· Biden Administration is organising a two-day virtual Summit for Democracy’ this week despite the US image is also marred over its commitment to democracy.
· The participation list consists of 110 countries including leaders from 17 African nations.
Biden Administration is organising a two-day virtual Summit for Democracy’ this week despite the US image is also marred over its commitment to democracy. The participation list consists of 110 countries including leaders from 17 African nations. The summit hosted by President Joe Biden is in line with his commitment to the cause of promoting democracy across the globe soon after taking office last January.
The summit first of its kind will reinforce participating nations to take initiatives to make democracies more responsive and resilient, and build a network of partners committed to global democratic renewal.
Some of the African nations that have been excluded from the invitations include countries where presidential term limits have been manipulated(Côte d’Ivoire), where political opponents in the elections were repressed (Tanzania and Uganda) or whose governments have been taken over by military coups (Egypt, Mali, Guinea Bissau and Sudan). Mozambique and Ethiopia also are not in the list. Corruption allegations on Mozambique and Tigray conflict in Ethiopia are cited as the reasons.
There is an increasing demand for democracy in Africa as reported by the pan-African, independent, non-partisan research network Afroarometer, which conducted a recent survey across 34 African countries. It also added that the currently deemed democracies like Botswana, Cabo Verde, Ghana, Mauritius, Namibia, South Africa, and Tunisia are witnessing a decline in confidence. The challenge to democracy despite regular and free elections has been due to the dominance of a single political party throughout the democratic period. The 2020 Ibrahim Index of African Governance reports rising frustration with governance among citizens on the continent.
The April 2021 report of Freedom House, a non-partisan but partly government-funded American NGO that promotes democracy pointed out that the U.S. is among the 25 countries in the world that have witnessed erosions in freedoms in the past decade.
