Clifford Derrick reporting Kenyan election violence
Video journalist Clifford Derrick talks to The Mail & Guardian about how he reported the election violence in Kenya that began on December 27, 2007,
He decided to set up base in the slums to record the story. It was a distinctly dangerous choice. “On three occasions cops threatened me. One came up and said to me: “I wonder whether you will be alive at the end of the day.'”
His life at risk, Derrick had to think fast, making what he describes as “an alliance with the cops”. He says: “I went up to the cops and told them that if anything happens to me I have footage of you. If I die you will be held responsible. That’s why I got the best footage.” It was a prescient move: “It was then that I captured the worst images. I had images of brains being blown out. It was traumatic,” he says. “I could hear instructions on the walkie-talkies telling the cops to shoot to kill.” link
Derrick missed out on a Rory Peck Award gong last month to Abdullahi Farah Duguf.