There are several derelict airliners scattered like giant lawn ornaments around the fortified offices of African Express Airways in Nairobi. African Express is one of the few airlines still flying into Mogadishu – and the safest, according to my sources. “Forty years old but well-maintained” is how one editor described Express’s jets. Under normal circumstances, those lawn ornaments would have totally undermined my fragile faith in the airline, but I’m shacked up in a shabby little hotel in Nairobi on my way to Somalia, so circumstances are anything but normal. And for some reason I found the derelict airplanes comforting.
Maybe it’s the familiarity. Two years ago I barnstormed into northern Iraq aboard a Kurdish Airways flight, slamming onto the narrow airstrip nestled between mountain ranges just minutes before the border closed on account of election day security. This summer I spiraled into Kabul, Afghanistan, on an aged Airbus that sported patches on the fuselage and non-working seatbelts. The stewardesses were very nice, though.
Maybe it’s that seat-of-your-pants Third World air travel dispenses with the illusion that hurtling through the air in a big metal tube should ever be anything but miraculous and terrifying. There’s an honesty to it that you don’t find in the First World, and I dig it. I guess I’d rather be told point-blank that I could die at any moment than go through life in a constant state of denial about my own mortality.
“Don’t be daft,” a veteran Africa correspondent told us when he found out we were Mogadishu-bound. It was a sentiment echoed by several formerly Somalia-based Western reporters who have all fled to the relative safety of Nairobi to wait out the current troubles. Every reporter we’ve talked to has tried to talk us out of going. They seem to believe that working in Somalia is a death sentence. (Never mind that a Western journalist hasn’t died in Somalia since the summer of 2006: Iraq and Afghanistan are way more lethal.) My fixers, who live and work in Mogadishu every day, say we’ll be just fine if we keep our heads down and don’t do anything heroic. I trust their assessment enough to stake my life on it. And I can’t help but wonder if those Western reporters are like First World air travelers: in denial about their own mortality, committed only to doing what seems perfectly safe.
It’s ironic. The worse Mogadishu gets, the bigger news it is, and the fewer journalists are willing to go. Shouldn’t it be the other way around?
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Actually, yes, it should be. I’m glad someone (i.e. you) is going, though. Just stay safe.
Seriously, yes. Where’s Ryszard Kapuscinski when we need him?
Hey, David, hope you have a good time in Mog. I was there twice this year, for a total of almost four weeks. It’s a fun city. Where are you staying? I was interested to see your disagreement with my blog notes on security in the city. I haven’t been there since June this year, when we definitely needed security, even though it had to be a little more discreet than it was in January. If you can now work without technicals and gunmen, that’s excellent news. Best wishes and have a good trip.
[...] Related: Day One: “You Come to Africa, But You May Never Leave.” Day Two: Barnstorming! Day Three: Enclaves Day Four: Everybody Parley Down! Day Five: “I Quit!” Day Six: ”We’re Here and We’re Surviving.” Day Seven: Wise Old Children Day Eight: Riot! Day Nine: Gunfire Is Boring Day Ten: Bombs Are Boring Day Eleven: Games Kids Play Day Twelve: This Cash Is Broke Day Thirteen: Warlording 101 Day Fourteen: Arresting All the Wrong People Day Fifteen: U.S. Playing Both Sides Somalia pics Sounds of the Somali aid crisis Mogadishu’s wheeled battlecruisers Somalia’s mystery weapons A.U. Patrols Moga Sounds of African Peacekeeping No Comments so far Leave a comment RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI Leave a comment Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong> [...]
[...] Related: Day One: “You Come to Africa, But You May Never Leave.” Day Two: Barnstorming! Day Three: Enclaves Day Four: Everybody Parley Down! Day Five: “I Quit!” Day Six: ”We’re Here and We’re Surviving.” Day Seven: Wise Old Children Day Eight: Riot! Day Nine: Gunfire Is Boring Day Ten: Bombs Are Boring Day Eleven: Games Kids Play Day Twelve: This Cash Is Broke Day Thirteen: Warlording 101 Day Fourteen: Arresting All the Wrong People Day Fifteen: U.S. Playing Both Sides Day Sixteen: Back on the Air Somalia pics Sounds of the Somali aid crisis Mogadishu’s wheeled battlecruisers Somalia’s mystery weapons A.U. Patrols Moga Sounds of African Peacekeeping No Comments so far Leave a comment RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI Leave a comment Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong> [...]
[...] Related Day One: “You Come to Africa, But You May Never Leave.” Day Two: Barnstorming! Day Three: Enclaves Day Four: Everybody Parley Down! Day Five: “I Quit!” Day Six: ”We’re Here and We’re Surviving.” Day Seven: Wise Old Children Day Eight: Riot! Day Nine: Gunfire Is Boring Day Ten: Bombs Are Boring Day Eleven: Games Kids Play Day Twelve: This Cash Is Broke Day Thirteen: Warlording 101 Day Fourteen: Arresting All the Wrong People Somalia pics 7 Comments so far Leave a comment [...]