The difference democracy makes
The biggest-ever parliamentary gathering in Africa's history promises a new beginning for Pan-African democracy, writes Gamal Nkrumah
On Monday President Hosni Mubarak delivered the keynote address at the opening of the Conference of African Parliament Speakers, the largest ever gathering of African Members of Parliament in the continent's history. This landmark meeting ushered in a new dawn that promises to transform the political landscape of the continent of Africa.
But it is important to remember that the Cairo parliamentary meeting is only a beginning. It is a platform that can be used to build a true continent-wide democracy. A record number of 31 African Parliamentary Speakers attended the Cairo conference, representing diverse nations with different political systems, histories and democratic traditions.
The Chairman of the African Parliamentary Union Ibrahim Boubakr Keita also addressed the unprecedented assemblage, and stressed the vital importance of African cooperation in consolidating democratic gains on the continent.
Keita said that African people's trust in its democratic institutions is the cornerstone upon which democracy in Africa can be built. He said that the Cairo gathering was an important opportunity for African MPs to exchange views and ideas about their democratic experiences
The Speaker of the Egyptian National Assembly Dr Fathi Sorour said in his address to the gathering that the African continent faces serious challenges, but that there are also at the same time opportunities for overcoming the continent's problems. Sorour also told participants that Egypt is proud of its African identity and is determined to consolidate African unity and solidarity.
"Egypt has also bolstered all efforts to encourage democratic practice and good governance in the African continent. These efforts recently resulted in the issuance of the 1999 Algerian Declaration on unconstitutional regime changes."
Mubarak, in his speech, reminded his listeners of the important steps taken in the past decade to cement relations among African countries and ensure peace and stability in the continent. "Our efforts have been enhanced by the steps taken by our African continent to build peace and stability. Chief of these was the 1993 Cairo Declaration, creating the mechanism for the prevention, management an settlement of African disputes," Mubarak said.
The Cairo Conference of African Parliamentary Speakers must be evaluated in the context of the continent-wide effort to implement a series of political reforms and to root out the causes of conflict in Africa.
Mubarak stressed that "it was necessary to bring about just, peaceful settlements to disputes among African countries. Some of those disputes have been long-standing, distracting capabilities and energies that could have been directed towards development."
It has become imperative to acknowledge that rampant poverty and economic malaise lie at the heart of the security and political problems in Africa. Poverty is the continent's most vicious enemy, hampering social and economic development efforts.
The key as Mubarak noted was "more active participation of the people", in both the development enterprise and the democratic process.
"Those steps also included the African Agreement on the Prevention and Combat of Terrorism, adopted in July 1999, which bolstered the credibility of Egypt's initiative to convoke an international conference under the United Nations supervision to lead to a binding international convention to ward off the evils of terrorism," Mubarak said.
Indeed, even as the Cairo Conference of Parliament Speakers came to a close, the trial of three Kenyans charged with plotting to bomb the United States Embassy in the Kenyan capital Nairobi commenced. The three Kenyan Al-Qa'eda suspects -- Mohamed Kubwa Seif, Said Saggar Ahmed and Salmin Mohamed Khamisi -- are accused of "conspiracy to commit felony" and plotting to bomb the new US Embassy in Nairobi, which replaced the one blasted in 1998 and which claimed the lives of 213 mostly innocent Kenyans.
The three Kenyans are also charged with taking part in the blasting the Israeli-owned Paradise Hotel on the outskirts of the Kenyan port city of Mombasa. Kenya's once thriving tourism industry has been severely damaged by these repeated terrorist attacks.
In Egypt, too, even though the threat of terrorism has subsided considerably in the past decade, recent events have raised fears of a resurgence of the terrorist threat. This week French news agency AFP reported that it received an anonymous telephone call from a man claiming to represent a militant Islamist group based in Yemen called Ansar Al-Haq, the Apostles of Truth, which he said carried out an attack which brought down an Egyptian airliner shortly after it took off from the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh on Saturday killing off all 148 aboard.
The Egyptian aviation and security authorities have, however, ruled out a terrorist attack as the cause of the crash even though French officials have so far declined to rule out any specific cause for the crash.
Several countries in Africa have had to face the threat of terrorism, and there is a realisation that the only way forward is to coordinate efforts.
The causes of terrorism, a long list that is topped by poverty, social and economic injustice, must be tackled head on.
Nevertheless the message from Cairo is a positive one: Africa stands at the crossroads. It is still too early to declare the death of dictatorship, civil wars and terrorism in Africa. But in a collective display of wisdom and will African parliament speakers are preparing the foundation stones for a more democratic future. They must prove that democracy in Africa is more than skin deep.