Despite Obama in Ghana, a Bad Month for African Democracy

President Obama's trip to Ghana was a celebration of African democracy. Similarly, Secretary Clinton's ongoing 7-country, 11-day trek across the continent will hit the democracy promotion theme, especially during her stop today in Nigeria.

But it's hardly been a good month for democracy in Africa:

• Congo. In the Republic of Congo, Denis Sassou-Nguesso won another seven years in office with 79% of the vote. Ok, they held an election, but Sassou has been in power since 1979 (except for 1992-97).


• Gabon. Next door in Gabon, Omar Bongo -- who was married to Sassou's daughter -- recently died after ruling that country for 42 years. But Gabon might not be looking at a new era. The ruling party just selected Bongo's son, Ali Ben Bongo, as their candidate to run in the upcoming August 30 elections.


• Niger. President Mamadou Tandja won a dubious 92% in a referendum to extend his term and remove term limits. If at first this sounds like a legitimate mandate, consider that the courts ruled the referendum illegal in June, so Tandja just dismissed all the judges. Yikes. Unfortunately, Tandja is far from alone in removing term limits.


• Mauritania. In a sad but little-reported event last month, General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz was elected president of Mauritania. The vote was so obviously suspicious that the electoral chief resigned and the opposition rejected the results. The real problem is that Mauritania already had a promising democracy before (who else?) General Aziz launched a coup last August. (Full disclosure: I was the State Dept lead for West Africa at the time of the coup and went to Nouakchott to lay down the U.S. position, so this one especially stings.) For an excellent article on the U.S. response to the coup, see this New York Times Magazine article.

Did I forget any setbacks?

 

Comments

[GOUAF]

06:55 PM on 08/28/2009

Where it really hurts is that in most of these countries, especially in Niger, Gabon, and Guinea (which wasn't mentioned in the article but really should be included in this list) there is a significant pushback by a nascent civil society that is hungry for progressive change but is having a real hard time getting noticed, let alone supported, by international actors. More on Sunday's election in Gabon here: youtube.com/watch?v=klxovvrcYJY

[RuthKatz]

01:33 PM on 08/28/2009

A little more on Gabon, where I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in the early 80's: The presidential election in Gabon is this Sunday, August 30th. We've heard little about it in the American press despite the fact that our Secretary of State was just on a 7-nation African tour. Gabon could be a shining example of democracy, human rights and sustainable development. But it looks like those wielding power are again choosing the path of fraudulent elections and dictatorship. Why do Gabonese power brokers lack the will to turn things around? Why doesn't our own government come out with a clear and loud pro-democracy statement?

George W. Bush put an end to the Peace Corps Gabon program in 2005. That same year, American consulting firm, MPRI, through a government contract, began extensive training of military and police forces in Equatorial Guinea, Gabon’s neighbor and #1 producer of oil in Sub-Saharan Africa. I wondered if this represented a change in regional priorities: instead of a focus on education to help lift people out of poverty, a focus on protecting “our” oil --– closing down the Peace Corps and starting a war corps? The U.S., France and China -- all with great regional presence -- all benefit from compliant African leaders who will accept easy terms to exploit people, oil, timber, and other resources. We Americans are right to show our disdain for lousy African dictators, but who encourages them in the first place?

[AhnAmuru]

03:39 PM on 08/18/2009

Ok, Moss, to show how shall ow your analysis is consider this analogy just for the he ck of it.

Headline: A b ad time for US democracy.

1. Mayor Bloomberg of New York seeks third term. According to reliable sources Bloomberg feels uniquely qualified to be NY mayor "during these especially trying times". NY city council changed the constitution accordingly. Bloomberg welcomed the vote as the "right choice".

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/23/bloomberg.third.term/index.html

2. Civil un rest in the US. Texas th reatens to secede, Alaska independence party revealed.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/15/gov-rick-perry-texas-coul_n_187490.html

3. Ana rchy in the US. Ar med insur gents appear at town halls.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/08/18/dozen-protesters-guns-outside-obama-speech/

4. Mili tias on the rise in US.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/12/officials-see-rise-in-mil_n_257128.html

5. US cr ime on the rise.

http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE50Q6FR20090127

...

Yep, that's how shall ow U sound.

[eddiesengola]

09:41 PM on 08/12/2009

See who is pulling in the strings and you will find the West has been funded these dictators to stay in power so that western multinationals can continue to loot african natural resources.

If Obama is sincere, he would need to talk to the European leader to cease colonizing Africa economically and supporting the dictators.

[AhnAmuru]

01:21 AM on 08/15/2009

Why should Obama do that - what about the good citizens of these nations?