Recently in Somalia Category

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......more

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......more

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......more

This link will take you to an MP3 of my interview yesterday with Chris Vallance on my way home from the airport. Light listening.......more

You can read my article in yesterday's Sunday Times here, although I'm not especially happy about parts of how it was edited. Can't write too much about it now, but let me just say that the phrase, "with hatred in......more

Have decided to cancel my second trip to Somalia as the situation there has become too difficult to work. About 3 days ago the senior Shabab spokesman said that their group would start specifically targetting foreigners (i.e. white guys, not......more

11am Somali time: Central and southern Mogadishu are currently awash with demonstrators protesting the massive inflation of the Somali national currency (Somali shilling) as well as shopkeepers who have started only accepting dollars on account of the near worthlessness......more

"Every individual Somali fights to stay himself, a person." (Gerard Hanley in 'Warriors') The atmosphere can change in a matter of seconds while working in Somalia.Today we were traveling with a militia south of Mogadishu in part so that......more

Usually when traveling and working abroad I like to be reading about something completely off-topic. For this trip I brought with me Dick Davis' translation/reworking of Abu al-Qasim Ferdowsi's 10th century Persian epic, the Shahnameh or Book of Kings.I......more

Today was a burst of activity following a very slow day yesterday - to ensure our security following the assassination of a senior al-Shabab leader (Aden Hashi 'Ayrow) we spent most of the day inside the hotel conducting interviews there.This......more