The New York Times has for the first time in 10 months named an East Africa correspondent, following controversy surrounding publishing of gory images taken at Dusit D2 hotel.
Kenyans on Twitter accused the world's biggest publication of insensitivity after publishing the photos taken at the hotel in which Al-Shabaab militants killed over 21 people.
And now, New York Times has appointed Mr Abdi Latif as the East Africa correspondent, who will be reporting from Nairobi. Previously, Kimiko Tamura worked as correspondent but she was at the center stage of the gory images controversy.
"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," the publication said.
"Abdi has covered China’s deepening reach into Africa, the political transitions in Ethiopia and Sudan, and the intersection of technology and geopolitics Besides his work in East Africa, Abdi has reported from Egypt and Nigeria, covered the United Nations General Assembly and written from Minnesota about the surge of the Somali political class there during the 2018 midterm elections in the United States."
Abdi was born in Nairobi and grew up partly in Mogadishu, the Somali capital. He has written about his love for Somalia and the pain of losing loved ones there in violent attacks by extremists.
He began his career nearly a decade ago covering business and technology for the Daily Nation, in Kenya, and 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.
After the Dusit D2 terror attack, Kenyans demanded that New York Times pull down the photos. They also demanded immediate sacking of Kimiko Tamura, who had been appointed East Africa Bureau Chief.
“The Times remains committed to covering Kenya and East Africa. We are responding to the complaint made to the Media Council concerning the photographs used in our coverage of the terrorist attack."
However, following the backlash from Kenyans on Twitter and the Media Council of Kenya over her Riverside attack article, the NYT correspondent recently changed her title.
It now reads: “Foreign Correspondent at The New York Times.” When reached for comment, Kimiko de Freytas-Tamura did not respond to Citizen Digital.
A quick search on her Twitter bio on Tuesday further showed that Kimiko Tamura is still a New York Times reporter. It doesn't specify her jurisdiction though.