Items by robcrilly

South of West

• The Birmingham of Kenya

  Posted: September 7, 2008, 4:52 pm by robcrilly

  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 of scarlet to the dusty green acacias that lined the verge. Pineapple orchards filled the hills [...]

• A Very Rash Bet

  Posted: September 3, 2008, 6:50 pm by robcrilly

  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 accurate an area comparison as Spain. At the time I offered a prize for the first [...]

• Silver for Sudan

  Posted: August 25, 2008, 12:57 pm by robcrilly

  Sudan 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 number one this year Abubaker Kaki, crashed out in the semis but Ismail’s medal shows Sudan could become a real force in middle [...]

• Finding George

  Posted: August 22, 2008, 1:33 pm by robcrilly

  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 never going to be easy. Especially as he had made a point of telling no-one but [...]

• Darfur: Not the Size of Texas or France

  Posted: August 14, 2008, 11:28 am by robcrilly

  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 things the reader might know. Traditionally this has been the football pitch as in…”the Beckhams’ front [...]

• Chasing Shadows

  Posted: August 12, 2008, 12:09 pm by robcrilly

  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 Malindi even as his dinner was cooling on the table. But there was no sign of [...]

• Saving Dafur II

  Posted: August 10, 2008, 2:33 pm by robcrilly

  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 rebels, encouraging them to keep up the fight and shun the negotiating table. The peace process, [...]

• How to Operate in Sudan

  Posted: August 7, 2008, 1:07 pm by robcrilly

  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 families said they were deliberately flooded out of their homes. As always, the man from external information couldn’t have been nicer. - Official: “Merowe dam? Ok. [...]

• Phone 4 Me

  Posted: August 4, 2008, 11:47 am by robcrilly

  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 Sudan, a week in the DRC and a lot of battering in my pocket. Battery life [...]

• You Know You Have Been a Mzungu in Kenya Too Long When…

  Posted: August 1, 2008, 12:39 pm by robcrilly

  “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 be Kenya’s best hope You can’t remember the last time you filled your car’s petrol tank. 1000bob will do [...]

• Cash Float

  Posted: July 29, 2008, 10:25 am by robcrilly

  Before heading to Darfur last week I treated myself to a swim. Not any old swim you understand, but a dip in the Rotana swimming pool. This is a new hotel in Khartoum that seems to be designed specifically to mop up those generous per diems paid to United Nations workers. It was also where [...]

• It’s Not About Boots on the Ground

  Posted: July 28, 2008, 10:28 am by robcrilly

  African aid agencies released a report today saying the joint African Union and United Nations mission to Darfur was failing to protect civilians. We’re at the six-month mark for the Unamid force and its mandate is due for renewal so we can expect a series of reports like this. Maybe I should have filed on [...]

• Bedtime in Darfur

  Posted: July 25, 2008, 5:45 pm by robcrilly

  At the end of a long day standing in the blistering sun without water watching the Sudanese president addressing 10,000 people in El Fasher and then 20,000 people in Nyala, what you want is a bed. If it is a bed in the cool air of a Nyala courtyard so much the better. As you [...]

• The Bashir Boogie

  Posted: July 24, 2008, 12:59 am by robcrilly

  Just back in Khartourm from a trip to Darfur with President Omar al-Bashir, who is waiting to find out whether the International Criminal Court will issue a warrant for his arrest. The trip was astonishing and fascinating in many ways. It was a whistle-stop tour of El Fasher, Nyala and El Geneina with five-minute visits [...]

• Those were the days

  Posted: July 20, 2008, 1:08 pm by robcrilly

  I really must get around to reading Michael Asher’s Khartoum. Every time I stay at Meskel Square’s house I flick through his copy (I note a corner is still turned down at page 164) and think what a good read it looks. At every turn of this Arab-African city you get a sense of history, [...]

• The view from Khartoum

  Posted: July 19, 2008, 12:52 pm by robcrilly

  So it’s almost a week now since the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court revealed his evidence against President Omar al-Bashir. And it’s still pretty difficult to work out where things are going. The consensus among aid workers and UN staff here is that things will stay quiet while Khartoum goes down the diplomatic road, [...]

• Breakfast in Khartoum II

  Posted: July 16, 2008, 7:21 pm by robcrilly

  Yes carrot cake for breakfast. I’ll be bringing you an update on the impact of Luis Moreno-Ocampo’s evidence against President Bashir as soon as I have the faintest idea what’s going on. It’s fair to say that reaction here is mixed.

• It’s Been Fun

  Posted: March 2, 2008, 7:43 pm by robcrilly

  Well, as I mentioned a couple of weeks ago I’m blogging for The Frontline Club now. I had wanted to try to keep South of West going, largely because I liked the name and it was my first blog. But it’s time to face up to reality and put it into hibernation. So for anyone [...]

• The Great Pastry Crisis

  Posted: February 28, 2008, 11:35 am by robcrilly

  Deeply disturbing news arrives from Sudan. President Bashir has ordered a boycott of all things Danish in response to those cartoons of the prophet Mohammed being republished in newspapers over there. I suspect the Danish bacon industry will be unconcerned. But wait. What about the pastries served at Ozone, possibly the best coffeeshop in the [...]

• China and Darfur

  Posted: February 20, 2008, 10:15 am by robcrilly

  Say what you like about China’s role in Darfur, but no-one can accuse them of not having a sense of humour. BEIJING (AFP) — China’s special envoy on Darfur has urged the West to do more to promote a peaceful settlement to the conflict in the African region, state media reported Wednesday. Liu Guijin, who will [...]

• The View from the Frontline

  Posted: February 16, 2008, 3:07 pm by robcrilly

  After much prevarication I have begun blogging for The Frontline Club. I sort of said I’d do it ages ago but gradually got cold feet. It’s fun blogging for its own sake. No need to wonder whether what you’re saying reflects badly on anyone else. Or whether discussing which music to listen to while driving [...]

• A Cynic Goes Soft

  Posted: February 15, 2008, 8:15 pm by robcrilly

  It’s not hard to sneer at diplomats. Particularly those who have learned the art at the United Nations. And, being a journalist, it’s something that comes easy to me. I’ve done it already on this blog several times. You know the sort of thing - making fun of their platitudes, using the term “diplomatic” as a euphemism [...]

• Did We Learn No Lessons From the Teddy Bear?

  Posted: February 13, 2008, 2:49 pm by robcrilly

  So Steven Spielberg has pulled out of the Beijing Olympics. “I find that my conscience will not allow me to continue business as usual,” he said in a statement. “At this point, my time and energy must be spent not on Olympic ceremonies but on doing all I can to help bring an end to the [...]

• From Kenya with Love

  Posted: February 13, 2008, 10:07 am by robcrilly

  Like many of my colleagues writing for British newspapers I have spent the past few weeks waiting for Britain’s response to the unfolding catastrophe in Kenya. Ministers have expressed their deep concern and said vaguely that there could be no “business as usual”, parroting the same line delivered by the US and our European partners. [...]

• Mr Kony, I Presume

  Posted: February 12, 2008, 11:06 am by robcrilly

  Matt Green, formerly of this parish, launched his book on Joseph Kony in London last night. I’m thoroughly looking forward to reading The Wizard of the Nile: The Hunt for Africa’s Most Wanted, about his search for the mysterious rebel leader who unleashed untold misery on northern Uganda. Not least because about a year or [...]

• African Myths and Obama Mania

  Posted: February 11, 2008, 11:56 am by robcrilly

  He is supposed to be Kenya’s great hope. The man who could turn this country around, restoring peace and democracy. A role model for all aspiring politicians. But as Barack Obama’s run for the Democratic nomination heads towards its most crucial phase, there has been barely a mention of his campaign in the Kenyan papers. [...]

• Mum Didn’t Shoot Me, Says Kibaki’s Son

  Posted: February 9, 2008, 3:11 pm by robcrilly

  President Kibaki’s son Jimmy came out Friday to dispel reports that he had been shot by his mother, First Lady Lucy. The President’s first born son convened a press conference in Nairobi at which he declared that he was as healthy as ever.

• These Refugees Aren’t Poor Enough

  Posted: February 7, 2008, 2:01 pm by robcrilly

  The refugees don’t look the way refugees are supposed to look. In Londiani, in Nakuru, in Kericho they have been camped around police stations or churches with their belongings - bed frames, fridges and sacks of clothes - often piled next to their matatus or gleaming white Toyota Corollas. These are not poor people. In many [...]

• Oh The Irony

  Posted: February 5, 2008, 6:05 pm by robcrilly

  It would be funny if it hadn’t crippled my entire life. Every time I turn on my computer I get a little jingle and the following message: “KIBAKI FOR PRESIDENT. VOTE KIBAKI FOR A BETTER FUTURE. KIBAKI TOSHA TENA.” It seems my computer is infected with the Kibaki Tosha Tena worm. (My Swahili is pretty poor, but [...]

• Shoed Away

  Posted: February 4, 2008, 10:29 am by robcrilly

  More than two years after he retired, Sir Edward Clay is still managing to make the headlines here. Today’s splash in the Nairobi Star (sadly without a website as far as I can see) is BANNED! EDWARD CLAY NOT WELCOME. As British High Commissioner he was a constant thorn in the side of the Kibaki administration. [...]

• Business as Usual on the Roads

  Posted: February 1, 2008, 5:31 pm by robcrilly

  With dire warnings about the state of the Kenyan economy appearing everywhere, it is nice to be able to report that Kenya’s finest have not let the country’s political and ethnic crisis affect their entrepreneurial zeal. Muindi, my driver, and I were flagged down by traffic cops today just a few miles outside Nairobi on the [...]

• Well Done George

  Posted: February 1, 2008, 8:13 am by robcrilly

  So George Clooney has been made a UN peace envoy. And after deliberately misleading people about his previous trips to South Sudan, Chad and anywhere but Darfur itself, I’m pleased to see that he has now finally made it to the troubled western region of Sudan. Well done. This dumb pundit is still up for that debate [...]

• Laugh or Cry?

  Posted: January 31, 2008, 5:08 pm by robcrilly

  So Kenya stands on the brink of catastrophe. Ethnic tensions have been laid bare in a month of post-election violence. Kalenjin and Kikuyu gangs are intent on taking lumps out of each other. Slums have been razed and hundreds of thousands of people sent fleeing. “Violence continues, threatening to escalate to catastrophic levels,” is how Ban [...]

• Nottingham Forest in Kenya II

  Posted: January 30, 2008, 9:30 am by robcrilly

    The second sighting of the Garibaldi Red during Kibera’s troubles came down at the railway as Luos and Luyhas gathered to take on a gang of Kikuyus. It looks to me like the shirt from the early 90s, shortly before relegation. Derek told me he was an Arsenal supporter and wondered whether there was any chance [...]

• Naivasha: Killed for Not Being Circumcised

  Posted: January 29, 2008, 9:47 am by robcrilly

  So the BBC has gone the way of The New York Times in avoiding references to tribalism. Auntie’s euphemism of choice is “inter-communal violence”. The tribalism deniers should talk to John Oduri, a Luo. I met him in Naivasha yesterday. He had been with his brother when a mob of Kikuyus arrived at the door on [...]

• My Safari Soundtrack III

  Posted: January 27, 2008, 3:06 pm by robcrilly

  It’s been a busy week backwards and forwards into the Great Rift Valley. The road climbs out of Nairobi until the plateau opens out on the left hand side and then swoops down towards the lakeside town of Naivasha. In places zebra grazed at the edge of the Tarmac. And all the way we passed cattle trucks [...]

• A Rant

  Posted: January 26, 2008, 9:29 pm by robcrilly

  I never understand footballers. Rugby was my game. After kicking seven bells out of each other we would give the opposition three cheers at the end, shake hands and then go to the bar and drink until we couldn’t stand up. Footballers seem to touch fingers while looking anywhere but at each other, and get [...]

• They Don’t Seem to Know Me From Adam

  Posted: January 25, 2008, 1:03 pm by robcrilly

  The entry has been changed, but for a while there on Tuesday my story on The Times website was bylined Adam Crilly. Presumably an editing slip confused my name with that of the British High Commissioner, Adam Wood. It’s not the first time the subs have messed up my byline. For some reason when I [...]

• Disgusted of Hurlingham

  Posted: January 24, 2008, 12:43 pm by robcrilly

  The death of Heath Ledger, and Meskel Square’s marathon debate about homosexuality in Africa, remind me of the time a friend went to hire the DVD of Brokeback Mountain, I think from a store in Hurlingham here in Nairobi. Shop Assistant: Are you sure that’s what you want? Friend: Yes Shop Assistant: Do you know what it’s about? Friend: Yes Shop Assistant: [...]

• Kenya is “Not A Banana Republic”, says Government

  Posted: January 23, 2008, 6:11 pm by robcrilly

  I’ll overlook the poor use of an apostrophe.

• My Week in Media

  Posted: January 22, 2008, 10:25 pm by robcrilly

  Andrew Heavens at Meskel Square has tagged me in the growing my week/month in media meme (btw I’m not entirely sure I understand the difference between a meme and an idea. And that’s only one of my problems with Richard Dawkins. But anyway.) Here it is: What I’ve read My normal day starts with a double house coffee [...]

• Clear as Crystal, Polished and Viewed Through X-Ray Glasses

  Posted: January 21, 2008, 10:25 pm by robcrilly

  So Adam Wood, British High Commissioner to Kenya, was called in by the country’s foreign minister, Amos Wetangula, for clarification on Britain’s attitude to President Mwai Kibaki today. Or at least that’s how British Foreign Office staff characterised the meeting. I’m not quite sure there was any need for clarification. Here’s what Meg Munn, Foreign Office minister, said [...]

• Business as Usual in Khartoum

  Posted: January 21, 2008, 9:56 am by robcrilly

  Have neglected much of the rest of my patch as the crisis in Kenya rumbles on. But nice to know that you can rely on Khartoum to maintain business as usual. The Sudanese authorities have given a senior government position to a man accused of co-ordinating the Janjaweed Arab militia in Darfur. The minister of federal affairs, [...]

• Warlords? Who Can They Mean?

  Posted: January 19, 2008, 11:09 pm by robcrilly

  Full page advert in today’s Daily Nation, posted by Stood in the Congo. It seems the government - not much given to finesse or subtlety in recent weeks - is really turning the screw. Rumours of Raila’s imminent arrest have circulated for the past fortnight. Could they be true?

• A Sigh of Relief

  Posted: January 18, 2008, 7:44 pm by robcrilly

  So things sort of petered out a bit today. The rain didn’t help, and there was still stone-throwing and teargas in Kibera. At least one person was shot (minor, in the leg, I understand) and someone died at the coast. Not good but at least we are over the worst of things. (QUICK EDIT - [...]

• Mud Spies

  Posted: January 18, 2008, 10:24 am by robcrilly

  Kids in Kibera have a new game. They have fashioned their own cameras out of mud, baked hard in the sun, and run around “filming” the mob of journalists that gathers on a hill overlooking their slum each day.

• The Camera Sometimes Lies

  Posted: January 17, 2008, 11:33 pm by robcrilly

  Much of today’s events are simply too depressing to recount in much detail. Mary Atieno summed it up best in an interview with an AP correspondent: “We are fighting and dying for Raila and Kibaki and they don’t even care for us. Only the ordinary man is suffering.” Today’s events are all over the news. Nothing [...]

• Quiet for Now

  Posted: January 17, 2008, 9:16 am by robcrilly

  Things quiet this morning. My local coffee shop is reassuringly busy and there’s a steady stream of traffic on Ngong Road heading into town. After yesterday’s trouble, stamped out pretty heavily by police, everyone is expecting more of the same today. The police tactic is to shut things down before things can get started. They [...]

• Nottingham Forest in Kenya 1

  Posted: January 16, 2008, 6:22 pm by robcrilly

  So there you are, up to your ankles in mud, tear gas fumes down the back of your throat and a vision in Garabaldi Red hoves into view. For a moment I ignored the violent demonstrations around me in Kibera and tried to figure out which version of the Nottingham Forest shirt this chap was [...]

• Britain’s Gift to Democracy

  Posted: January 16, 2008, 9:27 am by robcrilly

  It is not difficult to see where the design for the chamber of Kenya’s National Assembly comes from. Its MPs sit on high-backed leather benches facing each other for maximum adversarial impact. Ministers stand at a wooden dispatch box to address the speaker. And were it not for the fact that the leather is cream [...]

• No Way Out

  Posted: January 15, 2008, 9:55 am by robcrilly

  There are lots of ways I could see Raila Odinga deciding to cut a deal with Kibaki. A suitcase full of cash, Kalonzo being sacked to open up the vice-president’s job, a meaningless new post of prime minister (sort of ic parliament) or some such. But I still can’t see any way that Mwai Kibaki [...]

• Witness on the Web

  Posted: January 14, 2008, 6:13 pm by robcrilly

  White African, Kenyan Pundit and others have come up with a tool for mapping and recording incidents of violence in Kenya. Ushahidi - Swahili for witness - looks like a very valuable resource. There is still a ban in place on live broadcasts related to the election here and this seems to be one way [...]

• Kenya is Not the New Rwanda… And here’s why

  Posted: January 11, 2008, 2:22 pm by robcrilly

  Frank Furedi’s analysis of Kenya’s post-election violence has been posted on Spiked Online, and also published in today’s edition of The Standard. It’s probably the best description I’ve seen of what’s happening here, and is pretty damning of most of what’s been written so far. It avoids the analysis favoured by most liberal hacks here [...]

• Election Fair, According to Banker

  Posted: January 10, 2008, 3:31 pm by robcrilly

  Nice story in the FT this morning. A leaked memo from the World Bank head here rejects the conclusions of the international observers and says Kibaki won fair and square (apparently on the basis on UN briefings he has received). Never mind the fact that World Bank country directors rent their home from the Kibakis, [...]

• Rogues Gallery

  Posted: January 9, 2008, 2:05 pm by robcrilly

  Trouble last night in Kisumu (see Somewhere in Africa) as well as a couple of Nairobi slums after President Kibaki named 17 ministers in his new cabinet before John Kufuor’s mediation efforts could even get under way. As if that wasn’t enough of a red rag, the same familiar, discredited faces are all present and correct: George Saitoti, internal security [...]

• Ethnic Cleansing in the Tea Fields

  Posted: January 8, 2008, 3:57 pm by robcrilly

  It’s difficult to know how to explain Kenya’s post-election violence and how much of it is driven by ethnic rivalries. My colleague Nick Wadhams has had a stab on his blog, suggesting that with few political differences between politicians, ethnicity becomes the primary way of distinguishing candidates. So in order to win, simply intimidate/nobble/kill anyone from rival tribes - they [...]

• So Now We Know Who’s to Blame

  Posted: January 7, 2008, 2:48 pm by robcrilly

  Interesting analysis from Caroline Elkins (author of  Britain’s Gulag) in today’s Standard about the current crisis in Kenya. Turns out Britain is to blame…  Far from leaving behind democratic institutions and cultures, Britain bequeathed to its former colonies corrupted and corruptible governments. A distinctly colonial view of the rule of law saw the British leave behind legal systems [...]

• On the Road Again

  Posted: January 6, 2008, 7:53 pm by robcrilly

  Aid is starting to move and the roads into the Rift Valley are free now. But the scars of last week’s violence are everywhere on the road to Kericho. Each small town or trading post was missing a couple of stalls or a shop. A pile of ashes would be all that was left. This [...]

• Essential Reading

  Posted: January 4, 2008, 12:11 am by robcrilly

  It’s easy to write reams about how Kenya was supposed to be a haven of stability in a troubled corner of Africa, that its press enjoys freedoms only dreamed about in much of the rest of the continent, that it had made an reasonable transition to multi-party democracy. And so on. Then you point out [...]

• Ouzo and Christmas Cake

  Posted: January 4, 2008, 10:17 pm by robcrilly

  The shops opened again today as Nairobi gradually returned to normal (or what passes for normal). A second day of demonstrations failed to materialise and it looks increasingly as if the Kenyan opposition politcians have played their hand poorly. It was another day racing around Kibera and other flashpoints trying to gauge the general mood (broadly, a bit tired [...]

• Storm Force Warning

  Posted: January 3, 2008, 1:22 am by robcrilly

  So I’ve been telling anyone who would listen that today was the barometer day, a taking of the temperature (er pressure) and a chance to see which way things would go in Kenya. And after today’s demos I’m not sure anyone is any the wiser. There was trouble but then things petered out without things [...]

• Quiet for Now

  Posted: January 3, 2008, 7:57 pm by robcrilly

  You can see the smoke from Kibera all over the city. One church, dozens of tiny shacks and countless tyres will be nothing but ashes by tomorrow morning. But for now, things are calming down. There will be more time for reflection later, but it seems that the opposition ODM peered over the precipice… and [...]

• The Calm Before The Storm

  Posted: January 3, 2008, 11:23 am by robcrilly

  Quiet so far in Nairobi this morning. Armed police and soldiers are stationed on every corner, roundabout and potential flashpoint of the city on my side of town, close to Kibera. It looks like they want to prevent people getting evern close to Uhuru Park where opposition ODM leaders want to hold a rally. Word [...]

• Heading Home

  Posted: January 2, 2008, 1:44 pm by robcrilly

  The set at gate F9 in Schipol Airport is showing pictures of bodies in Kenya while we sit waiting to board flight KL565 to Nairobi. People are pretending not to watch. I’ve cut short my Christmas break by a day to get back home and cover tomorrow’s planned demos in Nairobi. A quick call to colleagues back [...]

• Two Steps Backwards

  Posted: December 31, 2007, 10:45 pm by robcrilly

  So after the strides made by Kenyans in exercising their power at the ballot box last week it looks increasingly like things are coming off the rails. Every step forwards, it seems, is met with two steps backwards, a media blackout and mass killings. For now my inbox is full of press releases from diplomats and [...]

• Dropping Like Flies

  Posted: December 28, 2007, 4:40 pm by robcrilly

  It is all too easy to spot sea changes in Africa, only to later see them reduced to the status of tidal flux - a routine shift that is reversed within a heartbeat. But while the presidential race in Kenya remains too close to call, something interesting is happening in the parliamentary seats. Chris Murungaru, David [...]

• I Predict A Riot

  Posted: December 26, 2007, 4:37 pm by robcrilly

  Kenya goes to the polls tomorrow. It’s shaping up to be the closest election in Kenyan history. Raila started with a huge lead in the polls - perhaps not surprising as he started campaigning three years ago after walking out of the government. Kibaki reeled him in, only to see Raila head out in front again. [...]

• Hello, hello, can you hear me? Click, brrrrrrr

  Posted: December 22, 2007, 9:28 pm by robcrilly

  Every so often I get an ever-so-slightly abrupt email from an editor, asking me to call them as they can’t get through by phone. Usually they have made one attempt, failed to reach me and then given up. Other times they put the phone down on me just as I am saying hello. With a lengthy delay [...]

• Christmas Lists II

  Posted: December 20, 2007, 4:50 pm by robcrilly

  I’m still in list mode. So here is a list of: Diseases I have had in Africa  Tick Bite Fever - A severe pounding headache, aching all over and general exhaustion. So how disappointing on my return from Addis Ababa to be told I had tick bite fever. I assumed this was the diagnosis used by doctors in Nairobi who [...]

• UN Warns on Soaring Food Prices

  Posted: December 19, 2007, 4:14 pm by robcrilly

  The soaring cost of food is threatening millions of people in poor countries, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has warned. Food prices have risen an unprecedented 40% in the last year and many aid workers may be unable to cope. “It’s awful,” said one international development worker based in Nairobi. “I came to [...]

• A Sudanese Feast

  Posted: December 18, 2007, 2:03 pm by robcrilly

  Before my last trip to Khartoum was so rudely interrupted, I was invited to join a Sudanese celebration. My trusty fixer Al Siir drove me to meet his family for something of a feast. His “sister” - meaning, I think in these circumstances a female relative - had recently returned from Jordan where she had [...]

• Christmas Lists

  Posted: December 17, 2007, 11:03 am by robcrilly

  It’s that time of year when I feel compelled to compile lists. Here are some books on Africa that I have (or should have) read this year. What is the What, Dave Eggers: Probably the best book I’ve read on Sudan - fiction or nonfiction. Deals with the complexities of the civil war in an elegant yet [...]

• Mission Impossible

  Posted: December 15, 2007, 12:14 am by robcrilly

  It is easy to dismiss the efforts of the African Union mission to bring peace to Darfur. The 7000 or so troops are no longer able to protect themselves, much less the civilians and humanitarian workers they are supposed to be helping. On December 31 the mission comes to an end. For now most of the soldiers seem [...]

• How to Lose Your Job as a Civil Servant Very Quickly Indeed

  Posted: December 13, 2007, 10:28 pm by robcrilly

  You can just imagine what was going through Francis Musyimi’s mind as he prepared to act as MC for the Kenyan president’s independence day bash. “I mustn’t confuse the first lady with the president’s other wife…I mustn’t confuse the first lady with the president’s other wife…I mustn’t confuse…Oh bugger.” His slip of the tongue - turning [...]

• When Did You Stop Being Corrupt?

  Posted: December 12, 2007, 7:06 pm by robcrilly

  So Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki has announced that he plans to have a “‘clean hands’ cabinet made up of men and women of integrity” if re-elected on December 27. Great, but it makes you wonder what he’s been doing for the past 5 years.

• When Did You Stop Being Corrupt?

  Posted: December 12, 2007, 7:06 pm by robcrilly

  So Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki has announced that he plans to have a “‘clean hands’ cabinet made up of men and women of integrity” if re-elected on December 27. Great, but it makes you wonder what he’s been doing for the past 5 years.

• My Safari Soundtrack II

  Posted: December 11, 2007, 3:22 am by robcrilly

  No luck on widening my Safari Soundtrack during this last trip. In the end Teddygate (as someone lacking all imagination has no doubt christened the whole thing) meant I didn’t head off on my planned road trip and I stayed in Khartoum. Instead it was mostly Grinderman that helped me drift off to sleep in the [...]

• On Teddy Bears

  Posted: December 10, 2007, 12:32 pm by robcrilly

  So Gillian Gibbons is pretty much forgotten. Her place has been taken by the canoeist and the wife who staged his death so that they could live a life of Riley in Panama, of all places. So just time for a few final reflections on Sudan, Islam and that blasted teddy bear. It is easy for [...]

• Al Siir to the Rescue

  Posted: December 7, 2007, 9:24 pm by robcrilly

  So I made it on to Gillian Gibbons flight home. As usual it was touch and go. And as usual my trusty fixer Al Siir came to the rescue. The small band of reporters in Khartoum had been pretty confident that she wouldn’t be flying out until Tuesday morning on the British Midland flight that went [...]

• The Verdict Is In

  Posted: December 4, 2007, 5:14 pm by robcrilly

  In my last post (Perfect Storm) I perhaps naively hoped that my readers back home would recognise that the story of Gillian Gibbons and the teddy bear was an interesting way of discussing how to handle Sudan’s government, and best coax it into sorting Darfur, for example. Or could it be that people would simply conclude that [...]

• The Perfect Storm

  Posted: December 3, 2007, 3:11 am by robcrilly

  Met a snooty American journo yesterday who said he had no interest in writing about the Gillian Gibbons story. I find that astonishing. This is almost the perfect story for the following reasons: It involves a teacher - and we all love teachers It involves a teddy bear - and we all love teddy bears There is a [...]

• Wired in Sudan

  Posted: December 1, 2007, 1:07 pm by robcrilly

  Yesterday was typical of the media haboob that has engulfed Khartoum in the past six days. The first phonecall came at 7.30am - the last about 17 hours later at about 12.30am. In between I staked out Omdurman women’s prison, until it was clear that Gillian Gibbons wasn’t being held there, confirmed details of a [...]

• Anyone Remember Darfur?

  Posted: November 28, 2007, 12:20 am by robcrilly

  This is awkward. Sir John Holmes, the Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, flies in to Khartoum tonight en route to Darfur. I suspect the Khartoum press corps may be otherwise engaged.

• Quiet Diplomacy and Ringing Phones

  Posted: November 27, 2007, 12:53 am by robcrilly

  Another day of madness in Khartoum. Flat out reporting on the primary school teacher who has been arrested here for naming a teddy bear Mohamed. Strictly speaking it was her kids that named the bear, but anyway she’s the one in trouble. I’m currently staying with Meskel Square and his missus who works for the BBC [...]

• Teddy Bears and Islam

  Posted: November 26, 2007, 9:24 pm by robcrilly

  One of the golden rules of being a freelancer is never to complain about lack of work. I have been moaning about being stuck in Khartoum for the past week, unable to get to where I want to be. And then Sudanese police arrest a British teacher here for naming a teddy bear Mohamed. All [...]

• The Most “Tastable” Fish in Omdurman

  Posted: November 24, 2007, 4:02 pm by robcrilly

  People come from all over Khartoum to eat fish at Shieb’s little restauarant over the Nile in Omdurman. It’s little more than a couple of bare rooms with a scattering of plastic chairs and tables outside. Inside the heat is fierce as two blazing fires heat vats of oil where the freshly caught fish is [...]

• Kalma: How to Turn a Solution into a Problem

  Posted: November 21, 2007, 9:44 pm by robcrilly

  Kalma camp in South Darfur is the most miserable of the region’s miserable camps. It is too big by far. Something like 90,000 people live in its shacks and mud-brick homes in a sprawling mass of humanity where seething tension frequently erupts into violence as tribe plots against tribe. Most charities dare not venture inside [...]

• Khartoum or Bust

  Posted: November 20, 2007, 8:13 pm by robcrilly

  My list of favourite African cities wouldn’t be long. Africa is more about its villages. That’s where the history, the stories and the culture are to be found. Too many of its cities are dull collections of 1970s buildings that were too often modelled on the gloomy eastern European utilitarianism of the Cold War. Not so Khartoum. [...]

• A Freelancer’s Whinge

  Posted: November 17, 2007, 4:05 pm by robcrilly

  Being a freelance foreign correspondent is great. I’m my own boss, picking the stories I want to write, when I want to write them. For weeks at a time I sit around drinking coffee, reading the papers and scouring the internet - and I call it work. Some mornings there’s time for 18 holes and I can still [...]

• The Aubergine’s Role in Ending Rural Poverty

  Posted: November 14, 2007, 1:39 pm by robcrilly

  The more time I spend in Africa the more I realise that I was totally wrong about the best way for this blighted yet beautiful continent to lift itself out of its trough. From the vantage point of Royal Tunbridge Wells (in the south-east of England) it was easy to blame Africa’s problems on colonialism. [...]

• Things Not to Say to a Rebel Commander - An Occasional Series

  Posted: November 13, 2007, 8:13 pm by robcrilly

  This series is inspired by a moment last week when my slick journalist’s poise deserted me. Briefly. It is not the first time and probably won’t be the last. Anyway, it happened as I introduced myself to a rebel commander via telephone. ME: So where are you? REBEL COMMANDER (VIA SATPHONE): Erm. Erm. Who did you say you [...]

• Khartoum’s Big Stick

  Posted: November 11, 2007, 8:51 pm by robcrilly

  Khartoum needs no excuse to make life difficult for the international charities that operate in Darfur. Now Zoe’s Ark has handed them a perfect reason to get tough on organisations trying to dish up food or provide water to some four million people. Newsweek has taken a look at this issue. But I think they’ve missed [...]

• Queuing for Lunch At The Darfur Peace Talks

  Posted: November 8, 2007, 11:55 pm by robcrilly

    Several of my journalist pals made the trip up to Sirte, Libya, for the Darfur peace talks. They reckoned there were about 120 journalists or so. And three rebels.

• If It Sounds Too Good To Be True…

  Posted: November 8, 2007, 9:19 pm by robcrilly

  You may remember that President Bashir garnered waves of positive headlines first by going to Rome and telling the Pope that his forces would implement a ceasefire in Darfur once peace talks in Libya began. Once a week, for the next six weeks his officials parroted the anouncement. Then the doomed peace talks themselves began [...]

• Nairobbery No More

  Posted: November 7, 2007, 9:15 pm by robcrilly

  Nairobi saw a nasty spate of crime at the start of the year. A senior figure with the aid agency Care was shot dead in a carjacking. Two Americans died in the same way. Gunfights erupted at a roadblock out of town. Dozens of locals died without the headlines afforded the unfortunate foreigners. And then the [...]

• The Peadophile Hunter and Me

  Posted: November 5, 2007, 12:21 am by robcrilly

  From time to time in Africa I’m reminded of the years I spent on local papers in Britain. In particular, the stories about charities collapsing. On an almost monthly basis we would run a story about some well-meaning individual who has got it into his or her heart that it is about time they gave [...]

• Too Many 4×4s by Far

  Posted: November 3, 2007, 2:57 pm by robcrilly

  Oh to be a Toyota dealer in East Africa. It must be a licence to print money. Their Prados are in demand among Kenya’s booming middle class, their Hiluxes are the favoured choice (with one or two modifications) of “businessmen” throughout Somalia, and as long as you have an unlimited supply of white paint you can make [...]

• Diplomacy Without Substance

  Posted: November 1, 2007, 3:52 pm by robcrilly

  More good stuff from Anne Bartlett of the Darfur Centre for Human Rights and Development, posted on the Sudan Tribune website.

• A Vision of the Future

  Posted: November 1, 2007, 1:53 pm by robcrilly

  Kibera is sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest slum with maybe one million people living in tiny, one-room shacks crammed together on the edge of Nairobi. And, if the experts are right, it’s the face of the future. Some time this year - maybe it has already happened - half the world’s population will be living in cities. [...]

• Sadly Inevitable

  Posted: October 31, 2007, 2:15 pm by robcrilly

  It has been a struggle not writing about the feeble peace talks in Sirte, Libya. The truth is I couldn’t think of much to say beyond, “I told you so”. Best to keep quiet. But then the editorials started appearing, such as Eric Reeves’ effort posted on The Economist website, bemoaning the fact that only [...]

Blah blah blah

Fish cakes

Alas a fish cake.

Yet more fish cakes

Guess what ... yeah ... fish cakes.

The end of the fish cakes