Experience: I was held hostage for a year

As a conflict journalist, I was aware of the dangers – but nothing prepares you for the mental trauma I arrived in Mogadishu as a conflict photojournalist in 2008. Years of civil war had left the Somali capital in tatters. As rival factions continued to fight for power, hundreds of thousands had been forced from their homes. I’d arranged to visit a camp for displaced people, joined by a Canadian journalist named Amanda. The camp was in a militia zone, so we took two armed guards, but they soo...

By Nigel Brennan