Welcome to my website. I am a journalist and writer, specialising in Africa. I have reported on events on the continent since the early 1990s. I am Africa Editor at the BBC World Service and author of Getting Somalia Wrong? Faith, War and Hope in a Shattered State, published by Zed Books.

I have a special interest in Somalia, and travel regularly to the region. I have reported from many other African countries, especially conflict zones. I am particularly interested in Islamist extremism, sea piracy and migration.

I have written for academic journals and publications including The Economist, Granta, The Guardian, The Times and The Washington Post. I have worked for, amongst others, the Economist Intelligence Unit and the United Nations. I translated from French into English The State in Africa: The Politics of the Belly by J-F. Bayart.

I am a fellow of the Rift Valley Institute and the Heritage Institute for Policy Studies. I speak regularly at conferences, literary festivals and other events, including those organised by Oxford University, Yale and the United Nations. I am often invited to chair panel discussions.

I have degrees from Cambridge University and the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. I speak English, French, Portuguese and Wolof.