Last updated December 2005
Category: News
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James Robbins has been a Diplomatic Correspondent for the BBC since January 1998 and is currently based in London.
In this role he helped lead the BBC's television coverage of the September 11 attacks on the United State in 2001.
James has charted the course of the global crisis ever since, reporting from the United Nations in New York, from Afghanistan, the Middle East and many European capitals.
From 1992 until the end of 1997 James was the BBC's Europe Correspondent and Europe Bureau Chief, based in Brussels.
He has reported on each European Summit from Maastricht to Amsterdam, following the search for a 'new order' in Europe after the Cold War.
He has covered various issues such as the introduction of the single market, the political fallout from the Maastricht Treaty and the steady enlargement of the European Union.
He was responsible for reporting on the European 'beef war' with Britain, the preparations for the single currency, and the struggle to establish a Common Foreign and Security Policy amid the horrors of the Bosnian War.
As Europe Correspondent, James also covered the first trials in the Hague at the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia.
Prior to this, from 1987 to 1991, James was Southern Africa Correspondent for the BBC based in Johannesburg.
He witnessed the release of Nelson Mandela, and was one of the first journalists to interview him.
He charted the slow, painful and violent transition from repression and rigid racial segregation under President PW Botha to the beginnings of democracy under President FW de Klerk.
He has covered wars in Angola, in Mozambique and in Namibia during its transition to independence and democracy.
James joined the BBC as a news trainee in 1977 after graduating from Oxford University with an Honours degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics.
His training took him to London, Leeds, Newcastle and Belfast, after which he spent four years in Northern Ireland as a reporter.
James was born in London in January 1954. He lives in London with his wife and daughter.
