EALA to hold Plenary in Bujumbura next week

President Pierre Nkurunziza of Burundi expected to address..

The East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) is expected to resume business next week by holding its Plenary Session in Bujumbura, Burundi. The Plenary which takes place from October 20^th  2013, through to November 2^nd, 2013 is the Second Meeting of the Second Session of the Third Assembly.
 
President Pierre Nkurunziza is expected to address a Special Sitting on Tuesday, October 22^nd, 2013 at the Burundi National Assembly.

The Assembly will be presided by the Speaker, Rt. Hon (Dr) Margaret Nantongo Zziwa, shall during the two-week period discuss matters of legislative business and the sitting expects to receive and debate reports of the Committees of EALA and pose questions to the Council of Ministers, debate Bills, and adopt Motions and Resolutions.

The Assembly is also expected to hold a meeting with the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) to review the state of conflict matters in the region. 

The East African Legislative Assembly is the Legislative Organ of the East African Community. Its Membership consists of a total of 52, of whom 45 are elected Members (9 from each Partner State) and seven ex-official members (the Ministers responsible for EAC Affairs from the Partner States, the Secretary General of the Community and the Counsel to the Community).

The East African Legislative Assembly has legislative functions as well as oversight of all East African Community matters.  The enactment of legislation of the Community is effected by means of Bills passed by the Assembly and assented to by the Heads of State, and every Bill that has been duly passed and assented to become an Act of the Community and takes precedent over similar legislations in the Partner States.  EALA has to date passed over 50 pieces of legislation.

EAC-GIZ to organize training on Conflict Sensitive Journalism for media practitioners from EAC Partners States

The East African Community (EAC) Secretariat in collaboration with the German International Cooperation Agency (GIZ) has organized training on Conflict Sensitive Journalism for media practitioners from EAC Partner States,  8^th -12^th November, 2013, in Bujumbura, Burundi.

The training is aimed at increasing awareness on conflict sensitive reporting and to nurture media practitioners who are able to contribute to peace-building efforts and resolution mechanisms in the region. The trained journalists  are expected to  act as catalysts among other media practitioners, on raising awareness of conflict sensitive reporting and able to drive the region’s peace and security objective as stipulated in the EAC Treaty.

‘’The training will enhance the capacity of journalists in the EAC countries on reporting on conflict-sensitive topics and related issues,’’ according to EAC Head of Corporate Communications and Public Affairs, Mr Owora Richard Othieno.

He added that the training would be attended by selected 30 journalists and editors. ‘’This is a unique training opportunity for journalists and editors in East Africa,’’ he added.

The training will precede the 2^nd EAC Conference on Peace and Security themed “Promoting a Culture of Dialogue and Tolerance for Conflict Prevention and Peaceful Co- existence” In Bujumbura 13^th - 15^th November, 2013. The trained journalists will be offered an opportunity to attend the conference and are expected to give wide coverage of the event.

The training is part of continuous efforts of the EAC Secretariat to enable journalists in the region to share the best practices and empowering the media to report as accurately and widely as possible in the regional integration process.

In addition, the training will also enable journalists to do networking with their colleagues in the region and as well as create a database of journalists knowledgeable and trained in conflict-sensitive journalism.