As a young
freelance journalist based in Ethiopia, Rageh Omaar would sit
in the cafes of the capital Addis Ababa and listen to Fergal
Keane on the radio, wondering whether one day he could fill
Keane's shoes as the BBC's Africa correspondent.
Ten years on and the wheels of destiny have turned full
circle. Next month, 34-year-old Omaar's dream - one that he
likened to standing at the foot of an enormous mountain - will
come true when he is posted to Johannesburg to take over from
Allan Little, who in turn took over from Keane as the BBC's
face for Africa. Not only will Omaar be one of the youngest
journalists to be appointed to such a senior BBC posting, but
his return to Africa will mark something of a homecoming.
Omaar, currently the corporation's developing world
correspondent, is African.
Born in Somalia but educated in England, Omaar is one of a
new generation of journalists on whom director-general Greg
Dyke is resting his hopes of ensuring that the BBC strikes a
chord with its global audience. His appointment comes ahead of
a BBC drive to get more Africa-based stories on air.
To cover Africa - a continent of more than 50 countries
with a rich and hugely diverse range of cultures and religions
- is one thing, but to break out beyond the usual round of
stories on war, famine and political instability that typify
so many broadcasts from Africa is quite another.
The drought in the Horn of Africa, the strife in Zimbabwe,
Aids, and the recent court cases against the drug companies in
South Africa are just some of the recent stories to have made
headlines in the west. As a news reporter Omaar will have to
report on daily events, but the BBC will expect him to explore
subjects beyond the headlines and to connect with the growing
number of Africans who receive the BBC through its satellite
channel, BBC World, and the World Service.
"If all you are interested in is the dramatic and the
extraordinary then your reports will be dominated by war and
famine. It doesn't mean I'm going to be some sort of
cheerleader for good news stories, but it is important that we
report different stories from Africa. If we don't do that,
we'll simply end up as agents reinforcing
Afro-pessimism," says Omaar.
Helping him to get behind the headlines will be another
young African, local South African journalist Milton Nkosi,
who takes over as the BBC's bureau chief in Africa. Up to now
Nkosi, along with many other locally hired staff worldwide,
have been fixers, drivers and runners to the BBC's pool of
London-based correspondents. Rarely do they make it to the
top.
Nkosi's appointment, therefore, signals a break from the
past; an acknowledgment that Africans who have been the eyes
and ears of correspondents such as Keane, Little and George
Alagiah are every bit as good, if not better, than the British
editors who work their way up through Television Centre before
being posted abroad.
Adrian Van Klaveren, head of newsgathering at the BBC, says
that the technical training required for the job and an
intimate knowledge of the BBC's working practices have been
the main obstacles to taking on "local" journalists
in the past. He welcomes Nkosi's appointment, which he refers
to as a "major achievement". He says: "To get
someone who can get beneath the skin of a story while at the
same time remaining objective is a distinct advantage."
A story by Omaar and Nkosi on Mozambique five months after
the floods was up for an award at the Baftas, and the pair
hope to continue in the same vein with stories examining
issues that concern Africans as much as anyone else. Omaar
says: "Issues such as globalisation, debt, health and the
environment affect people at all levels of society." They
are also, he says, issues that trigger the type of conflicts
that all too often are part of Africa's political landscape.
Take for example, the impact that the diamond trade, and the
scramble for wealth it prompted, has had on Sierra Leone.
Call it youthful idealism, but Omaar is determined to
dispel what he regards as some of the most enduring
stereotypes of Africa by following the examples set by
journalists such as Sam Kiley, former Africa correspondent of
the Times, Chris McGreal of the Guardian and Little, who have
avoided falling back on the thematic cliches that dog so many
African reports. He wants to guard against the type of
journalism where correspondents parachute in to a story, take
a look, go back to their hotels to file and then leave on the
next plane.
There is little danger of that as Omaar's relatively short
but eventful career has shown. As the BBC's correspondent in
Jordan, he spent months doggedly trying to reopen contact with
Saddam Hussein's regime in neighbouring Iraq. His persistence
paid off in November 1997 when he was the only BBC
correspondent allowed to report from Baghdad during the tense
weeks of confrontation between UN weapons inspectors and Iraq.
Six months later, along with a BBC producer and a cameraman,
he was arrested by the Yemeni authorities while on assignment
for the BBC2 series Correspondent. By the time of their
subsequent trial and release, Omaar was well on the way to
making a name for himself.
As he prepares to take up his post, Omaar hopes that he
will be able to "engage" the world's attention in
Africa. The nightly vigil at the TV screen of his family -
diplomats, businessmen and human rights lawyers - as well as
friends in Africa will, he believes, keep him in check. As he
says: "I don't want to be the one who captures the best
picture of the baby dying and rule that as success. I couldn't
look at myself in the mirror in the morning."
