Markus Virgil Hoehne wrote his MA-thesis on strategies of peaceful conflict settlement in Somalia (published in German 2002) and subsequently did his PhD research in northern Somalia (Somaliland and Puntland). Since 2011 he has been conducting research on Somali issues as senior researcher for universities and international organizations. He is the author of Between Somaliland and Puntland: Marginalization, Militarization and Conflicting Political Visions (Rift Valley Institute 2015) and co-editor of several edited volumes including Borders and borderlands as Resources in the Horn of Africa (Boydell and Brewer 2010) and The State and the Paradox of Customary Law in Africa (Routledge 2018).