The Charter and the management of conflicts in Africa

At a regional meeting in Abidjan, the college of non-governmental organisations involved in the dynamics of the Alliance for a Plural, Responsible and United World used the context of the Ivorian socio-political crisis to illustrate that conflicts can be prevented and managed by applying the principles upheld by the Charter of Human Responsibilities.

On the 22nd and 23rd of March 2004, a regional meeting of West African civil society organisations involved in the dynamics of the Alliance for a Responsible, Plural and United World was held in Abidjan in the Ivory Coast. This meeting brought together 20 people from 4 West African countries (Ivory Coast, Benin, Togo and Senegal).

All over Africa there is an upsurge of power-orientated conflicts. When leaders are not accountable enough, when regimes are not transparent, when no satisfactory system exists to control power, when the law is not respected, when there is no peaceful way to replace those in power and when human rights are abused, political control takes on a disproportionate dimension and a number of issues become crucially important. Similarly, the multi-ethnic nature of African countries results in a much higher risk of conflict and there exists a violent ethnic politicisation apparent in the emergence of insurrectionist movements generally called “rebel movements”.

In order to prevent conflicts in Africa, it is essential to highlight certain themes.

 Abuse of human rights over a long period can result in conflict;
 Democracy is not limited only to institutional dimensions of governance but also entails the idea of genuine citizen participation;
 In order to be effective, all legal systems must respond to the expectations of the population, and take into account the countries social and cultural realities;
 Unclear management of public affairs and disrespect of electoral processes make the military competition for the control of power even fiercer.

The Charter of Human Responsibilities includes principles which, if implemented, would avoid the threats of armed conflicts in Africa.
In addition, civil society organisations attending this regional meeting expressed their commitment to promote the principles of the Charter of Responsibilities in their respective environments, as was the case for the NGO Ivory Coast Ecology, which suggested building a coalition of peace-orientated organisations in accordance with the principles of the Charter of Human Responsibilities. The leaflets prepared by the co-ordination team were generously distributed to all participants as tools for dialogue.

This meeting thus enabled participants to clarify the deep-rooted causes of the Ivorian socio-political crisis and build up the principles of the Charter of Human Responsibilities as principles of crisis prevention and management in Africa. Markoua Dadjo was also a guest on a thirty-minute show on Radio Cote d’Ivoire (the most popular radio station). He presented the Charter of Human Responsibilities as a basis to inspire Ivorian social players in the resolution of the socio-political conflict that the country is going through.