Marrakech, 10 November, 2006 – The Congress of Liberal international, the world network of liberal and democratic parties, have urged African heads of state and government to adopt the proposed African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, which if adopted, will strengthen and promote development o the African continent. The call came on the eve of the formal opening of the 54th Congress of the organisation, in which the theme report was presented. It focused on the interdependency between liberal democracy and economic development and called for a renewed commitment towards poverty reduction, especially in Africa, Asia and Latin America .
In presenting the African perspective on the theme, Ibrahim Limpuba of Tanzania cited Mali as an example of a nation that has consolidated democracy and development over the past decade, he said:
‘If democracy can emerge and persist in an extremely poor, landlocked, overwhelmingly Muslim country like Mali , then there is no reason why democracy cannot develop in most other very poor countries.’
The report also warned that without a liberal democracy, many African nations will find it difficult to reduce poverty and attain the Millennium Development Goals. The report pointed to countries like Ghana , Botswana , Senegal , Mali , Benin , Cape Verde and Mauritius , as examples of nations that have thrived economically due to their democratic values and political pluralism. It also describes South Africa ‘s democratic development as nothing short of a miracle, whilst lamenting the fact that Zimbabwe has become the worse political and economic disaster in the region.
Five hundred delegates from Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America agreed that market-oriented reforms that have a support of the population require democratically elected governments.
The presentation was chaired by Juli Menoves-Triquell, Foreign Minister of Andorra, and presented by Martin Lee, leader of the Democratic Party in Hong Kong, Ibrahim Limpuba, chairman of the Civic United Front in Tanzania, and Richardo LoppezMurphy, leader of the Liberal party Recrear para el Crecimiento in Argentina.
