01/03/2013 17:16
Africa's rocky road to democracy
It is now more than 20 years since pro-democracy grassroots organizations led struggles that eventually resulted in the overthrow of long-serving authoritarian regimes in many countries in Africa, CNN told.
Since the 1990s, there have been significant improvements in the transition to democratic governance in Africa. However, there have also been some major reversals.
Unfortunately, some pre-1990 incumbent leaders (for example, Paul Biya of Cameroon and Robert Gabriel Mugabe of Zimbabwe) remain in power, despite efforts by the opposition to unseat them.
In addition, Mali, which had made significant progress toward deepening and institutionalizing democracy, suffered major regression, first, by the capture and subsequent occupation of the northern part of the country by a group of separatist rebels, and second, by a military coup that ousted its democratically elected government.
Soldiers also intervened in Guinea-Bissau, suspended government institutions and proceeded to engage in activities that seriously undermined the rule of law. Meanwhile, violent mobilization by ethnic and religious groups continue to negatively impact governance in Nigeria, Central African Republic, Kenya, Uganda, and Madagascar.
The failure of national institutions to grant adequate protection to individual liberties continues to plague countries such as The Gambia, where a U.N report says several prison inmates were executed last year without due process of law, and South Africa where the police last year used deadly force against miners who were exercising their rights to strike.