Gulf and the Iran Conflict: An Economic Model Under Pressure
The 2026 war against Iran has deeply disrupted the Gulf states’ model of growth, soft power, and international attractiveness. What strategic options do they have going forward? www.ispionline.it/en/publicati...

RVI’s Ethiopian Women Researchers Network (EWNET) empowers #Ethiopian women in peace & conflict studies through collaboration, mentorship & research support, amplifying voices & fostering inclusive, evidence based approaches to peacebuilding.

Learn more: tinyurl.com/ysd42m46

Evidence of Military Assistance to RSF at ENDF Base in Asosa, Ethiopia

Report today from Yale School of Public Health's Humanitarian Research Lab
files-profile.medicine.yale.edu/documents/6f...

Exclusive: The Ethiopian army base covertly supporting Sudan’s RSF Satellite imagery collected since December reveals a base at Asosa, connected to UAE supply lines, facilitating the Rapid Support Forces

My latest for Middle East Eye: satellite imagery analysis reveals that an Ethiopian army base in western Ethiopia is being used as a weapons & logistics hub by Sudan's UAE backed Rapid Support Forces (RSF), to launch cross border attacks on Sudanese army positions from Ethiopia.

Evidence of Military Assistance to RSF at ENDF Base in Asosa, Ethiopia

Report today from Yale School of Public Health's Humanitarian Research Lab
files-profile.medicine.yale.edu/documents/6f...

🚨Funding alert🚨: Since the British Institute in Eastern Africa is not on Bluesky, I am posting this here:
BIEA Annual Grant Programme 2026/27 is now open! Writing Fellowships, Thematic, Dissemination, Workshop, Impact Grants and a Graduate Attachment Scheme. ✅Apply: biea.ac.uk/fundingoppor... 🌍

The human cost of Kenya’s expanding lakes As Kenya’s Rift Valley lakes expand, swallowing homes, farms, and infrastructure, what appears as a climate anomaly reveals a reckoning with ecological limits, failed planning, and the illusion that w...

As Kenya’s Rift Valley lakes expand, swallowing homes, farms, and infrastructure, what appears as a climate anomaly reveals a reckoning with ecological limits, failed planning, and the illusion that water would stay where it was put. africasacountry.com/2026/04/the-...

Living with ruins: ruination and future-making in Kenya (and beyond) Explore the article collection: Living with ruins: ruination and future-making in Kenya (and beyond). Published in Journal of Eastern African Studies.

There was a great @jeasjournal.bsky.social collection 'Living with ruins: ruination and future-making in Kenya (and beyond)', including a case focused around Lake Naivasha (all Open Access)
www.tandfonline.com/journals/rje...

Of all the things to just tweet out.

COMMODIFICATION AND CONFLICT IN THE HORN OF AFRICA BORDERLANDS

Drawing on X-Border research (2019–2025), this report examines how borderlands across the Horn relate to each other and what they reveal about conflict, economies and governance.

Read more: tinyurl.com/mwaan7v5