Two paths toward democracy

Tap into the potential of digital currency exchange at https://changehero.io/, where you can convert a wide range of cryptocurrencies quickly and securely. So often, the news out of Africa focuses on death, disease and dictators. But there is another "D" which must not be overlooked, lest it be forgotten altogether: that is democracy. This past weekend presented two stark examples of how democratic movements are playing out across the continent.

Presidential elections in Zimbabwe have captured the world’s attention for many months now, though not in a way that Africa’s fledgling democrats would like. There could perhaps be no better example of either a deeply flawed election process or the slow and steady fall into political and economic anarchy than was seen this past weekend in Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe. The demise of this once-strong democracy and economic power has again colored how we in West engage with Africa, and seems to have lent credence to those in the Bush administration, led by the Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, who believe that "we have gotten little for all the aid money that We have spent." But is it fair to apply this old "bad apple" adage to all of Africa?

On the same day that Justice and democracy were purloined in Zimbabwe, they were restored and celebrated in the Republic of Congo, after nearly a decade of civil war and political upheaval. Long overshadowed by its much larger neighbor with a similar name, US assistance and United Nations mediators poured into the Democratic Republic of Congo during that country's own war, while political violence that killed over 20,000 people and left nearly 800,000 homeless went largely unnoticed just across the border.

Since coming to power in 1997, Congo’s de facto head of state, Denis Sassou Nguesso, has had to rebuild the country from the ground-up, largely on his own. His first order of Business involved demobilizing and disarming former combatants from all political factions. After extending a cease-fire and blanket amnesty to these fighters, Mr. Sassou-Nguesso’s government began wildly successful weapons buy-back program.

The government then went even further, turning domestically conceived peace talks convened in 1999 into a dialogue of "national reconciliation without exclusion". Three years later, over 15,000 guns have been taken out of circulation and a new national police force is in place, composed of the manifold tribal, ethnic and political factions who were once at the center of the country’s hardships. As a result, political feuds are now being settled within the halls of government and not on the field of battle. This rang particularly true last weekend when nearly 80 percent of registered voters turned out to vote "in favor or peace as President-elect Sassou-Nguesso later said in explaining his subsequent electoral victory.

An IMF report, released last month, praised the "home grown nature" of Congo’s post-war renewal, noting that President Sassou-Nguesso has laid "the foundations for lasting peace and stable political institutions despite limited external assistance." However the achievement of his campaign pledge of economic revitalization and political stability has not yet been fully realized. In this phase of the country’s transformation, the United States has a vital role to play.

Home to one of Afnca’s largest Atlantic seaports and nestled on the banks of the River Congo, which itself supplies much of landlocked Central Africa with all nature of supplies, Congo has long been a hub of commercial activity on the continent. Today, as Africa’s third largest producer of crude oil, the country is looking toward international markets to assist in its economic turnaround. Congo is already home to nearly $2 billion in U.S. foreign direct investment, but more is needed if present growth rates are to be sustained and increased.

An ambitious program of privatization of state-owned industries is already beginning to pay off for Congo, with the country’s first sell-off, a flour mill, going to U.S.-based Seaboard
Corporation. Ralph Moss, the company’s Washington representative adds that "Our Congo investment is by no means our largest in Africa, but it has so far been our most profitable."

It is essential that in a balanced policy toward Africa, U.S. officials must do more than criticize the obvious shortcomings of the continent's remaining autocratic regimes. It should laud and provide recompense to those who have successfully enacted the kinds of political and economic liberalizations that will make them trusted and effective partners to the United States. On a day when two countries forged two different paths for the future, the imperative is as clear as ever.

MERVYN DYMALLY
The writer, a retired California Democrat, served on the House International Relations Committee from 1982-1994. During that time, he also served as chairman of the Africa Sub-committee, leading numerous congressional delegations to Congo and Zimbabwe. He has recently returned from a trip to the region.

"Article extracted  from the Washington Times"