Africa Takes Centre Stage in LI

There was a time, not all that long ago, when Liberal International (LI) was a Euro-centric organisation. But that has changed dramatically in recent years, as democratic forces have gained ground in Latin America, Asia and Africa, and the LI family of parties has grown. That process is continuing at the LI Congress in Belfast this week, with new membes from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Morocco, Tunisia, Madagascar and the Seychelles joining the fold. Burkina Faso should have, as well, had the delegates from the party concerned had their British visa requests processed in time.

But the star double-bill this morning was President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal, who gave a thoughtful speech covering a wide range of political, social and economic challenges for Africa, and the Zimbabwean opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangarai, whose impassioned plea for support from fellow Africans as he tries to wrest his country’s oppressed people from the grasp of the liberator-turned-dictator, Robert Mugabe, rightly won a standing ovation. This was the first time I’d seen Tsvangarai in the flesh, and he was deeply impressive. But he is well aware that pressure from the West — especially Britain — can be portrayed by Mugabe and his thugs as neo-colonial meddling. This makes it all the more important for South Africa’s Thabo Mbeki and other reginal leaders to get their fingers out and make sure that the second round of the Zimbabwean presidential elections goes ahead smoothly, and delivers the result a majority of Zimbabweans clearly want.

Link: www.liberal-international.org