Hargeisa, 29 April 2009 (Somalilandpress) — Somali born Al Jazeera correspondent, Rageh Omar who rose to fame in 2003 for his distinguished coverage of the Iraq invasion for the BBC, flew back to Hargeisa after many years living aboard - to do a documentary film on displaced people from Somalia.

Somalilandpress’s correspondent, Mr. Abdiqani spoke with him briefly about his trip to Hargeisa.

SP: Thank you for allowing us to speak with you Rageh, welcome back home.

Rageh: It’s my pleasure.

SP: Can you tell us exactly, when you came and what brings you here?

Rageh: I came here yesterday, I went to a number of African countries, such as Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda and various other ones, the aim of my trip was to film a documentary that will explore many issues confronted by people who were recently displaced from Southern Somalia, after speaking to many of them in all those countries, it came to my mind then I should also add Somaliland where many of them came to seek better life.

As you see, I was just shooting with the lady and her vending kiosk, she was displaced from Southern Somalia, Mogadishu to be exact. This program will take over a long duration of time to make and will feature number of displaced Somalis around Africa, that’s why I’m here.

Rageh is a talented journalist who travels around the globe to cover different stories from different countries and continents. One of his famous programs is “The Witness” on Aljazeera.
Rageh Omar has not forgotten his roots and is known for his active roles in the Somali community inspiring many young Somalis, has close contact with his family here in Somaliland and around the world.His older brother, Muhammad Abdullahi Omar is Somalia’s current Foreign Minister, while his sister Rakiya Omar, is an activist in Somaliland and the Director of African Rights, a fifteen-year-old organisation, concerned with human rights’ issues in Africa.

This documentary film will be broadcasted on Al Jazeera’s Witness program.

Source: Somalilandpress

[Somalilandpress wishes to thank Rageh Omar for giving us the time to talk to him and wish him the best with his documentary and future projects, he is a true inspiration, we love what he is doing for the Somali people, we hope to meet him again in the near future].

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