Guardian UK: Support for US policies can spell political ruin

[marmar]

A costly alliance
Support for US policies can spell political ruin, as both Pervez Musharraf in Pakistan and Mwai Kibaki in Kenya have found out

Murithi Mutiga
guardian.co.uk, Monday August 18 2008 19:00 BST



It was not the way Pervez Musharraf would have wanted to go. Hugely unpopular at home and spurned by his traditional allies in the military, the Pakistani leader will be unlamented domestically.

Although his fall is due partly to his own bumbling errors, there is little doubt that his support for America's war on Islamist militants accounts for most of his unpopularity. Musharraf has been in the same position as a number of leaders around the world who have spent the years after 9/11 struggling to balance demands for cooperation with the US and the cost this exerts on their standing at home.

Take the Kenyan president, Mwai Kibaki, for example. A little-remarked facet of his travails at the ballot box late last year was the fact the Muslim population in that country solidly rejected him, thus tipping a close election in the opposition's favour.

The president's Party of National Unity (PNU) was routed in areas with a large Muslim population. It did not secure a single parliamentary or civic seat in the predominantly Muslim coastal island of Mombasa and fared equally dismally in other Muslim areas. In all these regions, the Kibaki administration's solid cooperation with the US in confronting Islamic militancy was the central election issue.

The Americans have long viewed Kenya as an important ally in their efforts to tackle extremism in the Horn of Africa. The US embassy bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam in 1998 highlighted this threat. And after the September 11 attacks, the Bush administration ramped up its efforts to use Kenya as a launching pad for its anti-terror operations in the region. .......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/aug/18/kenya.pakistan

[FrenchieCat]

1. Don't forget about the Spanish and Portuguese leaders who where ousted.

I forgot their names. That's how fast they went.