What's Being Done On . . . Democracy NGO Participation in Formal Peace Negotiations?

Introduction General Resources Women's Organizations Resources Democratic Republic of Congo: A Short History of the Conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo Profile of La Ligue des Electeurs Liberia: A Short History of the Conflict in Liberia Profile of the Mano River Women's Peace Network Sri Lanka: A Short History of the Conflict in Sri Lanka An Interview with the National Peace Council of Sri Lanka Chechnya: A Short History of the Conflict in the Chechen Republic An Interview with the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society in Europe

Profile of La Ligue des Electeurs
www.liguedeselecteurs.org

La Ligue des Electeurs (League of Voters) is a Kinshasa-based NGO founded in 1990 that works to instill a culture of democracy, human rights, and peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) through public education. La Ligue des Electeurs organizes courses and campaigns on the issues of peace, democracy, and democratic elections, sponsors and co-sponsors national and international groups of election observers, participates in the restoration of the rule of law in DRC, and intervenes for the protection of human rights defenders. It posts on its Web site various documents and press releases related to elections, electoral law, referenda, human rights, democracy, and civil society in general. It is a member organization of FIDH (International Federation for Human Rights), and its president, Paul Nsapu, is the coordinator of the National Network for the Observation and Surveillance of Elections in the DRC, and thereby serves as the liaison between DRC's Independent Electoral Commission (CEI) and civil society. La Ligue des Electeurs participated in the Inter-Congolese Dialogue (ICD) as a representative of DRC's civil society from 2001 until 2003, during which it worked to ensure that the Global and Inclusive Agreement of the ICD included provisions that guaranteed the transparency, neutrality, and fairness of the presidential elections scheduled for 2006.

Prior to the ICD, La Ligue des Electeurs was an active member of DRC's civil society and advocated for peace and democratic reform in the country. It attended regional and national conferences and forums, and organized courses and workshops for other members of Congolese civil society. Topics analyzed during these workshops included DRC's constitutions and electoral laws since its independence. Following the signing of the Lusaka ceasefire agreement in 1999, La Ligue des Electeurs participated in a national civil society forum in August 2000. The forum resulted in a declaration that protested the proliferation of a culture of war in DRC, as well as the belligerents' obstruction of democratic practices in the DRC and their lack of respect for the Lusaka agreement, especially its clause to hold an inter-Congolese dialogue. The declaration also called on the government to search for a way to establish a sustainable peace in DRC and hold the ICD, and to create a new institutional order that would reconcile the Congolese people with its government. In addition, La Ligue des Electeurs advocated for civil society members who were relatively unknown at the time to be included in the ICD, so that a wider range of civil society members could have an input in the peace agreement.

Since the conclusion of the ICD, La Ligue des Electeurs has been critical of DRC's peace and democratization processes. In 2003, it issued a press release stating that although institutions were created at the ICD to ensure the neutrality and fairness of elections, with the goal of consolidating the fragile peace underway in DRC, former belligerents were showing a tendency to want to recuperate some of their former power through the manipulation of democratic institutions. The organization claimed that there was a discrepancy between civil societies' and the political class' motivations for holding presidential elections. In July 2006, La Ligue des Electeurs deployed an observer mission, which included 3,017 delegates from partner organizations and associations, that covered 4,575 voting offices across the DRC in preparation for the DRC' s first multiparty presidential elections in 46 years, held on July 30, 2006. Today, the organization continues its efforts to enhance the rule of law and democracy in DRC and ensure that the terms of the Final Act are successfully implemented.