A group of leaders from Muslim countries embraced multiparty elections and equal rights on Wednesday at the end of a pro-democracy conference that was weakened by the absence of Iran, Saudi Arabia and Syria.
The congress involved representatives from 14 Muslim countries and was held against a backdrop of a U.S. push for reforms in the Middle East and debate over the role of religion in political life.
"In our own countries, the democratic processes are not finished," said Zlatko Lagumdzija, a former prime minister of Bosnia-Herzegovina. "The driving energy for change should come from within countries. Of course, it can be helped from outside forces, but it cannot be imposed."
Also absent from the Congress of Democrats from the Islamic World were representatives from Egypt, Afghanistan and Iraq. The meeting was sponsored by the U.N. Development Program and the Washington-based National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, headed by former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.
A communique at the end of the meeting emphasized the "the compatibility of Islam and the principles of democracy" and stressed the delegates' belief in freedom of expression and of the press, the rule of law, regular multiparty elections, and the equal participation of women in the democratic decision-making process.
"The principles of Islam and the principles of democratic governance are mutually reinforcing," it said.
Yemen's human rights minister, Amat Allem al-Sowsowah, told delegates that women "are often the first targets of repression by the forces of fundamentalism."