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This is the home of my reports, updates and analysis from across the world’s liveliest continent
19 hours ago
Somalia remains a notoriously hard place to help.
But on a windswept hilltop along the coast a few miles south of the capital, Mogadishu, a giant, almost ludicrously neat, brand new tented camp for displaced families stands as a monument to what foreigners can achieve here with the right approach.
18 minutes ago
Security will come from people not feuding politicians - fisherman tells me in Mogadishu. Somali gov has much to prove after #LDNSomalia
5 hours ago
After 20 years of anarchy traffic policeman in #Mogadishu tells me people "learning how to be normal" - most drivers never seen a license.
19 hours ago
Next stop Kismayo says African Union spokesman in Mogadishu following news that Al Shabab forced out of key town of #Baidoa.
20 hours ago
"It shouldn't be long now" - AMISOM commander predicts victory in #Somalia in "months" as UN agrees to 50% increase in troop numbers.
22 hours ago
Another big blow for Al Shabab as Islamists reportedly lose the key town of Baidoa in #Somalia. But who will fill the power vacuum?
11:51 UK time, Wednesday, 22 February 2012
In favour of a bottom-up approach to #Somalia... Why Thursday's London conference won't work: http://t.co/stSV6anu
10:44 UK time, Wednesday, 22 February 2012
The bravest, sanest, most generous of colleagues. Marie Colvin. Syria's conflict claims another journalist.
09:31 UK time, Wednesday, 22 February 2012
Spotted in Mogadishu this morning - 4 traffic policemen, 2 new restaurants, 241 pupils at a newly opened school, 3 construction sites.
04:45 UK time, Wednesday, 22 February 2012
Beyond #Mogadishu. Soldiers relieved to swap street battles for countryside in campaign against Al Shabab. http://t.co/bNUjRj7f
01:18 UK time, Wednesday, 22 February 2012
A narrow, dusty road leads into Mogadishu from the west. Thick bushes crowd the edges, and the African Union (Amisom) peacekeepers - soldiers from Burundi - who seized this desolate area a few days ago from militant Islamist group al-Shabab eye each passing vehicle nervously.
Our security guards urge us not to spend more than a few minutes outside the stone-walled compound where the Burundians and a group of Somali government troops are now based.
17:32 UK time, Tuesday, 21 February 2012
Optimism and Mogadishu - two words that rarely shake hands. The first of several blogs here... http://t.co/uxBYlFqA
16:00 UK time, Tuesday, 21 February 2012
"They could do more." Turkish aid official urges other countries to engage more directly in #Mogadishu and #Somalia
08:54 UK time, Tuesday, 21 February 2012
A traffic policeman. Pedestrians. Taxis. Crowded markets and cafes. An absence of constant gunfire. Mogadishu has changed dramatically.
It's six months since I was last in the Somali capital - a city then ravaged by famine, swarming with gunmen, and fought over by a lethal assortment of African Union peacekeepers, Islamist militants and clan militias.
15:10 UK time, Monday, 20 February 2012
Back in #Mogadishu, #Somalia - busy streets, fewer gunmen, signs of real progress. Will be reporting from here in coming days.
13:05 UK time, Friday, 17 February 2012
No jobs at home... Portugal's youth head south. http://t.co/IPbtGh32
12:22 UK time, Friday, 17 February 2012
Tropical beaches. Grilled prawns. Fine coffee. And an economy growing by almost 8% a year.
Who wouldn't be tempted by Mozambique?
13:34 UK time, Wednesday, 15 February 2012
From one transition to the next - plotting a path for Somalia. Leaked draft of London conference communique here. http://t.co/YZQMyfOn
13:37 UK time, Tuesday, 7 February 2012
Important and blindingly obvious. Oxfam calls for local groups to take lead in disaster response. #Somalia for example http://t.co/TAKoGpIU
09:59 UK time, Tuesday, 7 February 2012
First a comedian. http://t.co/fFo8XGt3 Now a band. http://t.co/JyLBfTv2 The South Africans are coming...
Africa correspondent since 2009, covering the continent's highs and lows - from the World Cup, Africa's economic boom, and the literary treasures of Timbuktu, to the pirates of Somalia, the conflict in Ivory Coast, and the struggles of Zimbabwe.
20 years as a foreign correspondent, based in the former Soviet Union, Africa, and Asia.
Reported on the 1993 parliamentary rebellion in Moscow, two Chechen wars, the Asian tsunami in 2004, and conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Burma, Congo, Sudan, Liberia and beyond.
Born in the UK, grew up in Belgium and boarding school. Married with three children.
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