NBC’s Richard Engel Heads to Somalia to Cover Famine

By Alex Weprin 

NBC News chief foreign affairs correspondent Richard Engel, along with cameraman Bredun Edwards, have traveled to Somalia, where they are reporting on the devastating famine. Engel is the second high-profile U.S. correspondent to travel to Somalia in recent weeks, joining ABC’s David Muir, who was in the region in late July.

Both ABC and NBC have had correspondents in the region reporting on the famine since early July.

On cable, CNN’s Nima Elbagir has been in the region since early July as well.

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Engel spent some time in Somalia last year, reporting on militant activity in the region:

“There’s nothing. There are not even ambulances….There’s not a streetlight in the country,” Engel said of Somalia’s complete lack of infrastructure at the time. It’s the kind of environment that can be incredibly challenging for a reporter, a cameraman, and a producer.

“You have to approach it like you are reporting on the moon,” he says. “You have to be self-sufficient.”

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