On Thursday, December 17, 2009, Almami Cyllah, IFES regional director for Africa, will testify before the House Foreign Affairs Committee's Africa and Global Health Subcommittee. He will speak about the recent trends and the role of the international community in elections in Africa.

Mr. Cyllah will talk about the experiences of various countries with elections, the effect that holding elections have on democratic processes and on human rights, the role of electoral management bodies, and most importantly, the fact that elections are not an event, but a longer process.

"Recent headline-grabbing electoral failures do not justify abandoning efforts at developing electoral democracy in Africa. No country should be allowed a free ticket to forgo democracy first because the very purpose of elections is to achieve governance without violence, and second because electoral democracy is not only a fundamental human right and a desirable end of itself, but also tends to develop in conjunction with other human rights," says Mr. Cyllah, a native of Sierra Leone.

This hearing, "Elections in Africa: Progress Made, Challenges Remaining," will be held at 10:00 a.m. (EST) in Room 2172 of the Rayburn House Office Building. The first scheduled panelist is Johnnie Carson, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs. Mr. Cyllah will be part of the second panel. This event is open to the public. If you are unable to attend, you can watch the webcast at: http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/schedule.asp.