Somalia
Shanty Soundtrack
HMCS Ville de Quebec So I’ve been able to do some pretty cool trips during the past four years in Africa. My five days aboard a Canadian frigate, HMCS Ville de Quebec, were probably among the most fun. The frigate was pulled away from its Nato duties in the Med a couple of months ago […]
Caution urged over Somalia kidnap video
Reporters Without Borders urge caution when watching the video aired by Al Jazeera earlier this week that purports to show kidnapped journalists Amanda Lindhout and Nigel Brennan held hostage in Somalia, “We have to be very careful of this video,” said Leonard Vincent, head of the organization’s Africa desk. “We don’t know who sent it, […]
The last bunk
Mine was the very last empty bunk – or rack, as my new Canadian friends term it – left on the HMCS Ville de Quebec, a Halifax-class frigate. It’s not so much a bed as a fold-out mattress beneath a communications panel and next to a series of pipes that sounds as if they have […]
Somalia kidnap journalists in Al Jazeera video
Al Jazeera has aired a video that purports to show Australian photographer Nigel Brennan and the Canadian journalist Amanda Lindhout. The duo were kidnapped on 23 August – you can see the timeline here – ABC News has more, The video showed Mr Brennan and Ms Lindhout, wearing an Islamic robe, along with armed Islamic […]
Shanty Soundtrack
I’m off on an Indian Ocean cruise for the next few days. It promises to be an interesting voyage along Kenya’s palm-fringed shores to, erm, Somalia. Just me, a couple of books and the crew of a Canadian Halifax-class frigate, the HMCS Ville de Quebec. Naturally I have sought out the right music for the […]
Live tonight: Is Somalia the new front in the war on terror?
View in iTunes You can now watch the event here. We’ll be discussing Somalia at the Frontline Club in London tonight. This time the question up for debate: Is Somalia the new front in the war on terror? We’ll be streaming the discussion live on the Frontline Club Live Channel and if you can’t make […]
Senseless Somalia
The cousin of one of the kidnapped journalists being held in Somalia has spoken of her frustration at trying to stand up snippets of information coming out of the country. “To date, I have received so much conflicting information, it all depends what source I’m looking at as to which variety of the ‘truth’ I’m […]
Live tonight: Somaliland – Getting it right in Africa
You can now watch the event here. View in iTunes In May 1991 Somaliland declared independence from the rest of Somalia and over the past 17 years the government there has restored law and order to make it one of the must democratic and functioning societies in the Horn of Africa. Tonight’s debate at the […]
$2.5 million ransom for Somalia hostages
The kidnappers of the three journalists and two drivers kidnapped in Somalia two weeks ago have finally submitted their demands, “The kidnappers demanded 2.5 million dollars and we are trying to secure their release,” said Dahir Farah, who has been participating in negotiations to free the three abducted in Somalia last month. Another person claiming […]
“No Peace Without Islam”
Received one of the irregular news update bulletins from Kavkaz Center just now. Was just googling to find the precise details of a reported press conference held by Sheikh Mukhtar Robow Mansur in Somalia this week. For more on Sheikh Mukhtar see this recent interview. “No Peace Without Islam” is the title of a new […]
Live tonight: Photographer Jehad Nga on Somalia
[video:brightcove:1740029320] Jehad Nga will be talking at the Frontline Club tonight (Fri 5 September 7.30 pm UK time) about his photographs from Somalia. The talk is part of the Somalia season we are running at present. Click the video above to learn more about that. As usual, if you can’t make it tonight, please come […]
Live tonight: Understanding Somalia
[video:brightcove:1772128809] Martin Plaut will chair a discussion about Somalia at the Frontline Club tonight – Tue 2nd September, 7.30pm UK time. If you can’t make it in person, please tune in to the Frontline Club live channel to watch it online and take part in the dicussion. Taking part will be Awale Kullane, from the […]
Somalia’s Exiled Press Pack
Speculation continues about the fate of the western journalists kidnapped with their Somali colleagues. As usual with Somalia there are lots of different theories floating around but I learned long ago to steer clear of anyone who claims to know what’s going on so I’m not going to pass on the various titbits I am […]
How to work in Somalia
Kabir Dhanji is a Kenya-born freelance photojournalist. He’s worked in Somalia, Sudan, Uganda and Congo. He talks with Bundaberg News Mail about the particular dangers and precautions needed when working as a journalist in Somalia, “Somalia is quite unique in its dangers,” he said. “You have to be particularly well-versed in the ways of Africa, […]
Somalia kidnap: “Things are moving positively”
Leonard Vincent, head of the Africa desk for Reporters Without Borders, talks to Canwest News Service about the plight of journalists Amanda Lindhout and Nigel Brennan who were kidnapped in Somalia earlier this week, “Things are moving positively,” said Vincent. “It is a crucial moment and it would be very dangerous to disclose more than […]
Shiver me timbers
Charity press officers working on Somalia like to bemoan the fact that it is almost impossible to get stories about their country into the mainstream media. (As if somehow journalists have a duty to run stories about how much more money is needed for a country whose leaders survive by erm stealing aid money, but […]
The forgotten victims in Somalia
By now the whole newspaper reading world has heard of the Canadian journalist Amanda Lindhout who was kidnapped in Somalia earlier this week. Some of the world is also aware that Australian snapper Nigel Brennan was also kidnapped at the same time. Google search on ""Amanda Lindhout" Somalia" and you get 4,070 results, there are […]
Freelancing on the frontline
[video:youtube:WGTKFqcyfk0] Vaughan Smith, Frontline Club founder, talks to Press TV Iran about the dangers of freelancing on the frontline in the light of the recent kidnapping of Amanda Lindhout, Nigel Brennan, their Somali driver and two Somali guards. Vaughan makes the point that most journalists who are kidnapped or killed are from the countries they […]
Journalists kidnapped in Somalia
As Graham has already noted, 2 foreign journalists were kidnapped yesterday just outside Mogadishu. It’s an interesting story because not only were they working with the fixer I use out there, but also they were working probably with the same interpreter, same security guards, and the same car Philip and I used when we were […]
Foreign journalists abducted in Somalia
Frontline Club on Dipity. Bloomberg is reporting that two foreign journalists are among five people who were kidnapped in Somalia today, The two journalists, an Australian man and Canadian woman, had been staying at the Shamo Hotel and were scheduled to visit a refugee camp at Elasha, 17 kilometers (10 miles) south of Mogadishu, Ahmed […]
Chasing Shadows
Today’s Standard splashes on mounting suspicion that someone in Kenya’s anti-terror police unit tipped off Fazul Abdulla Mohammed, a key terror suspect, just as officers were about to swoop. They arrested a family thought to be hosting Fazul in Malindi even as his dinner was cooling on the table. But there was no sign of […]
Darfur and the media attention deficit
Ethan Zuckerman asks some great questions about Darfur and media attention on his blog. I dropped a comment, but it might be worth pulling together a few threads here. The general feeling is that “attention paid to Darfur is unprecedented” – but was it? Is it? If we feed a few keywords through Silobreaker’s Media […]
Death in Mogadishu
The standard intro to stories about Somalia recently has involved a lot of looking into the abyss, standing on the brink and generally teetering close to catastrophe. Today there’s no way of looking at things without concluding that the crampons of survival – or whatever it was that was going to keep Somalia together – […]
Mogadishu Redux
Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, is the focus of the country’s downward spiral. The constant threat from all sides means that travel around the city is always to run a gauntlet, everyone’s senses heightened from the fear and adrenaline as one watches for ambushes or Iraq-style IEDs. Very few journalists have visited Somalia in recent months on […]
Tribute to Nasteh Dahir Farah
Media workers from across Somalia paid tribute today to Nasteh Dahir Farah at a Safety awareness training course organised by National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) and the International News Safety Institute. Nasteh Dahir Farah was the Vice president of the NUSOJ, before he was murdered in Kismayu on 7 June, “Journalists work in the […]
Nasteh Dahir killed in Somalia
Nasteh Dahir was killed in Somalia yesterday. The local journalist worked for the BBC and the AP. The National Union of Somali Journalists called it a “targeted assasination”. Our man Rob Crilly has more, Those of us who flit in and out of Somalia owe a heck of a lot to the courage of the […]
Somali Journalist Killed
Another journalist has been killed in Somalia. Nasteh Dahir Farah, who worked for the BBC and AP, was shot dead by gunmen in the port city of Kismayo over the weekend. He is the 10th journalist to be killed in Somalia since February 2007. Farah had written about the dangers of reporting from Somalia in […]
Saving Somalia
Children are among the guards at a warlord’s home in Mogadishu In this part of the world it doesn’t take long to spot the problem with international aid to Africa. Or maybe I should rephrase things. In this part of the world it doesn’t take long to spot the problem with British aid to Africa. […]
BBC Radio 5 Interview
This link will take you to an MP3 of my interview yesterday with Chris Vallance on my way home from the airport. Light listening.
Beautiful Mogadishu
There was one must-have item on my last (quite possibly last as in my final trip ever) trip to Mogadishu, the “Beautiful Mogadishu” T-shirt. They came in two designs, one featuring a smiling camel and a second featuring the simple star of Somalia. And they came in two sizes, small and not-quite-big enough. I bought […]
