Before becoming Managing Editor of VOA News, veteran correspondent Alex Belida, who joined VOA in 1982, was assigned to the Pentagon, covering both the war in Iraq and the global war on terrorism, including the U.S. attacks against al-Qaida and the Taleban in Afghanistan and the 9/11 terror attack on the Pentagon itself. Before that, he spent nearly eight years in sub-Saharan Africa as a correspondent, based first in Nairobi (1993-1996) and then in Johannesburg (1996-2000). He covered conflicts and humanitarian crises in Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan, Burundi, Congo-Kinshasa and Congo-Brazzaville, northern Uganda, Angola and Lesotho as well as political unrest in Zimbabwe and catastrophic flooding in Mozambique. He suffered gunshot wounds while reporting in Somalia. While in Africa, he was elected Chairman of the East African Foreign Correspondents Association in Nairobi and served as Treasurer of the Foreign Correspondents Association of Southern Africa during his Johannesburg assignment. Before going to Africa in 1993, he served as VOA's Senior White House reporter for four years following stints as coordinator of VOA's 1988 Presidential Election coverage and as National News Editor. Before those Washington assignments, he was based in Germany, where he served as VOA's Soviet affairs, East-West security and German affairs correspondent (1982-1985). Before joining VOA in 1982, Alex worked for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in both New York and Munich, rising from reporter to Assistant News Director. Alex has a Bachelors Degree in Government from Trinity College, Hartford, Conn., and a Masters Degree in Journalism from Columbia University in New York. In 2006, he received the prestigious Alumni Achievement Award in journalism from Columbia. |
