Live tonight – Colin Freeman and Mary Harper on Somalia

You can now watch the event here.  

Colin Freeman, who was kidnapped in Somalia in November 2008 and held for six weeks, is at the club tonight to discuss his experience and the future for the “failed state” in the Horn of Africa. He’s joined by Mary Harper, a BBC Africa correspondent and Mike Thomson, chief foreign correspondent for the BBC Today programme. As usual we’ll be streaming the event live on the Frontline Club events page and on the Frontline Club live channel, We start at 7pm GMT/11am PST

With a new government in the process of being formed in Somalia, are we going to see a new era of peace and stability after eighteen long years of violence and warlordism? Or does the new Prime Minister Sharmarke – himself a moderate Islamist – now have an impossible task ahead of him in trying to form a unity government and start a dialogue with Islamic militant group Al-Shabab? Will the recent withdrawal of Ethiopian peace-keeping troops simply serve to create more opportunity for the Islamists to cause chaos? And with piracy and kidnapping incidents on the rise, how are journalists to report from Somalia?

We hear from Colin Freeman about his experiences being kidnapped in Somalia last year as well as Mary Harper, Africa correspondent for the BBC on the wider political landscape. link