Last year, Michel Rocard told our newspaper: “we made the mistake of believing that democracy consisted solely of multipartyism and elections”. Do you share this mea culpa?
THE PRESIDENT – I totally share his view. It would be a serious mistake to reduce democracy to multipartyism and elections. They are, of course, two necessary conditions, but they are far from sufficient. Elections must also be free, honest and transparent. There also has to be a rule of law guaranteeing respect for individual and collective fundamental freedoms. And a neutral administration, independent judiciary and a free and responsible press. So you see, for me, democracy is inseparable from human rights. And I reject any idea of an African exception on these issues. I reject the argument reducing them to values imposed from outside on African societies which Western arrogance has described as universal. Democracy and human rights are African values too because they are universal values and reflect the aspirations of all mankind. Moreover, democratization and the wave of multipartyism which swept through Africa in the 1990s in the first place fulfilled an African aspiration. The c
