My most miserable day
When asked about covering South Sudan and its journey to independence, a story that was largely reported as a positive event, photographer Goran Tomasevic had the following to say in a recent interview:
“Honestly, it was one of the most miserable days in my life. It was so disorganized.
The day before, there was still construction going on in the place where the Independence Day celebrations were to be held. Everyone had to queue for some press passes for maybe 3-4 hours but they gave press cards to NGOs and to everyone. Somehow, they managed to finish the construction but then totally screwed up with security in general. We didn’t know where to go. There were some stands up so we pushed here and there. They would kick us back and we would run around and they would pull us back again.
One moment, the bodyguards started to push everyone as they had invited so many people and they didn’t have seats for all of them. They weren’t hostile to the journalists but it was just so disorganized. It was so hot that there were people collapsing all around. I brought my water but there were no facilities anywhere – no toilets. The food was bad; everyone had problems with their stomachs. It was just a nightmare.”
Libya, Goran and the photo that went around the world
Chief Photographer Steve Crisp tells how this picture from Goran Tomasevic appeared Monday on front pages across the world.
“Goran, as ever, was up at first light and on the road heading south from Benghazi after the first night of western bombing. The Reuters multimedia team came upon a convoy of troops loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi who had been attacked. Goran carefully took up a position near the smoldering vehicles when munitions exploded and so was able to capture a wide selection of dramatic and iconic pictures. This coverage was the climax to Goran’s outstanding front line reporting from the rebel advance, retreat and western intervention.
His images scored an amazing number of online and newspaper front pages worldwide, with this defining moment published as widely as another historic Reuters war picture, a 2003 photograph of a U.S. soldier standing beside the toppled statue of Saddam Hussein – a picture also shot by Goran Tomasevic.”
For more information on Goran, here is a selection of his work with comments on Full Focus.
In Libya’s east, Gaddafi seen at “end of line”
BENGHAZI/TOBRUK, Libya, March 18 (Reuters) – The Libyan government’s ceasefire declaration on Friday was met by sceptism in the rebel-held east, where many dismissed it as a ruse and some saw it as a sign Muammar Gaddafi had reached a dead-end.
In a hotel lobby in Tobruk, a dozen men watched television in silence as Gaddafi’s foreign minister began a news conference in which he declared a halt to military operations which had resulted in a U.N. resolution against Libya on Thursday.
“See how things change from night to day,” said Ashraf Afgair, an unemployed man. “They are just trying to calm international opinion. It’s a desperate attempt by Gaddafi to cling to power,” he said.
Idris Khamis, a meteorologist, said: “They have reached the end of the line. That’s why they are accepting the U.N. decision. Otherwise it’s the same fate for Gaddafi as Hitler and Mussolini.”
In Benghazi, where the rebel movement is based, reports of continuing fighting in Ajdabiyah to the south fuelled scepticism of Gaddafi’s intentions.
“It’s just on TV. In fact he fights now in Ajdabiyah. He is trying to get more time. He is crazy and will fight till he dies,” said Salah Hussein, 42, a travel agent. Aisha Aftaita, a teacher, added: “Gaddafi is still firing and shooting. He didn’t stop. He is trying to take back Ajdabiyah. There is still heavy fighting there. He is trying to fool everyone.”
Libya said it would “deal positively” with the U.N. resolution. In a news conference broadcast live by Arab satellite channels, Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa also said the Tripoli government would respect human rights — a declaration that triggered cynical laughter from the viewers in Tobruk.
Libyans want rapid action after UN no-fly vote
SUSAH, Libya, March 18 (Reuters) – Supporters of Libyan rebels said on Friday they were impatient for action to follow up the U.N. resolution authorising a “no-fly” zone and military attacks on Muammar Gaddafi’s forces.
“It’s a great development. We are so thankful. Thousands came out last night, families, everyone celebrating. But we are waiting for it to be implemented. We are tired of talk,” said Rajab Mohammed al-Agouri who left Benghazi late on Thursday.
Travelling with five children, he was one of many Libyans who fled to Egypt after waiting weeks for the West to act on rebel pleas to ground Gaddafi’s warplanes and stop an offensive that has retaken swathes of rebel-held territory.
Some opponents of Gaddafi, while welcoming the resolution, said it should not be used to send in ground forces and warned it could inflame tension because Gaddafi loyalists have accused those backing the resolution of being foreign “lackeys”.
“The no-fly zone is a great decision. It’s there for the protection of women and children,” said Anis al-Majbouri, an accountant travelling from Egypt to his family in Benghazi.
“But no Libyan will ever accept foreign soldiers coming to protect us. The U.N. decision will make tension in the nation rise. The Gaddafi supporters will say ‘you’re traitors, collaborating with the foreigners’,” Majbouri said.
The U.N. Security Council passed a resolution late on Thursday endorsing a no-fly zone to halt government troops now 100 km (60 miles) from Benghazi, where the rebels have set up an informal administration, the Libyan National Council.
Inside the Afghan surge
It was 2 a.m., dark and freezing cold when the first wave of Marines dropped from the sky on Feb. 13 to begin the largest Afghan offensive since the start of the war. It was the US-led invasion of the Taliban stronghold of Marjah, in the mountainous Helmand province in southern Afghanistan.
U.S. Marine Lance Corporal Chris Sanderson, 24, from Flemington, New Jersey shouts as he tries to protect an Afghan man and his child after Taliban fighters opened fire in the town of Marjah, in Nad Ali district, Helmand province, February 13, 2010. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic
Serbian-born Reuters photographer Goran Tomasevic, 40, spent 10 days embedded with the First Battalion’s Bravo Company as it slowly advanced into Marjah, a smattering of small homes clustered together in groups — known as compounds — and local markets spread out across the desolate region. His photos capture the Marines, accompanied by a squad of Afghan soldiers, doing the grueling work of searching every house and rooting out Taliban snipers. The unit frequently encountered heavy enemy fire — one of Bravo Company’s soldiers was killed by a sniper on the operation’s first day.
U.S. Marines from Bravo Company of the 1st Battalion, 6th Marines climb a wall during an operation in the town of Marjah, in Nad Ali district of Helmand province February 16, 2010. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic
“The Marines are at a real disadvantage because they are extremely careful about civilian casualties,” Tomasevic said. “The Taliban fire all the time, but the Marines won’t shoot if they suspect there are villagers around. They are very restrained.”
Tomasevic, who’s been in Afghanistan 10 times covering the war, said the latest push showed signs of progress.
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