Raphael Abiem was educated at the University of Khartoum, Faculty of Law, Harvard Divinity School and Harvard Law School, Stefan Gheorghiu Academy for Socio-Political Education, Romania, where he received post-graduate Diploma in Political Science. He worked with the United Nations Department of Peace Operations for over two decades, posted in different parts of the world. His work Mission to Niangara and Back is one of the notable works of non-fiction that explores the political ecology in Africa.