The Foreign Service Journal, May 2004

ment to write a new constitution, and approached Kerékou with a deal permitting him to remain as head of state with greatly reduced power. To the surprise of many observers, Kerékou and the military went along with this. One year later, on March 24, 1991, Nicéphore Soglo became president of Benin after a free and fair, multi-party election that gave his party, the Union for the Triumph of Democratic Renewal, a majority of seats in parliament. Following his defeat, Kerékou asked to be forgiven for abusing power while in office, and the interim government agreed not to prosecute him. This was a remarkable outcome, and not just because it took place in Africa. The whole process, now known as the “sovereign conference,” was broadcast live on national radio; much of it was filmed. Outside in the streets, peo- ple felt a wind of change blowing and followed the events inside with growing hope and enthusiasm, said conference organizing committee chairman Robert Dossou, a Benin University law professor and an opponent of the Kerékou government. “The sellers of transistor radios were doing the biggest business in the country. Everyone would buy himself a little transistor radio; and you would see them on their motor scooters in the street holding the handlebar with one hand and the radio with the other,” Dossou added. Benin’s problems of poverty and underdevelopment still have not been solved. To put an ironic coda on this story, in the 1996 elections Kerékou regained the presi- dency, and he was re-elected in 2001. “The greatest change has been freedom,” explained Robert Dossou to filmmakers from Blackside Productions, who went to Benin in 2000 to portray the sovereign conference move- ment for their series on contemporary Africa, “Hopes on the Horizon.” Freedom: The Engine of Civil Society Though it doesn’t itself solve problems immediately, freedom is nothing to sneer at. With freedom has come a greater voice for “civil society.” The voluntary participation of the citizen through organizations or personal effort for reforms that create a fairer and freer society has taken root throughout Africa. People who were often spoken for or bossed around by the state have found their voices and are speaking for themselves with increasing authority. They work through churches, NGOs, trade unions, civic organizations, environmental groups and health care organizations, to name but a few. Often they chal- lenge government certainties. In Angola this past March, around 30 groups launched a “Campaign for a Democratic Angola.” Much of their immediate concern is focused on getting the government to stop dragging its feet on elections. But a deeper aim of the group tells us some- thing about civil society, and how important it is in what for decades has been an authoritarian regime. Angola’s long war has ended, but “peace without democracy is a fantasy,” says a spokesperson for the group. “We want to encourage government … to be open to other initiatives that are for the benefit of the country, not [just] of the [political par- ties].” Benin’s sovereign conference gave great encourage- ment to civil society’s necessary and inevitable flourishing in communities across the continent. Some might argue about the importance of the events of 1989-1990, but there is little disagreement that whether pressing for fair treat- ment of women in the sharia states of northern Nigeria, seeking accountability from government, or ousting a mil- itary government (e.g., Nigeria), civil society can no longer be ignored or denounced as “subversive.” Just this February, Angolan Deputy Minister for Environment and Urbanism Graciano Domingos called on civil society to organize debates on a new land bill that was approved by a government agency last November. It’s too important for civil society not to be involved, he said. “The 1990s brought a breath of fresh air, as new winds of democracy were establishing themselves. That was the proof to all our African leaders that they could no longer ignore civil society,” says Leila Rhiwi of Morocco, presi- dent of the Association Democratique des Femmes du Maroc. For many years political argument was easier to find, even in some of Africa’s most oppressive hellholes, than economic freedom or opportunity. Across a remarkably broad range of political and governing philosophies, F O C U S 38 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / M A Y 2 0 0 4 The voluntary participation of the citizen through organizations or personal effort for reforms that create a fairer and freer society has taken root throughout Africa.