Bamako Roundtable on Democracy Recommendations

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Introduction and Participants

From September 5-6, the Council for a Community of Democracies (CCD) organized the Bamako Roundtable on Democracy in Africa on behalf of the Nongovernmental International Steering Committee, with the help of a grant from the National Endowment for Democracy. The Roundtable benefited from having taken place immediately following the two-day meeting of the Management Committee of the African Democracy Forum (ADF) of the World Movement for Democracy and therefore had the participation of six members of the ADF leadership.

Joining them were: Amb. Istvan Gyarmati, Director of the International Centre for Democratic Transition from Budapest, Hungary, a Kenyan economist funded by the Center for International Private Enterprise, an authority on African elections made available by the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), a Ghanaian Nigerian-based representative of the International Republican Institute, a U.K. representative of the Westminster Democracy Foundation, two Ghanaian experts recommended by the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), and representatives from Freedom House and the Democracy Coalition Project from the U.S. Mali-based representatives of the National Democratic Institute and the Netherlands Institute for Multi-Party Democracy as well as a representative of the United Nations Development Program also participated.

Hosting the Roundtable was Dr. Oumar Makalou, President of the International Nongovernmental Secretariat of the Community of Democracies. The Secretariat, consisting of ten major Malian nongovernmental organizations was represented at the Roundtable by participants from several of its constituent NGO partners.

Present at the opening of the Roundtable were Malian Foreign Minister Moctar Ouane, Diplomatic Counselor to the President, Mamadou Traore, Amb. Oumar Daou, Director of Political Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, UNDP Resident Representative Joseph Byll-Cataria and U.S. Ambassador to Mali, Terrance McCulley. Addressing delegates to the Roundtable, Minster Ouane spoke of Mali’s pride in hosting next year’s Fourth Ministerial Conference of the Community of Democracies. He voiced his country’s strong commitment to the partnership forged by the Community between governments and civil society, the twin pillars of the democracy movement.

During the two-day Roundtable, participants considered ten issues critical to advancing democracy in Africa and identified specific recommendations for action by the governments of the Community of Democracies. They successfully sought to link the efforts of the African Democracy Forum, the International Nongovernmental Secretariat based in Bamako and the Nongovernmental International Steering Committee of the Community of Democracies in order to advance the cause of democracy on the continent.

Roundtables in Asia, the Americas, Europe and the Middle East will produce parallel recommendations that will be published in this series.

Robert R. LaGamma, Executive Director,
Council for a Community of Democracies.

Participants
Joseph Asunka, Ghana Centre for Democratic
Development (CCD-Ghana)

Daniel Bartha, International Centre for Democratic
Transition, Budapest, Hungary

Augustin Cisse, Mali,
Netherlands Institute for Multi-Party Democracy (IMD)

Maiga Djingary, Mali, Executive Secretariat of the
Nongovernmental Process of the CD

Dohki Fassihian, U.S., Democracy Coalition Project

Hannah Forster, the Gambia, African C entre for
Democracy and Human Rights Studies

Audrey Gadzekpo, Ghana, School of Communications,
University of Ghana

Paul Graham, South Africa,
Institute for Democracy in South Africa (IDASA)

Amb. Istvan Gyarmati, Hungary,
International Centre for Democratic Transition(ICDT)

Christina Hartman, Freedom House

Ryota Jonen, Japan, World Movement for Democracy

Josephat Juma, Kenya,
Inter Regional Economic Network (IREN)

Mohamed Keita, Mali, Executive Secretariat of the
Nongovernmental Process of the CD

Robert R. LaGamma, U.S.,
Council for a Community of Democracies

Charles Lasham, U.K.,
International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES)

Oumar Makalou, Mali, Executive Secretariat of the
Nongovernmental Process of the CD

Matthias Naab, Ghana, International Republican Institute

Marina Narnor, Ghana, Westminster Democracy Foundation

Ayo Obe, Nigeria, World Movement for Democracy

Raphael Ouattara, Cote d’Ivoire,
National Democratic Institute (NDI)

Marc Traore, Mali, Executive Secretariat of the
Nongovernmental Process of the CD

Juliet Ibekaku UmeEzeoke, Nigeria, Africa Democracy Forum

Dieudonne Zognong, Cameroon, Humanus Foundation