OUAGADOUGOU DECLARATION ADOPTED AT THE 2020 GEN

Recommendations on the theme: Peace and stability for economic and social development

• Considering its General Assembly, convened during 13 – 15 February 2020 in Ouagadougou, themed: Peace and stability for Economic and Social Development in Africa;
• Recalling the principle of solidarity and union of liberal parties to meet the aspirations of the African populations who expect from governance more justice, more peace and stability for equitable development;
• Recalling the interactive link between peace and stability, necessary conditions for economic and social development understood as a situation where there are no prospects for wealth, acquiring knowledge, power and whose achievement requires predictability and durability;
• Deploring the intensification of violence, the increasing attacks and kidnappings perpetrated by extremist groups in several African countries, in recent months, such as Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali, making the security situation worrying and disturbing;
• Considering that respect for the Constitution is the first pledge of stability of a nation;
• Considering that stability and peace, without which all national construction is doomed to failure, constitute the guarantee of a country’s prosperity;
• Recalling the creed of the RLA which is to defend freedom, democracy and institutions;
• Wishing to promote economic and social development through entrepreneurship and the stimulation of the private sector;
• Aware of the harmful consequences of a constitutional forcing for unconstitutional mandates;
• Noting the perverse effects of the Internet on education, culture, social relations and the animation of political parties;

The Africa Liberal Network (ALN),

• Follows with concern the recent developments in the political crisis in Guinea, born of the will of the President of the Republic, Alpha Condé, to amend the Constitution in order to grant himself a third mandate;
• Recalls its attachment to the limitation of presidential mandates, as indicated in the Liberal Pan-African Manifesto adopted at its General Assembly in Abidjan in 2012;
• Encourages African States to adopt in their Constitution the limitation of mandates in order to promote democratic change and avoid the detention of supreme power by one person for an extended period, with all the known consequences;
• Condemns, therefore, the obstinacy of the Guinean President to change the Constitution of his country, eight months ahead of the end of his second and last mandate, with the sole aim of being able to seek a third term, at the tender age of 83 years;
• Support and encourage the National Front for the Defence of the Constitution (FNDC) – a coalition of opposition political parties, unions and civil society organizations – which is fighting with courage and determination against this project to change the Constitution despite the ruthless repression to which his supporters are subjected to;
• Condemns the violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms by the recurrent use of lethal weapons in Guinea, during political or trade union demonstrations, which have to date resulted in the death of 134 innocent civilian demonstrators who are opposed to the Constitution amendment and the Guinean statutory laws amendment;
• Recommends that the elections in Africa which are a source of instability and conflict take place in compliance with the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance;

Formulates, in accordance with the principles of peace, stability and economic development of the Liberal Manifesto for Africa, the following recommendations:

1. Bring together traditional, religious and political leaders in each country in order to deeply identify the causes of internal conflicts;
2. Establish an inclusive, frank and permanent dialogue between the living forces of the nation on questions of national interest concerning elections, living together, etc. in order to prevent and mitigate electoral disputes, pre- and post-election violence;

• Promote inter-religious, inter-ethnic and inter-community dialogue at the base and sanction any case of extremism, however slight, in order to prevent and mitigate inter-community, inter-religious, inter-ethnic conflicts;
• Mobilize and involve all internal human resources for effective and less costly management of the consequences of conflicts and promote traditional and endogenous mechanisms for managing the consequences of conflicts;
• Improve governance in our young states to assert the authority of the state without violence;
• Respect individual and collective freedoms with a view to accepting differences and building strong nations;
• Identify areas of complementarity in terms of conflict prevention and the sustainability of peace in the region with a view to pooling efforts for greater efficiency;
• Identify the mechanisms, indicators and actors for the effective implementation of preventive diplomacy by the early warning system;
• Promote a new model of economic development, based on a dynamic private sector, independent of the ruling system but rather supported by innovation and by sustainable, decent employment for young people and women;
• Know how to count on your own strength. This requires an effort to mobilize internal resources by finding specific mechanisms for financing development projects and programs in crisis countries aimed at promoting the collective interest while relying on private actors and market instruments and in working for solidarity between African countries;
• Promote economic integration through intra-Africa trade and the creation of optimal monetary zones.

As the Africa Liberal Network (ALN), we call upon ECOWAS, the African Union, the European Union and the United Nations to refer to their statutory obligations and action appropriate measures applicable to President Alpha Condé and intervene to:

• Stop the massacre of Guinean compatriots;
• Respect the Constitution of the Republic by renouncing the illegal and conflict-generating third term project;
• Complete the local elections in accordance with the Electoral Code and the Supreme Court judgment delivered on December 26, 2019;
• Organize free, transparent and inclusive elections based on a Consensual Electoral Register, faithfully reflecting the reality of the electoral body;
• Open a dialogue in good faith with the Opposition to resolve differences and organize free, transparent and inclusive elections for both the legislative and presidential elections of 2020;
• Conduct serious investigations to identify and bring to justice the perpetrators of the crimes during demonstrations against the third term.

14 February 2020

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso