AfricaVox

Africa's leaders leave its journalists out in the cold

By Salamatu Turay

I have had the weekend to think a little, and after the ups and downs of last week - the G8, the Olympics, the bombings - so much has happened, it's difficult to take in.  But there is one unfortunate thing for us as African journalists that stands out from last week.

The nature of the long-awaited support by the G8 leaders to make poverty history was announced by the British Prime Minister Tony Blair, in the final press conference at Gleneagles on Friday, addressing about one hundred journalists from all over the world. But what beats my imagination is that there were close to ten of our leaders at the summit - Algeria, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa were all there - but by Friday evening not one of them had said a word to the twenty-odd African journalists there to cover the summit.

Goodbye - for now...

By Machrine Birungi

So Tony Blair has issued the final communique of Gleneagles 2005. An additional 50 billion US Dollars in aid, implementation of the recommendation for the Commission for Africa to commit an additional 25 billion dollars for Africa by 2010.

Has Africa achieved anything? Yes, it has been a significant presence in the press for the first time - and not in bad faith, but in an attempt to explore the opportunities that Africa has to offer. Africa has gained further from the fact that the G8 leaders were forced to shift their attention from domestic agendas to an African agenda.

But I must say the terrorists did not only damage London when they struck yesterday - they damaged Africa too. For the crucial 24 hours, Africa was shuffled off the agenda, only to be dragged back on Friday afternoon.

John Kamau's BBC Online diary - Updated links

John has provoked considerable debate over on BBC Online's pages, and I am not surprised. He's given a fresh and candid perspective on the experiences of an African journalist covering an international summit, and today's diary in particular shows the considerable frustrations that African journalists have to put up with in a day's work:

Yesterday we were told that [the African leaders attending G8] would have a press conference today. But as I write this, no African journalist I have met here seems to know where our presidents are. [...] Unlike in western nations where the presidents and prime ministers are accessible to the local media, for an African journalist, getting an interview with an African president may take a lifetime.

and here's Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Ndesanjo in Metro: "Now the terrorists have seized the front page, who will tell Africa anything at all?"

A day of high contrast for Ndesanjo, with the relief of finally getting down to business in Gleneagles overshadowed by the attacks on London yesterday.

And I thought, wait a minute, why do the leaders of the world's most advanced 'democracies' meet so far away from the people they represent? Had they committed some heinous crime? [...] And then Thursday morning, ordinary people going to work, picking up groceries, touring London, bore the brunt of someone's anger against the G8, while the leaders themselves were caged safely away.

Machrine posted for yesterday's Metro, making a vow to cover climate change when she gets back to Uganda, and her first ever article on this subject asks, Is Africa Burning?

G8 Expectations

By Joel Okao

I am privileged to be at Gleneagles, as part of the AfricaVox team of African journalists, covering this historic event for Radio Rhino back home in Uganda. My audience is made up of people who live every minute of their lives watching over their shoulders to see where the next attacks of the Lord’s Resistance Army rebels are emerging from. Over 2 million of my listeners live in medieval conditions in camps unimaginable in the civilized world in the 21st Century.

Many people back home in the North of Uganda know about the G8 and its agenda to help Africa, thanks to reports on local FM Radio stations like mine. And they wish all Ugandan debts will be cancelled.

But they have a big concern: Will money from debt cancellation help restore security to Northern Uganda? I hosted a programme on Radio Rhino just before I left for the summit, and many people called in to give their expectations of the G8 Summit. Here is a taste of what they said...:

John Kamau's Daily Diary for BBC Online

John, you might be thinking, has been a bit quiet on the blog of late. But, apart from filing for the Guardian on Monday, being interviewed on Dublin's Newstalk 106FM this morning, and filing for his paper the Sunday Standard, he's been busy writing a Daily G8 Diary for BBC Online, which you can read and comment on here. But do come back...

John Kamau in the Guardian today

Edinburgh cab driver Andy Connolly reading John Kamau's piece on the Make Poverty History march in Guardian's G2 this morning. Read it for yourself here.

My night with Newsnight

By Machrine Birungi

I spent the whole of last Friday shadowing Paul Mason, Newsnight’s Business Correspondent, watching him put together a report about aid and debt relief in the run-up to the G8 meeting. It was one of the best journalism experiences I’ve ever had. I’ve only just got round to posting this, as I’m busy trying to get my own stories together now from Edinburgh.

Paul told me that he starts working on a report with a 'mind map' of how it will unfold. As he moves through the day he spends a lot of his time, talking to himself or scribbling. I think he is constantly rehearsing what he has to say.

I can safely say that the way Paul works would really challenge journalists back home in Uganda. Most journalism there is like a PR exercise, but Paul gets much deeper insights by unpicking ideas and personalities.

AfricaVox Reports

By Sameer Padania

Today, with the Human White Band March in Edinburgh, and the ten Live8 concerts around the world, our journalists are out and about - meeting Baaba Maal, talking to White Band Marchers, interviewing Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor and African protesters...

On the AfricaVox main site, Machrine Birungi and Dr Fackson Banda take sides in a debate about the positive and negative role NGOs play in Africa, and John Kamau talks about Make Poverty History with a Kenyan market-seller.  And more to come in as the journalists fight their way through the late afternoon melee...

"What is this G8?"

By John Kamau

It is one of those rare years in a journalist’s career when the world looks like it really might change. But amidst all this excitement why do people – apart from Tony Blair and co - feel a sense of deja vu?  How I wish that this blog could be read right back in my home Kenyan village which is peppered with tea and coffee plots. But I know it won't be, because electricity finally arrived only last year, and computers may still be mistaken for television sets – so you can forget the internet.

Telling people in my village I was coming to Europe to cover G8 meant nothing in particular to them, and they did not seem to be interested in its outcome at all. "What is this G8?" one old man asked me in a local pub - but not because he really wanted to know about the world's eight biggest economies, but just so the next round of beers was on me.