Pour ceux qui lisent l'anglais, voici un article intéressant d'AP sur l'Afrique. Le Gabon y est mentionné comme l'un des mauvais exemples en termes de démocratie en Afrique.Niger Troubles Common in Africa
By Tim Sullivan
Associated Press Writer
Saturday, April 17, 1999; 3:05 a.m. EDT
AP Photo NY109
NIAMEY, Niger (AP) -- The official portrait of Niger's president still hangs in the hotel lobbies and government offices of this dusty capital city, a lingering reminder of the former coup leader gunned down last week by his own soldiers. Days after the April 9 assassination of President Ibrahim Bare Mainassara, few people in Niamey were angered by the killing of the corrupt, ineffectual ruler, or by the seizure of power by a military junta, which promised a return to civilian rule in nine months. Many were hoping the assassination would bring a clean political slate to Niger, a poverty-wracked nation that straddles the southern edge of the Sahara Desert.
``Someday we'll have democracy, but I'm not sure when,'' said mechanic
Sidi Gabrini. ``Niger has suffered too much.'' One year after President Clinton came to Africa predicting a renaissance -- and nearly a decade after journalists and politicians began saying democracy was finally making inroads on the continent -- African politics remain largely mired in questionable elections, wars and coups d'etat. In West and Central Africa alone, the last two years have seen widely disputed elections in Cameroon, Togo, Gabon, Guinea, Mali and Equatorial Guinea and wars in Sierra Leone, Guinea-Bissau, Congo and the Republic of Congo. Just a few years ago, it seemed to be a different story for Niger and much of Africa.
Democracy appeared to be brewing across the continent, with opposition parties legalized, dictators bowing to demands for raucous national conferences and the first signs emerging that Africa's Big Men, the archetypal dictators who came to power and tried to stay for life, might not make it that long. Spurred by the burgeoning democratic movements in Eastern Europe and the collapse of apartheid in South Africa, democracy appeared to be on the verge of blossoming in dozens of African nations. Change came, or appeared to be coming, to many nations; Zambia, Zaire, Republic of Congo, Benin, Cameroon, Mali and others appeared on the verge of significant reform.
And change did come to some, with Benin, Zambia, Mali and a handful of other countries casting aside their dictators in the early 1990s. In 1993, Niger voted in its first democratically elected president -- only to see him ousted in the Bare-led coup in 1996 after months of political gridlock. Bare seized power promising a return democracy and civilian rule. Instead, he had himself elected in presidential voting a few months later. It's a practice many African leaders have learned over the past decade -- build the appearance of democracy while blocking real political freedom. Perhaps more than anything else, it's been these phony democracies that have eaten away at the hope for change.
In Cameroon and Gabon, single-party states have given way to myriad opposition groups. But in each country, the long-serving president has stayed in power after widely disputed elections. With their vast financial resources, enormous political machines, support of the military -- and often of the media and electoral commissions as well -- they have all the power to quash potential opponents. If overwhelming strength doesn't work, opposition leaders say, ballot-rigging is frequently the answer. Often, the opposition feels its only real choice is to boycott the vote, hoping for at least a symbolic victory. Such was the case last year in Cameroon, where President Paul Biya -- who had already ruled for 15 years -- won again.
Despite such problems, there are bright spots on the continent. Ghana and Benin have both held solidly to democracy while Nigeria -- the giant of Africa, with some 110 million inhabitants -- appears to be moving firmly toward civilian rule next month. In southern Africa, democracy is increasingly entrenched in Botswana, Mozambique and South Africa. But the predicted African renaissance has fallen by the wayside, lost in a morass of war, phony elections, and lust for power.
© Copyright 1999 The Associated Press