A dozen Francophone journalists recently completed training in the intricacies of trial coverage during a two-week program organized by the Hirondelle Foundation of Switzerland.

The journalists were trained specifically for coverage of proceedings of the International Criminal Tribunal on Rwanda, which are under way in Arusha, Tanzania. The United Nations established the tribunal to try suspects in the 1994 Rwandan genocide during which at least half a million ethnic Tutsis and moderate ethnic Hutus were slaughtered.

French-speaking journalists from Tanzania as well as Burundi, Rwanda and elsewhere in Central Africa took part in the program that ended October 22, according to Frederic Blassel, project manager for Hirondelleнs Information, Documentation and Training Agency on the tribunal in Arusha.

мAnother training course, for English speakers, is to take place in Arusha next spring,о Blassel said in a recent communication by electronic mail from Arusha.

Program participants learned to report on court proceedings and familiarized themselves with international law, particularly with regard to genocide and crimes against humanity. They also met with lawyers and court officials.

Laity Kama, a Senegalese magistrate who presides over one of the Arusha trial chambers, told the journalists: мThe court needs you.о According to a Hirondelle Foundation report, Kama also encouraged the journalists to be objective but to hold nothing back in their coverage of the Arusha proceedings. The institutions of journalism and the news media are often condemned to get along in an atmosphere of mistrust, but the seminar broke barriers on both sides, said Philippe Dahinden, a Swiss journalist and an official of Hirondelle Foundation. мCohabitation is possible,о he said.

Hirondelle Foundation was established by Swiss journalists in March 1995 to supply impartial, independent news to people caught in the grip of conflicts or natural disasters. For more information on Hirondelle and the tribunalнs proceedings, visit Hirondelleнs web site at http://www.hirondelle.org.Or contact Fondation Hirondelle, 3, Rue TraversiЛre, CH 1018-Lausanne, Suisse (Switzerland). Tel: (41-21) 647-2805. Fax: (41-21) 647-4469. E-mail: info@hirondelle.org, editor@hirondelle.org.