I’ve spent enough years sitting in dusty transit hubs in South Sudan to know that most journalists get it wrong. They flock to the capital, …
Covering Talks Where Everyone Briefs You
May 2026
What Life Expectancy Does Not Mean
I spent nine years in South Sudan and the DRC watching NGOs present glossy annual reports filled with massive, upward-trending graphs. They love to show …
Restricted Funding and What It Prevents
I once spent three days sitting in a dusty Land Cruiser outside a warehouse in Goma, waiting for a shipment of antibiotics that had been …
Aid Used to Reduce Migration
I remember sitting in a humid, windowless office in Goma, staring at a stack of signed manifests while a UN official droned on about “strategic …
Safe Third Country Agreements
I once spent three days idling on a dusty border crossing outside Goma, watching a shipment of temperature-sensitive vaccines sit under a relentless sun because …
Reporting a Ceasefire Both Sides Dispute
I remember sitting in a humid warehouse outside Goma, listening to the radio chatter while staring at a stack of signed manifests that didn’t match …
Externalising Asylum Processing
I spent nine years watching supply chains crumble in the DRC, and if there is one thing I learned, it’s that people love to argue …
Localisation and the Funding That Did Not Move
I remember sitting in a humid, corrugated-metal office in Goma, staring at a glossy, twenty-page strategy document from a donor in Geneva. It was filled …
What Declaring a Famine Means
I remember sitting in a dusty office in Goma, staring at a glossy brochure that used the word “catastrophe” fourteen times but didn’t mention a …
The Refugee Convention’s Core Obligation
I’ve spent enough years sitting in humid, makeshift offices in Goma to know that people love to talk about the “sanctity” of international treaties. They …