EX.CL/91 (V) Annex II Page 6 3.4 Leaders considered the principles and objectives of the African Union enshrined in the Constitutive Act of the African Union, particularly in its Articles 3 and 4. They further reaffirmed their commitment to the Algiers Decision of July 1999 and the Lomé Declaration of July 2000 on the Framework for an OAU response to unconstitutional changes of government, which laid down a set of common values and principles for democratic governance. 3.5 Consideration was further given to the CSSDCA Solemn Declaration adopted by the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the OAU in Lomé, Togo, in July 2000, which underpins the OAU’s agenda of promoting democracy and democratic institutions in Africa. 3.6 Through NEPAD’s Democracy and Political Governance Initiative, African Leaders undertook to promote and protect democracy and human rights in their respective countries and regions, by developing clear standards of accountability and participatory governance at the national and sub-regional levels. 3.7 Reference should also be made to the importance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted in December 1948, as well as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights adopted in December 1966, which recognized the will of the people expressed through free and fair elections as the basis of the authority of government. 3.8 Another landmark African document, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights adopted in Nairobi, Kenya, in June 1981, recognizes the right of every citizen to participate freely in the government of his or her country whether directly or through democratically elected representatives. 3.9 In the Declaration of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the OAU on the Political and socio-economic Situation in Africa and the fundamental changes taking place in the World, adopted in Addis Ababa, in July 1990, OAU Member States undertook to continue with the democratization of African societies and the consolidation of the democratic institutions. 3.10 The African Charter for Popular Participation in Development adopted in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in July 1990, emphasized the need to involve the people of Africa in the spheres of economic and political governance.