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“Popularization, Ratification and Implementation of the ECOWAS Supplementary Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance and the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Good Governance”; Considering the adoption of the Charter and the Protocol as important building blocks in building peace and democracy in West Africa and indeed Africa, Noting that the Charter has so far been ratified by only two African countries, Ethiopia and Mauritania), out of the minimum of fifteen required to make it come into force while the Protocol is already in force following ratifications by ten countries; Noting however that these two legal instruments are not well known by citizens and even the judiciary and consequently seldom utilized to strengthen democracy and good governance; Regretting the unfortunate setback in democratic gains in the Region due to issues of political succession and the tendency of certain Heads of State in the Region to alter the constitutional order so that they could extend their tenure in office thereby creating blockages to the electoral and democratic processes, notably; - In Niger where President Mamadou Tandja organized a constitutional ‘coup d’Etat’ violating the Nigerien Constitution and the fundamental instruments of ECOWAS and the African Union (AU); - In Guinea where Captain Moussa Dadis Camara appears poised to fail to honour commitments he freely made not to be a candidate in the elections to be held in January 2010; - In Cote d’Ivoire where elections that have been promised every year for the past five years are once again likely to be rescheduled for next year rather than the promised date of November 2009; - In Guinea-Bissau where successive peaceful and credible elections have not helped to stop human rights violations and political assassinations that are increasingly impacting negatively on democracy building and political stability of the country; Seriously concerned about the recurrent human rights violations in Niger and in Guinea in the form of illegal and arbitrary arrests and detentions, forcible entry of the homes of citizens, of military officers, of Parliamentarians, and the violation of fundamental liberties including freedom of opinion and expression; Aware of the challenge to obtaining consensus on Niger due to the fact that some Heads of State of the ECOWAS region are secretly nurturing a desire to pursue personal and family succession plots; Recalling that Guinea and Niger are signatories to the ECOWAS Supplementary Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance, the Cotonou Agreement, the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the International Pact on Civil and Political Rights and to many other pertinent legal instruments that promote democracy, rule of law and human rights that are being increasingly and deliberately violated by President Mamadou Tandja and Captain Moussa Dadis Camara; Commending the efforts by the International community in putting pressure on President Mamadou Tandja of Niger and Captain Moussa Dadis Camara in Guinea to refrain from their political adventurism and the reversal of democratic gains in their countries so that West Africa does not return to the era of violent political conflict; Appreciating very positively the clear political position of ECOWAS Mediation and Security Council on Niger as expressed very recently at the extraordinary session on August 24, 2009 in Abuja where they insisted on obeying democratic principles freely adhered to; Hereby ask ECOWAS, AU, EU and UN to take very urgent steps to: Insist that Captain Moussa Dadis Camara respects the time table he accepted freely so as to rapidly return to constitutional rule in 2010 by holding general elections within the stipulated timeframe in which neither him, the CNDD nor any member of his junta is authorized to be a candidate; Demand that he frees all military officers and citizens arbitrarily arrested, and that he renounces his ploy to carry out public financial audit operations aimed at framing and jailing his perceived political enemies; Demand that President Mamadou Tandja re-establishes constitutional order in the country by restoring all institutions illegally dissolved and return to the regime of the Fifth Republic on the basis of dialogue with the country’s political forces; Further ask: - ECOWAS, AU, EU and all parties to the International Contact Group on Guinea, and the Crisis Group on Niger to stand firm and committed to the decision of return to normal constitutional order in both countries; - Bilateral and multilateral partners of Niger and Guinea to suspend all financial assistance to both countries and to refuse visas to their leaders, their entourage and family members seeking to enter the partner’s territory; - Head of States and Governments of the West Africa Region to hold the extraordinary Summit on Niger initially scheduled for September 5, 2009; and to ratify, popularize and implement the ECOWAS Supplementary Protocol and the African Charter; - All partners in the democratic development of the continent to commit efforts and harness their resources to also support the ratification of the Charter in West African States as well as the popularization and implementation of both the Charter and the Protocol in the ECOWAS sub-region; - African Civil Society actors in general and from West Africa in particular to fully and concretely commit themselves to using legal means to ensure rapid re-enthronement of the constitutional order in Niger and in Guinea and as well as all other countries in the region where unconstitutional change of government has occurred and, to own the Accra Plan of Action in pursuing the consolidation of democratic gains in the Region. Dr Nana Tanko (OSIWA) and Dr Jibrin Ibrahim (CDD) for the Participants, Accra, September 18, 2009. |