“That is not the reality that I have seen,” Esther Garvi (The Famine Scam) The Norwegian documentary The Famine Scam recently received the top Norwegian journalism award for its “extensive research” and “critique of power”. Here is a translation of the article entitled “Critique of Power”, published by Journalisten on May 6th 2009. Award for [...]

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If you happened to miss the Niger famine drama that took place in 2004-05 on International Television, you can now watch the documentary about it, entitled The Famine Scam, on YouTube. The Famine Scam (2008) The main protagonists in this story involve 1 – The Media (in particular, the BBC) who claimed that one third [...]

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The Famine Scam (2008) – as the outside world remembers Niger in 2005 A documentary broadcast on Swedish public television on Tuesday called into question the reputation of Britain’s public broadcaster, the BBC, for filing misleading and inaccurate reports about the severity of a food shortage in Niger in 2005. The SVT report showcased efforts [...]

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As most of you already know by now, Mirriah is one of my favourite places in Niger. It is an old village with an ancient heritage, rich in century old Baobab trees and known for its vegetable gardens. Situated 20km from Zinder, it is a place I love to go to for a Sunday excursion, [...]

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I just read a BBC article where a large aid organization (in this case, Care International) still refers to the Niger Famine Scam as valid information. In my heart, I will never be able to understand the aid industry, but if I follow its logic, here are some lessons to be learned: Assume that all [...]

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Cash handouts – the solution for West Africa or another way of keeping the aid circus running? IRIN (Integrated Regional Information Networks), which is part of the UN but supposedly editorially independent, recently published an article about aid and cash handouts, entitled “West Africa: Do high food prices warrant a cash response?” Experts say many [...]

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As many of you know by now, Niger is in the middle of its yearly three month long rainy season. According to the unofficial aid calender, this time of the year (up until the millet harvest in October) is considered the true “hunger season”, and yet Niger’s nature’s pantry is (as always) in full bloom. [...]

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I recently learned that on September 11th 2008, Jan Egeland will interestingly enough be holding a speech in Norway relating to the ‘strengths and weaknesses’ of journalism: Role of the press; war/conflict/emerging nations Jan Egeland, (Norway), former chief of United Nations Humanitarian Division has been followed by journalists for years. He will do a speech [...]

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For all those into the Famine Scam debate, here’s an article by the Guardian, published on July 1st, entitled: BBC in dispute with Norway’s TV2 The controversy surrounds BBC refusing Swedish TV4 the rights to show their footage earlier this year. A few reactions to the Guardian article are: The battle between public broadcasters – [...]

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The following chronical was originally published in Bergens Tidende on april 28th. Entitled “Apologize, Egeland”, it was my response to Jan Egeland’s dead silence concerning his dealings with the Niger 2005 famine scam, a “famine” he was so involved with that he credited himself for having solved the entire issue. With Egeland having recently visited [...]

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Copyright Eden Foundation I hear aid workers in town talking about the need for emergency food operations in Niger again, and on UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund site, I read the following about Niger’s current state: Almost 30% of the population is in need of emergency food aid CERF 2008 And there we go again… [...]

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The Norwegian documentary Sultbløffen is on the move. It will air on the Swedish channel TV4 on Sunday 7.20 pm. Here is a rough translation of what they write: Norwegian TV2: ”The famine in Niger exaggerated” Summer 2005 During the summer of 2005, a tragic drama unfolded on our TV screens. A documentary produced by [...]

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One of the people I met in the TV2 Tabloid debate last Tuesday (5th of March) was Petter Eide, Secretary General of the Norwegian People’s Aid. I had seen him earlier that morning, when he publicly vouched for the professionalism and the good intentions of the large aid organizations. I was sitting a few rooms [...]

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I slept one hour last night, but I’m doing well. Had to be up at half past five, in order to appear live at quarter past seven this morning on God morgen Norge. It was a nice brief chat with Signe Tynning and Nils Gunnar Lie and I am left wondering what Norway is thinking. [...]

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Norwegien Dagbladet came out with an article about the documentary that will air this evening. This roughly translates to: Egeland accused of bluffing about starvation By Cathrien Slaaen In the documentary The Famine Scam, former UN aid coordinator Jan Egeland, together with the BBC, are accused of informing the world about a famine in Niger [...]

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