How Kristof Gets It Done

I really like this short post by Nicholas Kristof on his blog. One of those rare instances in which a columnist of Kristof’s stature forthrightly tells how he actually obtains the stories like the genocide in Sudan.

I think many bloggers sometimes forget just how hard it is for real columnists like Kristof to do the heavy labor of primary research on the ground in hot spots around the world. We get to just sit back, comment, and critique. Kristof, by contrast, risks his very life to get the story.

Some journalists have asked me about how to get access to the Darfur story. So let me put down a how-to primer for access – the story writes itself, but the problem is getting there.

The basic choice is whether to go through Sudan or Chad. The advantage of Sudan is that then you get into the heart of Darfur and can interview at the big refugee camps like Kalma, home to 80,000 people. The disadvantage is that you’re tightly monitored, and it’s very difficult to get a visa and permits. The only real way to get in is to accompany a visiting dignitary and then stay behind afterward. The president of Slovenia and Jan Egeland of the UN are both planning trips and can take people with them.

The other choice is via Chad, which is better about giving visas and travel permits. I’ve done four trips via Chad so far, and two via Sudan. The advantage of Chad right now is that it’s where the story is: Sudan is mounting incursions into Chad and may soon launch a full-scale invasion….

At the moment, the best place to go from Abeche is due east about six hours to Adre. There you can stay in the Sac Dev compound for $4 per person per bed, or $2 for a space on the ground. Or UNHCR might let you stay in its compound, but there are no UN personnel in Adre – the entire region is a no-go area for the UN and most aid groups because of security problems. There’s also a possibility of an invasion from Sudan at any moment, and that would go right through Adre.

From Adre, you’re best off going south seven hours to Ade. The road is just a track on sand, and I got stuck a lot. There’s no traffic, and it’s eerie to pass the abandoned villages. We didn’t see Janjaweed, though we did see Janjaweed kids watching the livestock they had stolen.

In Ade, you can stay on the ground in the compound of the sous-prefet. Obviously, you’ll need a sleeping bag and your own food and water. There is a tap that works a few hours a day, though, for washing up. And the sous-prefet can give you advice about security – though I noticed that he said it would be safe to go to Koloy, even though he personally didn’t venture outside of Ade.

From Ade, it’s another few hours to Koloy, and that area is pretty wild. The Janjaweed are attacking villages daily. It’s a little unclear what the Janjaweed would do if they encountered Americans – my plan was to beam, step forward, and say that I was looking for them and wanted to interview them.

My interpreter thought that if they found us, they would kill him but kidnap us, because we represented potential ransoms (apparently the Janjaweed aren’t aware of the economic difficulties in the newspaper industry). Aside from the Janjaweed, there’s also random banditry, and of course a vehicle is worth a lot and quite an incentive for a bandit considering attack.

Beyond Koloy, it’s just impossible to travel. The Janjaweed completely control the area. You could return via Goz Beida, in the interior, and that would probably be safer, but I had to go back by the same route because of some people I wanted to see. In general, of course, wherever you are in the region, the rules are the same — don’t travel by night, try to travel in a convoy, and be very polite to drunk men with guns.

MSM: 1, New Media: 0.