Rob Crilly - African Safari: May 2008 Archives

I've never signed up to the theory that cover versions are rubbish. They're rubbish if they're just a cheap attempt to fill an album slot or add five minutes to your live set. But taking a song from one......more

It hasn't quite reached the levels of ferocity seen between Alex van der Waal and John Prendergast last year, but there's been lively debate under way at the Guardian's Comment is Free site about Darfur and the role of peacekeepers.......more

The Committee to Protect Journalists has taken up the case of Trent Keegan who was found dead in Nairobi on Wednesday morning. “This is a devastating loss for those who knew Trent Keegan, a photographer who worked to document people......more

There I was all set to travel to Khartoum for the World Cup qualifier between Sudan and Chad and then this arrives from Fifa... In view of the current situation between Sudan and Chad, FIFA has decided to suspend the......more

Police here in Nairobi think they have found the body of freelance photographer Trent Keegan. They have still to do a formal identification. He called me yesterday, saying he'd just arrived in town and did I want to team up......more

A few weeks back the Irish Foreign Minister visited the displaced people in Kenya. He was introduced to the crowds at Kitale's stadium by the District Commissioner. It was a flying visit, but it wasn't difficult to pick up the......more

[video:youtube:EwgQIeRjCk0] If you thought international efforts to find peace in Darfur were going nowhere, think again. It seems that while I wasn't looking, the "global citizenry" has been organising itself into a force to take on the Janjaweed and Sudanese......more

Darfur is not exactly a shoppers' paradise. The sand and heat make it a bit much to spend the whole day browsing the stalls, although parking is not really a problem. But it's amazing what you can find. In El......more

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......more

The Guardian put together a great interactive map of Britain a couple of years ago showing the location of different ethnic minorities. I'd love to know why Greeks were attracted to Guildford. The Irish in Cheltenham is pretty obvious.......more

[video:youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71v5IYY0Vyk] Funniest moment in a recent British sitcom, surely. Right up there with Del Boy falling through the bar. And look closely and you might spot a miserable bird who bears a familial resemblance to me.......more

It's difficult to know exactly what my interviewee thought as I broke off from a question about Prince William's attire with a quick "Uh I'm going to be sick" before vomiting into a wastepaper bin. But it would have taken......more

[video:youtube:ekigsvTDJXo] Emmanuel Jal was eight when he was handed an AK-47 and told to fight for the southern Sudanese rebels of the SPLA. He escaped Sudan in a bag, smuggled out by Emma McCune, a British aid worker, on......more

[video:youtube:9fmg3JKHAcM] So Graham Holliday in his noodlepie guise has invited me to join him in his 31 very interesting things challenge. This is of course right up my street, as the sort of very tedious person who might ask you......more

Fred is a Manchester United supporter After a flurry of sightings, the Garibaldi Red has not been much in evidence on the continent of Africa recently. Junior Agogo's exploits at the African Cup of Nations and our promotion last week......more

Somalia's problems are deep-seated and complex. Reporting on its conflicts, rivalries and politics is difficult. There are many pitfalls for the unwary reporter. The death of Aden Hashi Ayro a couple of weeks ago showed how easy it was for......more

The Khartoum government has an iron grip on its capital. Machine gun emplacements guard every bridge, major artery and government building. So how did rebels from the Justice and Equality Movement drive into Omdurman, no more than a stone's......more

It's great to see the Sudanese rapper Emmanuel Jal included in the line-up for Nelson Mandela's birthday concert in June. His life story - child soldier smuggled out of Sudan in a bag - is almost as inspiring as Mandela's.......more

Interesting views reach me from Sudan where Blake Evans-Pritchard, a teacher and occasional freelance writer, has been casting a critical eye over journalists in general and the Nairobi press pack in particular. Well-known commentators in London and New York......more

Who'd want to be an international aid worker trying to bring peace and stability to Somalia? Chatting to one last night, she told me how meetings on Somalia were coming to resemble group therapy sessions. "One person will start off......more

Amnesty's hard-hitting report on human rights abuses in Somalia should make everyone stop and think. Mogadishu has long been a city of death and destruction (apart from a six-month period of quiet as the Islamic Courts imposed their own brand......more

Amnesty International UK PRESS RELEASE EMBARGOED: TUES 6 MAY 2008, 08:00hrs [for Wednesday’s newspapers] Somalia: Troops killing people ‘like goats’ by slitting throats – new Amnesty report Amnesty International today (6 May) released a report revealing the dire human rights......more

The view from Washington is no doubt that Thursday's strike on Somalia, which killed Aden Hashi Ayro, was an unqualified success. Things are more difficult when viewed from Somalia. Royale Somalia points out that Somalis will be divided according to......more

Wires are reporting that Aden Hashi Ayro was killed in overnight US airstrikes on Somalia. If it's true then it could be a turning point in the Islamist-led insurgency. He is/was the leader of the Shabaab, a nasty militia that......more