Rob Crilly - African Safari: December 2008 Archives

It's been a funny year for me music wise. I'm still struggling to keep up with what's going on back home. I've bought a couple of duff albums on the back on online reviews and I'm sorry to lose The......more

African Safari heads off for a much-needed break in the land of the free coffee, casting an anxious glance over its shoulder at Somalia. The Ethiopians love to do stuff over Christmas (not Christmas, according to the Ethiopian calendar, which......more

This year I lost $200 in bets on the US presidential election and remain committed to swimming naked to Tuti island in the middle of the Nile on my next visit to Khartoum. That is not enough to stop me......more

How much time do you give peace negotiations that involve such slippery characters as Joseph Kony and Yoweri Museveni. Or Laurent Nkunda and Joseph Kabila. Or Somalia where the Shabab is not even involved. And don't get me started on......more

So my brief guide to African beers appeared in The Times this morning. Crilly's cool ones... St George: Rich and fruity, packed with hoppy flavour; a fitting taste for a beer that is named after the patron saint of England......more

A few days ago I was compiling an 800wd review of 2008 in Africa for one of my papers. I asked for help in finding a good news story to include and was inundated by readers' ideas for things......more

Just when you thought you had a handle on what was happening among the myriad militia groupings in the Democratic Republic of Congo, The Independent reports the emergence of a new rebel army The findings of collaboration with the Tutu......more

Certainly not Tony Blair, Paul Kagame's new best friend and adviser, who has said Rwanda does not control Laurent Nkunda and his rebel army. Nor Foreign Office minister Lord Mark Malloch-Brown who told me exactly the same thing in Goma......more

Earlier this year photographer Kate Holt and I chartered a plane to fly from Dungu, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, to the tiny village of Doruma which was recovering from repeated attacks by the Lord's Resistance Army. We found......more

So it's that time of year when one of my clients puts together its review of the year. As usual I'm tasked with writing 800wd on the African year. As usual it's something of a gloomfest. Here's how it......more

Human Rights Watch is publishing a report today accusing all sides of war crimes in Somalia. I've been trying to get a story away for the past couple of months on how British-funded police have been shooting up schools, looting......more

Granny Sarah and a calendar featuring her grandson as she celebrates Obama's victory over Clinton It's been another good week for The Times' coverage of Obama's ascent to the White House. Just before election day we tracked down his aunt,......more

From time to time I am asked by big-name foreign correspondents whether it is safe to visit Somalia. Often it seems as if I am the 27th person they have called as they try to find the one person who......more

It's 10 days or so since I left Goma and I see that it remains business as usual. A bunch of thugs are still trying to hold an equally thuggish government to ransom and the media continues to give General......more