Puntland

December 21, 2010

Somalis, Saracens and their Secret Donor

What do six Russians, two South Africans, the Ugandan President’s brother, a private security firm, a former CIA officer, and a senior ex-US diplomat all have in common?  Somalia and its semi-autonomous regions of course! The British registered private security firm Saracen International is currently training over 1000 militia men in Somalia’s Puntland region as […]


May 15, 2009

Freelancing in Somalia

Bulgarian freelance journalist Elena Yoncheva has reported from many conflict zones for Bulgarian TV channels. She talks about her time in Somalia in The Standart newspaper today, Have you ever been under attack while on the move in Somalia? I was twice on the verge of being kidnapped. Once we were followed by a jeep […]


May 7, 2009

Japanese journalist tours Somalia

Given the utter chaos within Somalia, outright danger for journalists and the fact that freelancers Amanda Lindhout and Nigel Brennan remain hostages some 9 months after they were kidnapped outside Mogadishu, I was somewhat surprised to learn about Kenji Goto. He’s a journalist working for the "Independent Press" It appears he hooked up with a […]


March 30, 2009

Somali journalist jailed for two years

Ayanle Jama Feyte, an online journalist working for the Lassqorey website who was arrested on March 26, has reportedly been jailed for two years by a court in Bossaso in the Puntland region of Somalia. He is charged with defamation under the “criminal code defamation to state administrative bodies” after he allegedly published a series […]