Foreign Correspondent Margot Kiser
Letters to Annie from Kaftanistan
Coffee table books and novels about Africa with ‘Africa’ in their titles seem to stand a better chance of becoming best sellers, or so I hear. “Out of Africa”, “Nowhere in Africa”, “I Dream of Africa” would seem to suggest so. By that formula nothing would sell Africa better than a DVD cover featuring Brad […]
More Headline Than Content At the ivory burn activists and politicians were loud and clear – we’re burning ivory to protect the elephants. The message is that ivory should not have any intrinsic value other than on the elephant. The message itself however remains unclear to Kenyans and foreigners alike. Yet Kenyans I spoke with […]
A source close to the Kenya Defense Forces said that DNA samples had been taken from 143 bodies (found at the scene), adding that 58 had survived.
Nearly three months after the reported crash of a plane outside Mogadishu, the fate of twelve passengers aboard remains unknown.
Unofficial sources in Somalia say the passengers were mercenaries, all captured by militants loyal to the Islamist group al-Shabaab.
The shallow graves of at least twelve ethnic Somalis were said to have been discovered on the outskirts of Mandera, a town near Kenya-Somalia border. One of the deceased has been identified by residents as “Isnina”, a mother of five, who went missing just four days ago. Witnesses say two Kenya Defense Forces soldiers in […]
LAMU, Kenya – Al-Shabaab, al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Somalia, released a statement on its media website claiming recent attacks in parts of northeastern Kenya. At around 6 am on Wednesday, November 25th, Special Forces and Ranger Strike Force battalions were patrolling near the town of Galmagala, the outermost perimeters of the deployment area, when they encountered […]
Nairobi is the Maasai word for “cold water”. With an elevation of 5,889 feet above sea level, it is by altitude the 9th highest city in the world, higher than Denver, Colorado, “the mile high city” in the storied American west. Developers and businesspeople seem to be scrambling to get out of the Nairobi’s congested […]
An acquaintance in Lamu gave me a pamphlet she said had been handed to passengers on a bus from Mombasa to Lamu on September 21, 2015. Perhaps not coincidentally the date marked the second anniversary of the deadly Westgate Mall attack. The group behind the leaflet, Kenya Citizen Coalition (KCC), appears to be pro-government, very […]
MOMBASA – Off to an interesting start this morning: I’m in Mombasa participating in a writers conference focusing on political violence. The group consists of poets, journalists, anthropologists, historians…I was in the front in a van with some from the group en route to Swahili cultural center when a matatu (ad hoc bus) passed by […]
