Rob Crilly - African Safari: September 2008 Archives

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......more

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......more

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......more

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......more

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......more

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......more

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......more

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......more

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,......more

Andrew Mwangura, who monitors piracy from his base in Mombasa, is warning shipping to look out for the Carre d'As which was snatched a week ago. He believes its French crew have been put ashore and it is now......more

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......more

Julius Njoroge Kinuthia and his biotech bananas The biotech debate has been rumbling along nicely in Africa recently. A couple of days ago William Ruto, Kenya's agriculture minister, said he planned to allow the planting of genetically modified crops as......more

The road into Thika stretched before us. The hot, noon sun made the air shimmer above the Tarmac and to one side the first Jacarandas of the season were bursting into colour. An occasional flame tree added a dash......more

So at first glance this story in today's Standard seemed a bit weird. Six months after post-election violence hit Kenya and when a new coalition government is still finding its feet, Kenya's political heavy weights start jockeying for position... The......more

You may remember that a couple of weeks ago I took issue with the standard, lazy size comparisons used for Darfur. If you bother to check the facts (ridiculous I know) then France and Texas are not nearly as......more

It was difficult to feel optimistic about Kenya's post-crisis power-sharing deal. It seemed a classic case of jobs for the boys in a giant cabinet while the tribal and land tensions that exploded into violence had been left to fester.......more

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......more