Somalia
Stranded in Somaliland
Alarmed by the recent infringements on press freedom in Somaliland I decided to find and join the union for journalists in the country. I applied to SOLJA… No that’s not slang for an armed group but the actual acronym of the Somaliland Journalists Association. When I picked up the letter confirming my membership I was […]
Somaliland Hires Freelance Diplomats
by DAVID AXE Somaliland, population 1 million, is a fully autonomous — but unrecognized, internationally — region of the Republic of Somalia, with its own laws, courts, currency and army. It’s also one of the handful of “unofficial” countries in the world that has few full-time diplomats, and so hires freelancers to sit at the […]
Settling into Hargeisa
After a long journey via Dubai I landed in Berbera airport and made the 3 hour bus journey to Hargeisa. It was a hot, bumpy but a scenic ride. My arrival here seems to have coincided with the high profile and deeply concerning case of two journalists who were arrested on the 13th July. The […]
Australian PM meets mother of kidnapped journalist
The mother of Nigel Brennan, the freelance photojournalist who was kidnapped in Somalia in August 2008, has met with Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. According to Sky News Heather Brennan made an unexpected approach to Rudd when she approached the PM as he was visiting Queensland today. She spoke with him for twenty minutes, "These […]
Heading to Hargeisa
For the first time in 20 years I am packing my bags to make the journey back to Somalia, a country I called home. To be precise, I am going to Somaliland, the autonomous northern region which established its own local government in 1991 though it remains internationally unrecognized. There is so much historical context […]
Getting It Wrong in Somalia Over and Over Again
Al Shabaab is a nasty, thuggish organisation that started as a protection unit for visiting al Qaeda operatives and has today morphed into a network of clan-based Islamist militias, which controls a good chunk of southern, central Somalia. It has imposed its own brand of brutal Sharia law on its enemies – and its supporters. […]
Two More Foreigners Abducted in Somalia?
In August, two foreign freelance reporters were abducted by gunmen in Mogadishu. The kidnappings of Nigel Brennan and Amanda Lindhout from the Shamo Hotel marked an up-tick in violence against foreigners, and especially reporters, in a country that was already one of the most dangerous in the world for visitors. Of course, it’s no cake-walk […]
French journalists kidnapped in Mogadishu
Two French journalists were kidnapped in the Somali capital Mogadishu this morning. Gunmen snatched the duo from the Sahafi Hotel (pictured above) where most journalists stay when visiting. I’ll add more to this post as and when I get information, Somali gunmen stormed a hotel in the capital Mogadishu and grabbed two French journalists on […]
Help Amanda Lindhout and Nigel Brennan
Freelance journalists Amanda Lindhout and Nigel Brennan remain hostages in Somalia almost one year since they were nabbed on the outskirts of Mogadishu in August, 2008. Despite reports of them both being in a very bad health and of Lindhout reportedly being pregnant, it appears the Australian and Canadian governments refuse to cough up the, […]
Time for a Change
It’s almost five years since I arrived to live and work in Kenya. Gradually the feelings of excitement and adventure have given way to a sense of deja vu as the same stories come around again and again. Every year there are warnings of famine in Ethiopia. Every two years there is drought in […]
Death-Threat E-mail from an Islamic Extremist
by DAVID AXE Ever wondered what an Islamic extremist’s death threat to an "infidel" might look like? Now you can know. Two weeks ago, Somali journalist Ahmed Omar Hashi, aka Ahmed "Tajir," pictured, survived an assassination attempt, by extremists, that killed his colleague Moqtar Hirabe. Readers donated funds to help Hashi escape to another country. […]
Roll With It
Aid workers in Dadaab – the world’s largest refugee camp, set up in 1991 to cater for Somalis fleeing civil war – tell me that families always ask for cylindrical jerry cans rather than ones with square edges. The reason is simple. Five-year-old daughters cannot carry a can filled with 20l of water. But they […]
Somali Journo, Assassination Survivor, Flees Country
by DAVID AXE Two weeks ago, unidentified gunmen targeted Somali radio reporter Ahmed Omar Hashi, aka Ahmed "Tajir," as he was walking in Mogadishu’s Bakara Market with Moqtar Hirabe, his director. Hirabe died, on the spot; Hashi’s friends rushed him to Medina Hospital, pictured, with wounds to his arm and stomach. The attack was the […]
Who’s Got Your Back?
Newspapers are going to the wall and freelancers in all industries are struggling as the ranks of the self-employed are swollen by the newly de-salaried. Not a good time to be a freelance journalist. There seems to be more and more competition at a time when newsdesks have less and less money to spend on […]
That’s all I can say
Amanda Lindhout, the Canadian freelance journalist kidnapped in Somalia along with fellow freelace Nigel Brennan, has reportedly telephoned the CTV national newsroom in Canada. In what appears to be an almost identical statement to the one telephoned through to the AFP last month, the 27 year old says she is being held in a windowless […]
Few left to tell the story
These past few days have been littered with tales of misery coming out of Somalia. On June 7, a Radio Shabelle journalist shot dead, the fifth journalist killed this year. Ahmed Omar Hashi, was also shot but survived. Hashi called Frontline blogger David Axe from his hospital bed asking for help. David is trying to […]
Help Rescue a Somali Reporter, Targeted for Assassination
On Sunday gunmen shot and killed Muktar Hirabe, director of Radio Shabelle in Mogadishu, making him the fifth Somali reporter to die this year, in a country where being a journalist is one of the most dangerous jobs there is. With Hirabe was Ahmed Omar Hashi (at right in the photo), a Shabelle senior producer […]
I can’t talk about these things…
Dutch video journalist Ruud Elmendorp spent almost a week in Mogadishu, the embattled Capital of Somalia, at the end May. The insurgents led by the Al Shabab and Al Hizbul movements are trying to topple the internationally recognized government of president Sheik Sharif Ahmed. In this guest post for the Frontline Club, Ruud reports from […]
Meanwhile in Somalia…
Another very powerful slideshow of images from Mogadishu in the Boston Globe’s Big Picture section this week. The caption for the image above by Mohamed Dahir reads, 31 Local journalists take pictures at the scene of the killing of a Somali government soldier near Mogadishu stadium, on May 11, 2009. Remains of dead soldiers littered […]
Fourth journalist killed in Somalia in 2009
Another journalist died in Somalia today bringing the 2009 tally of journalist deaths in the East African nation to four. Nur Muse Hussein, a 56 year old radio journalist working with the Radio Voice of Holy Quran in Mogadishu, was shot in Beledweyne city in the Hiran region of Central Somalia in late April. The National Union of Somali Journalists […]
Somalia kidnap victims speak
The AFP says one of their Mogadishu based reporters spoke with the two kidnap victims, Amanda Lindhout and Nigel Brennan, in Somalia fro five minutes on Sunday. Lindhout in particular sounds to be in a very poor way, if this reported phone call is to be believed, "I have been sick for months. Unless my […]
Journalist shot dead in Somalia
A journalist working with Radio Shabelle was shot dead near Bakara Market in the Somali capital Mogadishu this morning. Abdirisak Warsameh Mohamed was reportedly on his way to work when he was caught in crossfire and shot in the chest. There has been an upsurge in violence in the capital in recent weeks between government […]
“Completely stopped and broken”
In an email to 630 CHED News / iNews 880 Daud Abdi Daud, of The Somali Journalists Rights Agency, says that the recent increase in fighting in and around the Somali capital Mogadishu has stopped negotiations to release Amanda Lindhout and Nigel Brennan, the two freelance journalists held captive since August, 2008, The savage fighting […]
‘Brave’ Amanda Lindhout
Abdifatah Mohammed Elmi, the Somali fixer who was kidnapped alongside Canadian freelance Amanda Lindhout and Australian photographer Nigel Brennan in Somalia in August 2008, has been talking about the ordeal. Elmi says he was threatened before his release and told to keep quiet about the condition and whereabouts of Lindhout and Brennan. However, he broke […]
Freelancing in Somalia
Bulgarian freelance journalist Elena Yoncheva has reported from many conflict zones for Bulgarian TV channels. She talks about her time in Somalia in The Standart newspaper today, Have you ever been under attack while on the move in Somalia? I was twice on the verge of being kidnapped. Once we were followed by a jeep […]
Japanese journalist tours Somalia
Given the utter chaos within Somalia, outright danger for journalists and the fact that freelancers Amanda Lindhout and Nigel Brennan remain hostages some 9 months after they were kidnapped outside Mogadishu, I was somewhat surprised to learn about Kenji Goto. He’s a journalist working for the "Independent Press" It appears he hooked up with a […]
A world without foreign correspondents
Andrew Stroehlein, Communications Director for the International Crisis Group, wrote a great piece on his Covering Crisis blog on the Reuters AlertNet site. He has very kindly agreed to let us post it on the Frontline blog. He raises a lot of points about under-reported stories, things we regularly cover here and discuss at length […]
Kidnapped in Somalia
Colin Freeman, the Chief foreign correspondent with the Daily Telegraph, talks to ABC News about what it’s like to be kidnapped in Somalia. I’ve posted a snippet of the discussion below. You can see Colin’s initial reaction upon release in the news report above. For a longer analysis of Somalia and what it’s like to […]
Flak jackets for Somali journalists
The National Union of Somali Journalists issued journalists with flack jackets and helmets at a ceremony at the Hotel Sahafi in the capital Mogadishu on Thursday. 20 journalists, both independent freelancers and staff reporters, were kitted out with the gear donated by the Doha Centre for Media Freedom, “These bulletproof jackets and helmets will improve […]
Five Pirated Crews that Didn’t Fare as Well as the Americans
Yesterday the American crew of the container ship Maersk Alabama successfully fought back against Somali pirates attempting to seize the vessel. The ship’s captain was kidnapped during the fighting and now the FBI is helping negotiate his release. For Esquire.com, I surveyed five pirated crews who didn’t fare nearly so well, including: Ekawat Nava 5, […]