Mary Harper

Mary Harper
Mary Harper is the BBC’s Africa Editor. She has reported on Africa for the for three decades and has a special interest in the Horn of Africa, especially Somalia, where she spends much of her time.
Much of her work focusses on violent radical Islam in Africa, and sea piracy off its shores. Much of her reporting has been from war zones including Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Liberia and the two Congos.
Mary is the author of Everything You have Told me is True: The Many Faces of Al Shabaab and Getting Somalia Wrong? Faith, War and Hope in a Shattered State. She has written for The Economist, Granta, The Guardian, The Times and The Washington Post and is a regular speaker and moderator at universities, conferences and literary festivals.
She is an expert witness in Somali-related legal cases and is a fellow of The Rift Valley Institute and The Heritage Institute for Policy Studies. Mary has degrees from Cambridge University and the School of Oriental and African Studies.
You can follow Mary on Twitter @mary_harper and visit her website www.maryharper.co.uk