Homecoming

When the reporter becomes the story, it's bad enough. If the Editor becomes the President, there may be a few questions to ask of the BBC.

Yusuf Garaad Omar was, until this month, the Editor of the BBC's Somali Service - he's worked at Bush House since 1991. Now he's resigned and returned to his birthplace, Mogadishu, to run for the presidency. There are those who say Somali listeners will not have been surprised. Certainly the BBC heritage featured heavily in the backdrop for his campaign launch - and there was a reasonable crowd to greet him on his airport arrival.

There are some 35 candidates in the race, and the election is currently "delayed". The decision lies not with ordinary Somalis, but the new Parliament - whose MPs were "selected", not elected.  A vote could come anytime in the next couple of weeks.