“I will like you to write more about Africa in your journalism work, even if you criticize African countries, don’t be afraid, don’t insult African countries but you have to introduce situations in African countries to your audience,” Mr Haggag told young journalists attending a 20-day training workshop in Cairo, capital of Egypt.

The journalists are drawn from 22 African countries, including Ghana, Burkina Faso, Sudan, Egypt, Gambia, Niger, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Southern Sudan, Angola, Congo, Senegal, and South Africa. The others are Cote d' lvoire, Uganda, Djibouti, Tunisia, Namibia, Nairobi, Lesotho, Botswana and Gabon.

He said it was incumbent on all Africans to acquaint themselves with the happenings in Africa, and charged journalists to at least remind their audience about Africa’s achievements and failures, and how the continent could develop.

Mr Haggag, who is Egypt’s former Ambassador to Kenya, reiterated “don’t be afraid to criticize even my own country Egypt, don’t insult it, but criticize it,” he said, and advised the young journalists to be objective in their reportage.

“Please write about Africa, write about African countries, write about major power policies in Africa, write about the United Nations in Africa, the European Union in Africa, the oil cites in Africa, write about what is happening in major cities in African countries, try to cover African summits,” he insisted.

He entreated the young journalists to create network of relations among themselves to enable them cooperate and share information about various happenings in their respective countries.

He observed that many people were sceptical about the performance of the African Union (AU), and said “they consider it as a club of Heads of State, they come and speak and nothing is being implemented, but I do think that they are doing not a very good job, but a good job,” he added.

Mr Haggag implored young African journalists to take advantage of the AU Day celebrated on May 25 every year, to write what they think about the performance of the AU, whether their presence was costing Africa lots of money, and how it could be improved.

He said it was important for journalists to investigate and report on how the Arab could cooperate with Africa, “you should not forget that eleven African countries are members of the AU, and they were founders of the Organization of the African Unity, and I think almost all Arab countries have pledged certain amounts of assistance to Africa.”

Mr Haggag disclosed that Egypt had 15,000 African students in universities and other educational institutions who were enjoying free education, as compared to Africans in the United States of America who were paying high fees for education.