Hussein Mahmoud is Lecturer in the Department of Geography at Egerton University in Nakuru, Kenya. His research interests include livestock marketing in pastoralist areas, pastoralist livelihoods, natural resource management in drylands, and the dynamics of conflicts in the Horn of Africa.

His doctoral research (Kentucky, 2003) examined the dynamics of cattle trading and specifically the role of trust and social relations in the functioning of markets in northern Kenya and southern Ethiopia, and was carried out under the Global Livestock CRSP PARIMA project. The genesis and transformation of conflict in northern Kenya is the focus of his current work with the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology. Previously, he has worked on IDRC-funded research on cross-border pastoral conflict in the Horn of Africa and obstacles to peace in the Great Lakes region. His publications include: ‘Breaking the communication barrier: using mobile phones in pastoral livestock marketing in northern Kenya’ in Haramata: Bulletin of the Drylands (2009) and ‘Risky trade, resilient traders: trust and livestock marketing in northern Kenya’ in Africa (2008).