Granny Sarah and a calendar featuring her grandson as she celebrates Obama's victory over Clinton When Barack Obama burst on to the scene four years ago at the Democratic Convention in Boston he was defined as the American Dream made......more
Rob Crilly - African Safari: August 2008 Archives
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......more
Silver for Sudan
Ismail Ahmed Ismail trains in Khartoum's decrepit athletics stadiumSudan has been celebrating its first Olympic medal after Ismail Ahmed Ismail battled all the way to the line for an 800m silver. The country's big hope for a gold, the world......more
Finding George
Nairobi's slums are filled with hundreds of thousands of people living cheek-by-jowl in tiny shacks. Each of the muddy streets looks the same and within minutes the visiting mzungu is completely disoriented. So finding Barack Obama's half-brother George was......more
Darfur: Not the Size of France or Texas
Poor befuddled readers of newspapers can't be expected to understand straightforward units of measurement so when it comes to geographical area we journalists have a neat (where neat means hackneyed) trick - compare the subject of the article to......more
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......more
Saving Darfur II
My lurch from left-wing idealist living in Britain, to right-wing realist in Africa continues apace. This time it is The Spectator that seems to have nailed the analysis of Darfur... The exclusive focus on bashing the government has emboldened the......more
How to Operate in Sudan
Soldiers wait for President Bashir to arrive in El Fasher last month Two contrasting views of operating in Sudan. Jennie Matthew of AFP describes her frustration at trying and failing to travel to the Merowe Dam where last week 200......more
Phone 4 Me
Has anyone tried the Sonim XP1 phone, which Time seems to be claiming as a "tough gadget"? My current Samsung U600 is pretty wrecked after four months. Its screen is scratched to pieces after a couple of trips to......more
You Know You Have Been a Mzungu in Kenya Too Long When...
"Very OK" has become a standard response to a variety of questions Matatus are no longer a welcome bit of colour on the roads. They are a pain in the arse You have stopped picking out politicians who might......more
Rob Crilly in Jerusalem
Rob Crilly is a freelance journalist based in Jerusalem writing for The Sunday Telegraph and The Daily Mail. He spent...