Accra, Nov. 21, GNA - The General Secretary of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Mr Bright Blewu is attending the first congress of the Federation of African Journalists (FAJ) in Nairobi, Kenya.

Blewu left Accra on Thursday for the two-day congress, which began on Friday. The congress is being organised under the auspices of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the biggest journalists' union federation in the world, with representation of more than 500,000 journalists from over 115 countries including 35 from Africa. A statement signed by Dave Agbenu, Organising Secretary of GJA, said the congress would give priority to the urgent need for trade union development and solidarity with journalists unions and associations in Africa, many of which are facing terrible conditions in their operations. The Nairobi congress is the first working programme of the FAJ formed after a meeting of African member unions and associations of IFJ at their regional conference in Abuja, Nigeria last November. The meeting proposed the formation of the FAJ to act as the continental body of journalists' trade unions in the media industry in Africa The statement said Mr Agbenu would hold the fort in the absence of the substantive General Secretary.