Wer steckt hinter Somalia Report?
Die bestinformierte Quelle über Somalia und insbesondere über die Piraten in diesem Chaosstaat ist der Informationsdienst SomaliaReport. Es heißt, dass viele Geheimdienste einfach bei SomaliaReport abschreiben. Aber wer steckt dahinter? Ein Interview mit dem Besitzer Robert Young Pelton.
Pelton, 56, ist ein aus Kanada stammender Abenteurer und Kriegsjournalist. Er lebt in Südkalifornien und schreibt Bücher sowie für das National Geographic Adventure Magazine und andere Zeitschriften. Außerdem arbeitet er als Dokumentarfilmer (Mehr über Pelton).
Das Interview mit ihm führte ich per mail in zwei Fragerunden. Pelton (Foto) antwortete jeweils innerhalb kürzester Zeit - nicht übertrieben langatmig, aber durchaus auskunftsfreudig.
Who is behind SomaliaReport? I am
Who is the owner? I am
How many people are working for SomaliaReport? We have about 60 - 90 Somali’s that contribute news and insight.
Where are you based? Editorial is based in Nairobi, our people live in Somalia. I live in Southern California and commute to Somalia… as I am today. I am involved in a number of projects so its just one of my efforts.
What is the pupose of SomaliaReport? To provide information from inside Somalia from Somalis to the general public and professionals who cover or work in the region
When did you go public? About 7 months ago
Who is financing SomaliaReport? I am
How do you earn money? We will transfer into a subscription format before the end of the year. I have done similar profitable projects in Iraq and Afghanistan.
You seem to have close connections to puntland. Why? We have close connections in many places. We have people in Nairobi, Somaliland, Puntland and the central and southern area. Most of our news related to conflict comes form the south and most of the news related to piracy comes from the northeast. Somaliland in its peaceful state, simply doesn’t generate a lot of stories. We try to cover all of Somalia and news about Somali’s equally.
What was the most impressive scoop you ever had? We have had many exclusive scoops and been the first to break many stories but our focus is not on scoops but providing in-depth coverage that stays away from partisan issues. We tend to have very good information on al shabaab, contractors, pirates, NGO’s and politicians. We may even be the largest news service in Somalia. You will note my recent story on contractors in Mogadishu and our weekly piracy report. I would like to think that no other outlet provide this type of in depth knowledge.
Have you ever been threatend/attacked? Sure
