July 16, 2011
From Our Own Correspondent
BBC
4.4 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 16 July 2011
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Could the Libyan rebels be poised to march on the capital Tripoli? Gabriel Gatehouse, who's been spending time with them near the coastal city of Misrata, doubts they have the capability for military victory; Andrew Hosken's just returned from Somalia where the rains have failed again, drought has taken hold and many people are in danger of starving to death; a battle between modernity and an older way of doing things is underway in the Indian state of Orissa and Justin Rowlatt's been finding out that in this case, the modern world might be about to lose out; Chris Simpson's in the Gambia where the president has made it clear that he has a low opinion of journalists -- the media people, on the other hand, complain of harrassment and worse. And from the Seychelles out in the Indian Ocean, a tale from Tim Ecott about the extraordinary coco de mer; a coconut tree with erotic connotations.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is from our own correspondent. We make an edition for the BBC World Service as well, |
| 0:05.2 | but this is a download of the latest Radio 4 programme and here to introduce it, as ever, Kate Adi. |
| 0:11.2 | Today, war famine, death and now pestilence too. The drought crisis worsens in the Horn of Africa. |
| 0:18.0 | An Indian tribe sends victory in a billion pound battle over a sacred mountain. |
| 0:23.0 | Reporters are warned about peddling lies. |
| 0:26.0 | It's not Fleet Street, it's in the Gambia. |
| 0:28.0 | And the strange events which can happen in the forests of the Seychelles on the night of a full moon. |
| 0:34.8 | But first, the United States and more than 30 other countries last night formally recognized |
| 0:39.6 | Libya's main opposition group as the nation's legitimate government. The move which came in Isth. is seen as a major boost |
| 0:42.5 | legitimate government. |
| 0:43.5 | The move which came in Istanbul at the end of a meeting of the |
| 0:46.7 | so-called contact group on Libya is seen as a major boost for the |
| 0:50.2 | rebels. |
| 0:51.2 | It's five months now since Colonel Gaddafi began his violent crackdown |
| 0:54.8 | against street protests triggering an armed revolt. But despite support from |
| 0:59.3 | NATO, the rebels are failing to make progress. This week there was mention again of a new rebel offensive, |
| 1:05.6 | but Gabriel Gatehouse, who's been talking to them |
| 1:08.2 | near the coastal city of Misrata, |
| 1:10.1 | says they don't appear to be a force capable of securing a military victory. |
| 1:15.0 | It's not often that you find yourself caught up in a real life metaphor that seems so ludicrously appropriate as to become almost a cliche. But that's exactly what happened |
| 1:25.3 | when on a recent trip to speak to the rebels about the stalemate on their front line, |
| 1:29.7 | our car got stuck in the sand. We'd been bumping our way along the dunes just inland from the coast. |
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