Ethiopia
FREE EVENT: BBC Virtual Reality Screening – Damming the Nile
The Frontline Club will be hosting a series of screenings for the launch of the BBC’s first ever Virtual Reality documentary Damming the Nile
Conflict and Disaster Reporting: Does the Public Still Care?
This event is organised by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI).
On 23 October 1984, the BBC aired a landmark report on the famine in Ethiopia. Describing the crisis as a ‘biblical famine’, the report galvanised the public, spurred the UK government into action and prompted the creation of the infamous Live Aid concert. Join the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) as they examine the current state of conflict and disaster reporting and how humanitarian agencies can work with the media to raise awareness and much-needed funds.
The DNA of culture: Jeremy Hunter in conversation with Paddy O’Connell
By Natricia Duncan The Frontline Club was treated to an explosion of colour, culture, festivity and debate as photojournalist Jeremy Hunter explored the “DNA of countries” through pictures. Hunter described how he began travelling as part of his job as a foreign correspondent for NIR-TV in Tehran. Although not employed as a photographer […]
Somali Victory at the SA World Cup
In recent years Somalia has often made the headlines for all the wrong reasons. Piracy, poverty and lawlessness have cast a long shadow over the Horn of Africa. Two generations of Somalis have been scattered forming a diasporas across the world. Many still live in refugee camps in Ethiopia, Yemen, Kenya and as far away […]
Neighbours in the Horn
Pictured on the map the road that runs east between the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, and Hargeisa in Somaliland looks pretty straightforward. In an area of roughly 500km, Amharic-dominated, Christian, highland Ethiopia descends towards the Gulf Aden into dry scrubland and the traditionally pastoral territory of the Somalis. Pretty simple really. Maps, however, can be […]
Africa Reading Challenge 6. Bikila: Ethiopia’s Barefoot Olympian
Last year, while trying to pick the sixth book for my African Reading Challenge, I explained how I wanted a book that wasn’t self-consciously a book about Africa. I wanted a story, a biography, a self-help guide, whatever, that just happened to be set in Africa. I failed. And as a result didn’t even manage […]
Christmas in Somalia
African Safari heads off for a much-needed break in the land of the free coffee, casting an anxious glance over its shoulder at Somalia. The Ethiopians love to do stuff over Christmas (not Christmas, according to the Ethiopian calendar, which places the birth of Christ on Jan 7) and their withdrawal, if it turns out […]
My African Predictions for 2009
This year I lost $200 in bets on the US presidential election and remain committed to swimming naked to Tuti island in the middle of the Nile on my next visit to Khartoum. That is not enough to stop me making a few more predictions of the events that will shape the African news agenda […]
Your African Year
A few days ago I was compiling an 800wd review of 2008 in Africa for one of my papers. I asked for help in finding a good news story to include and was inundated by readers’ ideas for things I should include. I simply didn’t have room for more than one, so I thought we […]
Ethiopian Famine Averted
Among many of the titbits of useful advice I picked up as I worked my way through Britain’s regional newspapers was one that has caused me no end of trouble. “Rob,” one of the old hands at The Herald (I should point out this is a Scottish national paper – not a British regional paper) […]
Saving Somalia
Children are among the guards at a warlord’s home in Mogadishu In this part of the world it doesn’t take long to spot the problem with international aid to Africa. Or maybe I should rephrase things. In this part of the world it doesn’t take long to spot the problem with British aid to Africa. […]
31 very interesting things: 2. Warchild
[video:youtube:ekigsvTDJXo] Emmanuel Jal was eight when he was handed an AK-47 and told to fight for the southern Sudanese rebels of the SPLA. He escaped Sudan in a bag, smuggled out by Emma McCune, a British aid worker, on a UN flight. Now he is one of Africa’s hottest rappers. His new album is due […]
Somalia’s Only Hope for Peace?
Amnesty’s hard-hitting report on human rights abuses in Somalia should make everyone stop and think. Mogadishu has long been a city of death and destruction (apart from a six-month period of quiet as the Islamic Courts imposed their own brand of security on the city) so there is no great shock to hear that the […]
And you can take your 24hr rolling news channel with you!
[video:youtube:Mvou7v8hiIM] News arrives that Ethiopia is cutting diplomatic relations with Qatar: The Government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia has decided to break off diplomatic relations with the State of Qatar. This decision has been taken after long observation of Qatar’s activities in the Horn of Africa. Ethiopia has displayed considerable patience towards Qatar’s […]
Teacher Faces Jail in Ethiopia after Exposing Paedophile
So you work tirelessly to expose paedophiles working in a children’s charity village in Ethiopia. Your work helps convict one British sex abuser. And for your trouble you face being sent to prison on Friday, possibly for six months because the charity involved has sued you for defamation rather than welcome your work in blowing […]