On the eve of the third millenium, marked by the failure of totalitarian socialist doctrines and ideologies which have shown everywhere in the world and particularly in Africa their incapacity to promote human rights and economic and social development, Liberalism which was formerly rejected and fought by most of the african regimes and political leaders has now established itself as the only political and economic system that can assist the African continent to overcome its profound political, economic and social crisis.
The situation in Africa will be catastrophic for the future if the current trends are not changed and if appropriate measures are not taken.
In this context of crisis and doubt where everything seems uncertain, where theories and strategies of African development are questioned, it is important for the African liberal parties to break with political and economic models that are imposed from abroad and which in the recent past have shown to be disastrous for the continent and have caused desillusion and frustration among the African population.
For the Conference of Dakar, this willingness to breakwith the past, is a new departure for the Panafrican Liberal Movement which has taken upon itself the defense of a vision of African liberalism within the global tradition of liberal thought.
This is why in order to promote liberalism on this continent, the Conference of Dakar wishes to elaborate a liberal vision for Africa, so that the adhesion to political and economic liberal philosophy is not simply a historical and economic one but moreover an expression of truly autonomous thought which allows Africans to develop and define their future, the African model of state and nation (including their institutions) and which reflects at the same time the history and culture of its peoples and societies as well as its own vision of the future and of the world.
This new initiative also implies that panafrican liberalism has to rethink the model of African development, its strategies and instruments and especially the role and the place of different actors of development such as the state, business, the population and their external partners.
For the Conference of African Liberal Parties, only this reflection and this attempt to conceptualise liberal thought for Africa taking into account African economic specifics, will allow our continent to take its place in the new international division of work and also to play its role in the dynamics of globalisation so that this will not merely reflect the vision of the western world.
Indeed, Africa today in developing its future, should not forget its own history, contradictory and painful as it may be, which at certain times created flourishing civilisations, since the empire of Méroé which inspired the Egypt of the pharaos until precolonial civilisations. Neither should it neglect the forces that fight and resist oppression and poverty, hunger, war, unemployment, illiteracy, illness, the crisis of the education system and of tradition moral values which are the expression of misrepresentation of democracy and of bad governance in our continent which is for all the world to see.
The Conference of African Liberal Parties in Dakar draws the attention of African political leaders to the difficulties of state building in Africa and on the consequences of bad governance on the continent. These problems demand urgent solutions from the Liberals who founded their International fifty years ago.
This is why we, the Liberal Parties of Africa, meeting in Dakar 24th to 26th October, 1996 together with the Executive Committee of the Liberal International, aware of the urgency to take up the challenges of the construction of the state which conditions the survival of Africa, but also of the material and moral potentials of our peoples, adopt the following solemn declaration.
As regards the political system that is the basis of the contruction of our states we reaffirm our commitment to the values and ideals of the liberal political philosophy and we engage ourselves in consolidating peace, in reducing interior tensions in our states and in their relations, to develop democracy by installing in our own countries the rule of law and its institutions.
We commit ourselves to protect the respect for human beings and their liberties so that Africa will no longer be exemplary for the worst violations of human rights.
As regards the conquest, the conservation and the devolution of power, while respecting the legitimate ambitions of political parties, we recognise only one rule, namely the popular will, freely and democratically expressed according to clearly defined, transparent and accepted rules. During election periods their application must be guaranteed by an independent control institution.
We commit ourselves to respect and to make our states respect integral political and syndical pluralism; to guarantee the freedom of opinion, of conscience and of press; to protect minorities of whatever nature.
We commit ourselves to stop the isolation of Africa by assuring the free circulation of goods, services and persons; and to establish operational and effective institutions of political and economic integration.
As regards the evolution of the internal and external economic environment of Africa, the Conference of African Liberal Parties is aware that all projections show the marginalisation of Africa in the 21st century. This manifests itself already in the flow of global exchange, in capital movements in general and particularly in direct external investements; in the exacerbation of competition as a mechanism of allocation and redistribution of riches between continents and nations at the global level.
In relation to the economic international context, the Conference of Dakar underlines the necessity for Africa to elaborate a strategy that allows the continent to master its economic development. Therefore, the Liberal Parties of Africa suggest three types of actions:
Although the Conference of Dakar supports the process of economic liberalisation conceived by the programmes of structural adjustments in order to free creative potential and to give the private sector the largest possible room for initiative, we do not condone weakening of African states which results from ill-conceived disengagement, privatisation and deregulation.
The African Liberal Parties affirm that the development of the private sector is not incompatible with the strengthening the role of the state in the creation of necessary conditions so that the mechanisms and forces of the market will take a decisive place in economic regulation.
The narrowness of the base of African capitalism and the weakness of the private sector in the continent still require a presence of the state as a regulator of economic life.
For the African Liberal Parties the bankruptcy and inefficiency of African States in the past must be considered to be a product of a particular historical development. The experience of other developing regions has shown that political change can lead to greater efficiency of the state. Thus the necessity to admit that African states in the process of adjustment, actually weakened, inefficient, resourceless, cannot solve their problems whatever the quality of the solutions.
The African Liberal Parties commit themselves, before the end of this century, to transmit to future generations an Africa which has a solid basis to guarantee its continual progress, a self-assured Africa resolutely turned towards the future and assured to take its place in the world in the third millenium.
Dakar, 24 October 1996
