Egyptian government to train 20 African journalists

Stephen Ouma Bwire, general secretary of the Uganda Journalists Union on Tuesday, 30 November 2010, said Uganda's Francis Ogema Xavier, correspondent for New Vision newspaper was among the chosen twenty. Other beneficiaries are from Kenya, Tanzania, Senegal, Ethiopia and South Africa among others.

"Mr Ogema, the Uganda Journalists Union (UJU) regional coordinator for the Northern region, joins other journalists from 20 African countries, who will train in Mass Communication and International Relations," Bwire said in a statement. The one-month course starts on 2 December 2010 and ends in January 2011.

Organised by Union of African Journalists

The course is organised by the Cairo-based Union of African Journalists (UAJ) in conjunction with the Egyptian Information Ministry. According to UJU, Ogema is the 16th Ugandan journalist to receive the Egyptian scholarship under the partnership and is the fourth upcountry journalist to benefit from the programme.

Other Uganda journalists that have benefited from the programme are Patrick Alion who reports for Voice of Life, Ronah Ninsiima of Radio West, and Moses Lwochaza of Radio Simba.

Supporting journalists

The Egyptian ambassador to Uganda, Sabry Magby Sabry said his government would continue to sponsor Ugandan journalists to develop their professional careers: "We support training of journalists, an independent, free but responsible media that helps in developing the country."

Lucy Anyango Ekadu, president of UJU, commended the commitment to train Ugandan journalists. "UJU will continue to strengthen links and partnership with the Union of Africa Journalists to train more Ugandan journalists," she said.

Egypt's UAJ is one of the many institutions that support the development of Uganda journalists. Others include; The International Institute for Journalism /InWent in Germany, and the Thomson Reuters Foundation in the UK.