Foreign Correspondent Margot Kiser
Letters to Annie from Kaftanistan
Write from experience, and experience only… Try to be one of those on whom nothing is lost – Henry James, American-born writer (1843-1916)
Kenya’s president Kibaki presided over the much anticipated and often delayed ground-breaking ceremony yesterday for construction of the Lamu port, slated to be the continent’s second largest deep-water port. The Lamu port is the keystone of Kenya’s ambitious “Vision 2030”, part of a transport and economic corridor — THE LAMU-PORT-SOUTH-SUDAN-TRANSPORT-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORRIDOR (LAPSSET), a multi-billion […]
I wonder if I had known more about the history and layout of Mogadishu where all the suicide bombings had taken place and had known circumstances in which Shabab snuffed out civilian lives whether I’d have gone. Though Swahili, with its many Arabic words, carried me a long way here in Mog, my American travel […]
Best wishes to all for a happy and prosperous 2012. Kenya Department of Defence press briefing Saturday, Dec, 31st, 2011. Meeting began nearly an hour late @ 11 am. Colonel Cyrus Oguna (a dead ringer for Eddie Murphy) from Kenya’s Dept of Defence announced in dead pan fashion description and # of Kenya Defense Forces […]
SomaliaReport: Al-Shabaab Claims Reponsibility for Attacks. Does anyone know the significance of “twin” in many Al Qaida or Al Shabab-related attacks? 9/11, twin towers in Manhattan, ’98 twin bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, 2010 twin bombings in Kampala, Uganda, the twin grenade attacks in Nairobi just after Kenya’s recent invasion into Somalia (immediately after Kenya’s […]
Best wishes to all for a Happy and Prosperous 2012. Kenya Department of Defence press brief Saturday, Dec, 31st, 2011. Meeting began nearly an hour late @ 11 am. Colonel Cyrus Oguna (a dead ringer for Eddie Murphy) from Kenya’s Dept of Defence delivered in dead pan fashion a speech that included description and # […]
Somalis arrested in Lamu Nov 25, 2011 (photo; Abdullah Bargash) November 25, 2011 (LAMU, KENYA) Lamu police announced Friday that they had arrested five unarmed Somalis on Manda island. The Somalis are now being held in Lamu jail. Police and CID told a crowd of reporters at the police station that the men, mostly in […]
Ol Pejeta Conservancy (NANYUKI, KENYA) – While working on a story about the recent spate of rhino poaching in the Laikipia area, the conservators of Ol Pejeta, East Africa‘s largest rhino sanctuary, had invited me to watch the relocation of a female northern white rhino. A truck designed specifically to transport animals would take the […]
WILSON AIRPORT (NAIROBI) – The inevitable lull between writing gigs makes a good opportunity to catch up on the blog. 8:42 AM – Dormans coffee shop waiting for my flight to Nanyuki. Several tons of miraa or qhat (“organic” herbal stimulant) are flown out of this airport to Somalia every day. Two 30 seater planes […]
The first incident — the murder and kidnapping at Kiwayu — was alone brazen enough to seem a declaration of war. As weeks passed it seemed as though that might have been a one-off, an isolated crime of opportunity. Not the handiwork of pirates. Just thugs. Maybe even just local thugs. Then there was Marie […]
