The sixth general assembly of EBU sister body the African Union of Broadcasting (AUB) has closed in Dakar with a special tribute to one of Africa’s pioneering women journalists.

During the closing ceremony, 86-year-old Senegalese writer and journalist Annette Mbaye d’Erneville was honoured as West Africa’s first, pre-independence female journalist, and educator of numerous leading African broadcast executives.

In addition, the AUB and a FIFA delegation signed a contract for media rights to the Rio 2014 World Cup.

Held under the message “Let’s preserve broadcasting spectrum”, the AUB general assembly gathered 70 delegates from 23 African nations, as well as media executives from Europe and the USA.

The final day of the meeting (March 19) focused on gender equality in the media, with seven African broadcasters participating in a UNESCO-backed study on the issue.

During the two-day assembly, which was opened by Senegal's Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Cheik Mamadou Abiboulaye Dieye, the AUB also partially renewed its governing bodies.

AUB President Tewfik Khelladi, who is Director General of Algerian Television, was confirmed for a second term, while the Directors General of GBC (Ghana), ORTM (Mali) and TPA (Angola) became his vice presidents.

The assembly also approved the Multimedia Exchange Network Over Satellite (AUB-MENOS) system, a news and programme exchange project, under which the first terminal was installed in the Radio Television of Senegal (RTS) offices.