Somalia
Somalia: The Mess Continues and a Lot of It is Our Fault
Human Rights Watch is publishing a report today accusing all sides of war crimes in Somalia. I’ve been trying to get a story away for the past couple of months on how British-funded police have been shooting up schools, looting and arbitrarily detaining journalists (see below). “The combatants in Somalia have inflicted more harm on […]
Somali journalist injured in Mogadishu
Rasmi Mohamud Mohamed, a journalist with Somaliweyn local radio, was injured in an exchange of gunfire at a checkpoint in the Somali capital Mogadishu yesterday. According to a report by Abdi Guled at Mareeg the bullets struck Rasmi’s left shoulder, Speaking to Mareeg online Rasmi has told that she was in 50-50 condition according to […]
Foreign Office elbow World Service to drop pirate report
A BBC World Service report by Mary Harper has been pulled after a request by the Foreign Office last Sunday. In the report Harper talked to Somali pirates holding the Sirius Star and its captain. The Guardian reports the FCO asked the service to pull the slot as “it claimed that after each broadcast the […]
Thinking of going to Somalia?
Well if you are, Rob has some sage advice… and be sure to read the comments. Frontline bloggers David and Alex both blogged from Somalia earlier this year. I hope they don’t go back for a while. Not sure my nerves could take it.
Fixers are vital
Marcel Berlins, former lawyer now journalist and columnist, attended screening of The Fixer at the Frontline Club recently and writes about the importance of their “unsung” role in foreign news reporting. You only have to look at the fate of the fixers in Somalia working with Amanda Lindhout and Nigel Brennan to see the danger […]
How to Plan a Trip to Somalia
From time to time I am asked by big-name foreign correspondents whether it is safe to visit Somalia. Often it seems as if I am the 27th person they have called as they try to find the one person who says: “Ah, sure you’ll be fine.” Sometimes they do actually listen to my advice but […]
Update on the Amanda Lindhout kidnap in Somalia
Amanda Lindhout and Nigel Brennan are safe and still being held in Somalia according to Reporters Without Borders. The two journalists were kidnapped in August along with their Somali fixers. A ransom deadline, for an alleged $2.5 million, passed a month ago. “What we can confirm is they are fine, in the same place and […]
The creeping casualisation of war reporting
The NUJ’s Jeremy Dear called for an end to the “casualisation of war reporting” in light of the Kate Peyton case. Kate, a BBC producer, was killed in Mogadishu in 2005. The inquest into her death concluded in Ipswich Crown Court last week. The coroner, Dr Peter Dean called on managers “to recognise that staff […]
Contact with Somalia kidnappers
AFP reports that contact between the authorities in Puntland, Somalia and the kidnappers of one British and one Spanish journalist in Bosasso has been made, “The kidnappers are asking for a ransom, but we refuse negotiations. We just want them to be released,” [Bossaso Governor Musa Gueleh Yusuf] said without elaborating. “We are not giving […]
2 foreign journalists kidnapped in Somalia
Two freelance journalists, presumed to be British, are reported kidnapped by police in the northern Puntland region of Somalia earlier today, “I think both the journalists are British but we shall investigate … we are sending police to free them,” Puntland’s police spokesman Abshir Said Jama told Reuters. link via BreakingNewsOn. A report from AP […]
Abdullah Farah Duguf wins FPA award for Somalia film
Abdullah Farah Duguf won the prestigious TV News Story of the Year at the Foreign Press Association Awards in London last night. Duguf’s colleagues at Channel 4, Ben de Pear and Nima Elbagir, were also there to pick up the award, De Pear said: “He sent back via DHL five or six tapes which were […]
Kate Peyton inquest kicks off
The inquiry into the death of Kate Peyton, the BBC producer who was gunned down outside the Sahafi Hotel in Mogadishu in February 2005, opens today, Ms Peyton’s sister, Rebecca, an actress who lives in Brixton, south London, said: “All the journalists we’ve spoken to who have been to Somalia or who know about it […]
The Amanda Lindhout kidnap story
As other journalist kidnap stories take the limelight, the case of Amanda Lindhout and her four fellow kidnap victims in Somalia has slipped off the radar. Macleans publish a time line today of what is known in the case. In the four page article Ken Menkhaus talks about his time in Somalia some three years […]
Donations for David Axe
Frontline blogger David Axe is heading to the Horn of Africa again and is looking for donations, Six months ago my readers contributed nearly $2,000 to help me fund a month reporting from Central Africa. This time around I’m asking for $3,000 to help jump-start my piracy coverage. Donations will help pay for air fare, […]
Britain, Leaks and those Awkward Tanks
The manifest from the Faina obtained by Reuters and the BBC If this ever gets out it will not be good for UK-Kenya relations, the latter never slow to accuse the former of meddling in Kenyan affairs, maintaining a colonialist mentality and forgetting that the East African country has been independent for more than 40 […]
An Opportunity Waiting to be Missed in Somalia
The Shabaab stepped up its campaign in Somalia yesterday taking war to Puntland and Somaliland. At a meeting in Kismayo in July the Islamists decided to open new fronts in their battle to force out Ethiopia and bring down the unpopular Transitional Federal Government. Sheikh Aweys has unfinished business with Puntland and President Abdullahi, so […]
Somalia Bombings
Bombs in Hargeisa and Bossaso. Suicide bombings and choice of targets makes it look as if Islamists behind it. Info circulated to NGOs: Reports of multiple explosions in Hargeisa. Initial unconfirmed reports indicate 3 car bombs: UNDP office site – 3 killed – 8 wounded Elections Commission – Multiple casualties Ethiopian embassy reports indicate catastrophic […]
Five car bombs hit Hargeisa and Bosasso
A total of five “VERY VERY BIG” car bombs have reportedly hit Somaliland. Three targetted the Puntland Intelligence Service in Bossasso, another at the UNDP office and one at the Elections Commission. The two other bombs reportedly targetted the Ethiopian embassy in Hargeisa’ Somaliland. There are unconfirmed reports that 3 people were killed and 8 […]
Somalia kidnap deadline looms
The ransom deadline reportedly set by the kidnappers of journalists Amanda Lindhout, Nigel Brennan and their fixer Abdifatah Mohammed Elmi and driver Mahad Clise looms today reports the National Post. The kidnappers are reported to have asked for $2.5 million, but “a travel writer who met Ms. Lindhout last year in Afghanistan says he’s optimistic […]
From warzone to psychiatrist
Paul Watson’s book Where war lives is reviewed on the Bloomberg site. Watson, who started out as a metro reporter on the Toronto Star, took his holidays in war zones. He ended up reporting from Eritrea, Angola, Somalia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan receiving the Pulitzer prize for his “Black Hawk Down” picture of a mob […]
A Load of Garbage
World piracy map produced by the International Maritime Bureau Al Jazeera, I see, is furthering its reputation for impartial and balanced reporting from the Muslim world with this corker on the pirates… Somali pirates have accused European firms of dumping toxic waste off the Somali coast and are demanding an $8m ransom for the return […]
15 day threat to Somalia kidnap victims
According to a report from Press TV Iran’s correspondent in Mogadishu, the two journalists kidnapped in Somalia on August 23 – Amanda Lindhout and Nigel Brennan – will be killed if a $2.5 million ransom is not paid within 15 days. The National Union of Somali Journalists released a statement calling for the release of […]
Pirates Smuggle Somalia on to the Agenda
Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow It has become fashionable among some of my colleagues in Nairobi to express irritation at the level of interest the world is showing in Somalia’s pirates. The argument is generally expressed by pointing out that Somalia has been a mess for 17 years, stands on the brink of a major […]
Shooting the Messenger Again
Andrew Mwangura, piracy expert, in Mombasa The Kenyan government has already slagged off journalists for reporting on piracy, the UN’s special representative has accused us of passing on pirate propaganda, and now it’s my old pal, Andrew Mwangura, who is getting it in the neck. For the past decade or so he has been monitoring […]
It’s All Our Fault
It’s starting to look as if the problems in Somalia are all down to the inability of journalists to cover the conflict there properly – rather than say the complete hash of things made by the country’s neighbours, the United Nations’ and donors’ misguided attempts to prop up an unpopular government of warlords, and the […]
All at Sea
Don’t get me wrong. Somalia is one of my favourite countries in my patch – whether sipping cappuccinos in a bombed out hotel or admiring the golden white beaches it’s a fascinating place – and I’m lucky enough to count a handful of Somalis as friends, and never tire of listening to them explain the […]
Kenya, The Pirates and those Rather Embarrassing Tanks
Pirates with the MV Faina (US Navy pic) So where were the MV Faina’s 33 T-72 tanks heading? The fog of misinformation surrounding their destination suggests a fresh scandal brewing. As soon as I heard the ship had been hijacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia last week, I was content with the information […]
Pirates of the Indian Ocean
I thought it might be instructive for any students of journalism who read this blog to detail my typical interaction with one of the foreign desks for which I work. FD: Good morning, Foreign. ME: Morning. You are probably no doubt sick of pirates… FD: HAAAARGGGGH ME: …but I wondered whether you might have noticed […]
What Shall We Do with the Pirate Sailor?
So, what do you do when you arrest a bunch of Somali “fishermen” in two small speedboats loaded down with AK-47s and RPGs in the Gulf of Aden where pirates have come close to shutting down one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes? You let them go. Well you do if you are the Danish […]
The Uncertainty Principle: Somalia and the Art of Quantum Mechanics
Those who are not shocked when they first come across quantum theory cannot possibly have understood it – Niels Bohr If you are not completely confused by quantum mechanics, you do not understand it – John Wheeler It is safe to say that nobody understands quantum mechanics – Richard Feynman For a small part of […]
