WITNESS: Chase for the news can take a while in Africa

Alistair Thomson has been a Reuters correspondent in Africa for eight years, covering everything from military coups to commodities markets. A British citizen, he has worked for Reuters in London, Brussels, Ivory Coast and South Africa, and is now based in Dakar, Senegal. In the following story, he recounts his slow race across the continent to cover rebel fighting in Chad.

By Alistair Thomson

N'DJAMENA (Reuters) - When rebels entered Chad's capital, I was told to get there as quickly as possible.

Half a week later, at the end of a 2,000-km (1,250-mile) chase across central Africa by bus, train and taxi, the lofty promises of increased transport investment intoned at countless African summits rang very hollow in my head.

Africa usually hits the headlines for war or famine. But even the countries you don't hear so much about can be pretty dysfunctional, and air links are pitiful.

So early last month I left home in Senegal before dawn to fly -- not east towards Chad, where the rebels were battling loyalist troops -- but north to Morocco, with no prospect of an onward flight until midnight.

After another long flight, I saw the sun rise in Douala, in Cameroon, which borders Chad far to the north. I finally felt I was getting somewhere, only to find out commercial flights to N'Djamena were still suspended.

A newspaper colleague had secured a place on a cramped charter flight, but it was full.

"You want to go to N'Djamena? There are problems there," exclaimed Valdo, a youth who spends his days at Douala airport sipping coffee and helping out foreigners for a little cash.