The Washington-based Wilson Center published in November 2017 a policy brief titled "Mitigating Cross-Border Conflicts along the Ethiopia-South Sudan Border" and a longer study titled "Cross-Border Intergroup Conflicts in the Horn of Africa: A Case Study of Ethiopia-South Sudan Borderland People" both by Tasew Gashaw, Southern Voices Network for Peacebuilding Scholar.
The author analyzes the issues facing the people who live along the porous 543-mile long border between Ethiopia and South Sudan. They face cross-border intergroup conflict that is exacerbated by South Sudan's instability, low economic inclusion in Ethiopia, and border insurgents who engage in illicit trade, child abduction, cattle rustling, and arms smuggling.