- Part of speech delivered by President Robert Mugabe at the Africa-European Union Summit in Libya on 1 December 2010.
...as far as our partnership on good governance and human rights is concerned, the declaration that we adopt today as well as to some extent the Second Plan of Action, do not reflect the debate that has taken place on the floor.
This is because these documents were finalised by experts long before we came to this meeting.
The hope is that consideration will be given to improving our management of the partnership in so far as it affects the final outcomes of our deliberations.
I say this, Mr Chairman, because a number of African speakers have made critical comments about what amounts to double standards in European views of democracy and human rights, about the failure to respect the cultural diversity of African societies including religious and political systems and practices.
Genuine democratic governance cannot and will not be a product of processes engendered by outsiders for Africans on the basis of values outsiders seek to inculcate.
It can only be a product of the internal process of development in a country.
In Europe, democratic governance came out of a long history of bloody wars and other forms of struggle.
In Africa, our history of struggles for freedom from colonialism are well known, as are the brutalities that were perpetrated against Africans.
Europeans, therefore, cannot take a moral high ground and develop amnesia when it comes to the brutalities that Africans suffered in the colonial period.
It is for Africans to design and build their own democratic institutions.
That sense of ownership will impel them towards development within their own circumstances.
Having gone through a history of oppression and injustice that drew Africa back in terms of its development and in evolving democratic institutions, Africans know only too well the value of respect for human rights and tolerance.
Besides, Africa is also a signatory to the major international conventions on human rights and as such no one can preach to it about its obligations on the subject.
Democratic processes in our countries are constantly under threat partly due to interference from outsiders.
In the case of my country, Zimbabwe, heinous crimes of interference have been undertaken in the name of good governance and human rights and some such values.
Zimbabwe currently reels under illegal sanctions imposed on it by the European Union and the United States of America whose primary motive is to bring about regime change as a response to a just land reform programme my government embarked upon in the interest of social justice.
We in Zimbabwe have learnt the hard way that notions of democracy, human rights and rule of law have no universal meaning for Europeans, but are conveniently invoked against small states which dare challenge their global interests on our soils.
Equally illustrative is the issue of my country’s sovereign right over her sub-soil assets, specifically the recently discovered diamond deposits.
This vital natural resource deposited in our country by the un-sanctioning Almighty, obviously to benefit His children, the same way oil and other abundant African resources do or are supposed to do, is being placed beyond us in the name of the Kimberley Certification Process.
We have done everything expected of us under the process, itself voluntary, and yet we remain in the dock facing ever shifting charges laid out against us by some countries in Europe and America.
Again the notions of democracy, human rights and good governance are invoked.
We face the real risk of giving these noble notions a very bad name.
Our commitment to democratic governance and respect for human rights ought to be based on the premise that African people must not see these values simply as abstract concepts that have no bearing on their well-being and material conditions.
Democratic governance must, therefore, mean more than people taking part in an election.
The people must have a direct stake in the development process not merely as providers of labour but as economically empowered citizens and people in charge of their own resources, including land and mineral wealth.
That would ultimately give meaning to democratic governance it, therefore, goes without saying that poverty and the unequal control of resources in our countries militates against democratic governance.
Our priority as a continent and of our partners should, therefore, be focused on attaining development and economic freedom, so that governments will be in a better position to guarantee the economic and social rights of their citizens.
Finally, Mr Co-Chairperson, democratic governance and human rights must never be used as tools to influence processes in our countries.
The EU side needs to demonstrate sincerity and transparency in their political dealings with the continent.
What we have witnessed over the past years is the tendency to dictate policy on African countries and to attach unrealistic conditions on development assistance.
For true and successful dialogue to occur in areas of governance and democracy, the EU should do away with double standards and selective application of these principles.
It is generally accepted that Africans do not observe elections in Europe and do not make pronouncements on the conduct of such polls, and yet it is assumed that Europeans have the inalienable right to observe and endorse the outcome of elections on the African continent.
The right to determine our own governance systems and the sovereign right to shape our own futures free from outside interference are sacred to us.
The EU’s pre-occupation with human rights should, therefore, translate into concrete action through assistance in the development processes in Africa in order to change the material conditions of African people.
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