From Africa Recovery, Vol.14#4 (January 2001), Briefs page

Benin conference urges democratic consolidation

By Daniel Shepard

As demonstrators and political leaders were battling over the nature of democracy in nearby Côte d'Ivoire, representatives from 92 countries were meeting in Cotonou, Benin, for the Fourth International Conference of New or Restored Democracies on 4-6 December 2000 to examine ways they could strengthen their own democracies. Past meetings of these new democracies had been held in the Philippines, Nicaragua, and Romania, but this was the first time they met in Africa, a continent with many emerging -- though still fragile -- democracies. The UN, along with governments, donor agencies and other international organizations, helped in the organization of the conference, which called, among other things, for the UN to establish a focal point to help member states coordinate their efforts to consolidate democracy

Rejecting the notion that democracy is an alien concept to Africa, many of the participants at the Cotonou meeting emphasized the need to build on African democratic traditions in the context of present-day realities. To all those who may believe that Africa is not yet ready for democracy or that democracy is a foreign idea, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan responded with a proverb from his own country, Ghana: "One hand is not enough to decide." Africans, he said, "have much to learn from their own traditions, and something to teach others, about the true meaning and spirit of democracy." He added, "We need to understand that there is much more to democracy than simply holding elections and deciding fairly which candidate, or which party, has majority support."

"There isn't only an Africa that suffers and weeps," said the conference host, President Mathieu Kérékou of Benin. "There is also an Africa that is trying to stand, and that is teaching itself to advance down the road of democracy. She stumbles, hesitates, fumbles about, halts, and carefully advances. The march has started and will no longer be stopped."

Benin itself has been an example of this process. A decade ago, after 18 years of military rule, Mr. Kérékou was obliged to step down by a popular movement for democracy and make way for an elected government. After that government lost the voters' confidence, Mr. Kérékou returned to power, but as an elected civilian president. The new, more open atmosphere in Benin was exemplified during the conference itself, when an association of journalists from the private media sharply responded to remarks by the president criticizing the press. Before Benin's return to democracy, hardly any journalists would have dared to respond in such a way, for fear of imprisonment.

With democracy in Côte d'Ivoire under serious challenge, Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade -- himself a long-time opposition leader newly elected to the presidency -- had sharp words for Ivoirian leaders, saying that a failure to accommodate the opposition could trigger violence with "incalculable consequences." He stressed that the recent experience of Côte d'Ivoire "should encourage African politicians and foreign powers to reflect on the concept of compromise, as Ivoirian political players, like us all, have made mistakes."

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