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...with the Congolese commandos. On Saturday May 18, President Paul Kagame of Rwanda was invited to give the keynote speech at a conference at Oxford University.  Several protestors turned up, some in full military uniform. They ran about Oxford blowing plastic trumpets. They threw eggs and plastic water bottles at the glass-fronted Said Business School while Kagame gave his speech inside. After the speech, students of the business school presented Mr Kagame with the first ever Distinction of Honour for African Growth Award. This man told me he was a 'Congolese commando' and 'ex-FAZ' (Congolese army) The protestors described Kagame as the Guest of Horror  instead of Guest of Honour' You can read more about criticism of Kagame's visit (including from an Oxford don) in  this article. Anti Kagame protestor Kagame quoted lots of statistics in his speech I asked to interview President Kagame for the BBC. His press person sounded hopeful, but turned me down at the las...

I bumped into this pile of empty boxes in Brixton market in London. Just look how many countries they come from: The pile of boxes This one came all the way from Jamaica This vegetable box hadn't travelled far. It was from the UK. Columbian cassava I think these cucumbers were German Cyprus This fish came all the way from Yemen Ghanaian yams Green bananas (matoke) from Uganda Fruit from Pakistan Mangoes from the Dominican Republic British chicken

Here is a From Our Own Correspondent I did for the BBC about the 'real' Somalia Conference. You can listen to it  here . It's the one broadcast on 11 May 2013. (INTRODUCTION) On Tuesday May 7 2013, delegates from more than fifty countries and international institutions gathered at Lancaster House in London for a big conference on Somalia. It was hosted by the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, and the new Somali president  Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. The conference ended with donors promising support for efforts to transform Somalia from conflict-ridden ruin into a functioning nation state. But Mary Harper felt that it was another Somali event, also held in London, that deserved the attention: The day after the Somalia Conference. The heads of state had made their speeches. Hundreds of millions of dollars/ pounds of extra money had been pledged. The journalists had packed up their cameras and tape recorders. The cleaners were vacuuming the corridors of Lancaster House. But i...

The Africa Research Institute  is in a very handsome part of London, tucked away behind Smith Square in Westminster. Smith Square St John's, Smith Square I went there for the launch of its latest publication, which is called After Borama: Consensus, representation and parliament in Somaliland . The place was packed. Luckily everyone had name tags. The one that jumped out at me was 'Sir Edward Clay', who made quite a name for himself as British High Commissioner to Kenya (he was declared persona non grata  by the Kenyan authorities after he retired - it had something to do with his use of words like 'vomit' and 'gluttons'). The director of ARI, Edward Paice, thanked the panelists for coming, especially as they had experienced difficulties on their way to London. Somaliland's foreign minister, Mohamed Omar, had interrupted important meetings in Washington DC. Haroon Ahmed Yusuf - who works with Somaliland's women's network, Nagaad , had trouble wit...