• His appointment comes months after former Bureau Chief Kimiko de Freytas-Tamura's contract was revoked over insensitive reporting during the Dusit D2 attack on 14 Riverside Drive, Nairobi.
•Besides his work in East Africa, Dahir has reported from Egypt and Nigeria, covered the United Nations General Assembly.
The New York Times has appointed a Kenyan as the first African to report for East Africa.
Abdi Dahir ,was born in Nairobi and raised partly in Mogadishu, the Somalia capital.
In a tweet on Monday by the American publishers, Dahir is joining the times in Nairobi from Quartz Africa, where he has served for three years as East Africa reporter.
“We are excited to announce our first new correspondent: Abdi Latif Dahir is joining The Times in Nairobi from Quartz Africa, where he has served for three years as East Africa reporter, ” reads the tweet.
His appointment comes months after former Bureau Chief Kimiko de Freytas-Tamura's contract was revoked over insensitive reporting during the Dusit D2 attack on 14 Riverside Drive, Nairobi.
Jeffrey Gettleman, the current South Asia bureau chief, was previously the East Africa bureau chief from 2006-2017.
He is the author of "Love, Africa," a memoir about his experiences in Africa.
CAREER JOURNEY
Dahir began his career nearly a decade ago covering business and technology for the Daily Nation.
He went on to write about the Horn of Africa region for various news outlets, including Africa Review, The East African, United Press International and Al Jazeera English.
Dahir has covered China's deepening reach into Africa, the political transitions in Ethiopia and Sudan, and the intersection of technology and geopolitics.
International Editor Michael Slackman said Dahir's news coverage is of particular interest to the journalistic ambitions of The Times right now
"He has written about how companies and innovators are shaping industries, from agriculture to art. In between, he’s brought readers insightful stories about African culture, literature and food," Slackman said.
Besides his work in East Africa, Dahir has reported from Egypt and Nigeria, covered the United Nations General Assembly.
He has also written from Minnesota about the surge of the Somali political class there during the 2018 midterm elections in the United States.
He speaks Somali, Arabic and Swahili and earned a Master’s degree from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.
In his spare time, he likes reading about African, Middle Eastern and Islamic history, as well as contemporary fiction and nonfiction.
Dahir takes up his new assignment in November.