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Bye Bye Bush House
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Friday 15 June 2012 was the last day Focus on Africa was broadcast from Bush House, home to the BBC World Service for many decades. From now on it will broadcast from a modern building in another part of London. The building is known as 'W1' or 'New Broadcasting House'.
Here's a video of the closing moments of the programme. Lots of people came to watch including some of the brave correspondents who have reported for Focus on war in Sierra Leone, chaos in Nigeria and Museveni in Uganda.
One of those who made Focus what it is, the former Deputy Editor of the programme, Elizabeth Ohene, broadcast a farewell to Bush House. I recorded it from the noisy part of the studio, so you can hear some chatter and the presenter, Bola Mosuro, asking the producer some questions. You can hear it by clicking on this link: Elizabeth Ohene says goodbye
Studio manager gets Focus on air
The red light means Focus is live on air
We used to edit tape with razor blades on these machines
You can see the guests in the mirror. Bola Mosuro is presenting the programme.
The studio's many phones were colour coded
There was only one flag in the studio
There were lots of buttons in the studio
And lots of wires
The Focus trumpets are played from this machine
Elizabeth Ohene's piece was played from this machine
Under the studio desk
Recycling bin in studio
Non recycling bin in studio
Focus had a magazine, now it has a TV.
The picture frames are empty now
The Focus and Network office known as 334CB, Bush House.
We had a party to say goodbye
These strange signs have been appearing all over Bush House
The night sky outside Bush House
I worked at Focus for many years, in the 1990s and 2000s. We interviewed presidents, rebel leaders who became presidents, rebel leaders who went to prison, rebel leaders who died in battle, rebel leaders who died in plane crashes, presidents who went to prison...
Often, when something big happened in Africa, or someone wanted something big to happen in Africa, they would call us up asking to be interviewed. We did not always accept. There were sometimes heated debates about whether we should put someone on air.
Luckily we had an index which listed everything we had done by country, so we could quickly check whether we were giving the right amount of airtime (ie balance) to each side.
We reported on people living through genocide, carrying out genocide, having limbs hacked off, hacking limbs off. History unfolded in front of our eyes and in our ears.
We also reported positive things but were told off by our listeners for not doing enough of that.
When Somali piracy was at its height, I did a lot of reporting on the subject for the BBC. I spoke to lots of pirates and got to know people involved in trying to stop the problem, including British naval and other military personnel. They did a pretty good job - piracy dropped significantly in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden. But it increased in West Africa, and some of the people fighting Somali piracy moved to the other side of the continent. They very kindly gave the superb journalist Penny Dale and me wonderful access to what they, the Nigerian navy and others are doing. Here is a link to our documentary: Chasing West Africa's Pirates documentary And here are a couple of BBC Online pieces: Danger Zone Kidnapped Twice Here is the script of a From Our Own Correspondent I did on the subject: It may come as a surprise to hear that Somalia is no longer Africa’s worst piracy hotspot. They may not be the subject of Hollywood movies or adventure stories, but West African pirates hav...
People are asking where they can buy my book in Africa. Here's a list of some of the shops that are selling it. Somalia : The book is available in Mogadishu from Salim Stationary and Books, Dah abshiil building, opposite Maaliki General Trading, Ceelasha and Banadir Books, Kilometre 4. For further details phone the owner of the bookshops, Mohammed Mire on + 252 615 503 233 or +252 615 118 181. Kenya : It is available in Nairobi at Bookpoint, Books R Us, Westland Sundries, and Bookstop in the Yaya Centre. Tanzania : You can buy it in A Novel Idea in Dar es Salaam. It is also available on Amazon and directly from the publishers, Zed Books. Zed Books also recommends The Book Depository which doesn't charge for postage. It offers a good discount and sends books all over the world. Here is the link: http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/search?searchTerm=getting+somalia+wrong
Consultative Meeting of the Somali Signatories of the Process for Ending the Transition Addis Ababa, May 23, 2012: the Somali signatories of the process for ending the transition held a consultative meeting in The African Union Headquarters, from May 21 to May 23, 2012. The meeting was hosted by the African Union and facilitated by the Office of the UN Special Representative for Somalia (UNPOS). The meeting was attended by the signatories of the process for ending the transition, including HE Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, President of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG); HE Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden, Speaker of the Transitional Federal Parliament (TFP), HE Dr. Abdiweli Mohamed Ali, Prime Minister of TFG; HE Abdirahman Mohamed Mohamud (Farole), President of Puntland State; HE Mohamed Ahmed Aalim President of Galmudug State; Khaliif Abdulkadir Moallim Noor , Representative of Ahlu Sunnah Wal-Jama’a (ASWJ) and the UN Special Representative for Somalia (SRSG) Amb. Augustine Mahi...
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