Photo credit: Guineanews.org
In my last post less than a month ago I discussed the various theories on Guinea’s future. About a week ago there was a major turning point: the President and Interim President of Guinea, as well as specially appointed mediator Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore, signed an agreement outlining a peaceful transition back to constitutional law. The agreement included plans to form a national unity government and a 102 person council to guide the transition, and to hold elections in six short months. While this has been in the works for months now with international diplomats, the Guinea military government, Guinea opposition groups and civil society organizations in rounds of negotiations, the agreement is a sudden burst of hope.
In recent decades more than 90 percent of wars have ended at the negotiation table. With strong international support and consensus and an ever-growing civil society, Guinea has been able to avoid civil war. The ability of Guinean civil society to take a stand on the international stage enabled external actors to support a Guinean agenda for the country. Without strong and unified internal voices external negotiations could have taken much longer and been more complicated.
As Guinea lays a foundation of peaceful and fair governance we applaud all actors, from those whose names will be credited with this great achievement to those whose names we may never know, for this moment in Guinea's history. We hope the path to national healing will be a smooth one.
Want to learn more about the changing situtation in Guinea? Check out the BEFORE Project's Guinea: Challenges in Transitions.
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I used to be very hopeful about all these transitions to democracies in Africa but no more.
Are the leaders which emerge from these processes anymore committed to human rights and social good than the dictators they replace? I answer no. sometimes the greed is even worse than those exhited by the dictators. According to the rules of the democratic game, this should not be the case. unfortunately the rules are either misintepreted, twitsted or bastardised to suit the greed of the political leaders whether they come through the ballot box or the barrel of the gun.
something sure needs to be done and I believe it will be done because we just cant go on like this for ever but I am very doubtul of satisfying the so called international community while spitting in the face of the people who are supposed to matter,
George.
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