INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Doing what I do in the places I do it, I cannot be neutral on this one
I can be fair-minded yes, but neutral no
The bodies of dead friends get in the way
I saw Abdul Shariff gunned down before my eyes in South Africa in 1994
A bullet went through his back and dented the Nikon camera around his neck
I heard his cry of agony as the young men dragged him out of the line of fire
He was dead before he got to hospital
Gunmen had opened up on a group of journalists and politicians
I have mourned another friend, Kate Peyton, assassinated in Somalia in 1995
She was a lovely, decent human being, and a journalist of absolute integrity.
