Mauritanian Coup Pokes Holes in Bush’s Foreign Policy

A dictator of a Muslim country in western Africa was deposed earlier this week, and the junta that ousted him has promised to hold democratic elections within two years. Based on this evidence, President Bush might claim that his policy of fostering democracy in the Muslim world is working. Instead, his administration has called for a return of the dictator. Macedonia had Alexander the Great, Russia had Ivan the Terrible, and America now has George the Confused.

Mauritania is just south of Morocco with a long stretch of beach along the Atlantic Ocean. In 1984, President Maaouya Taya came to power at bayonet point. In 1997, the elections were boycotted by the opposition, so he won with over 90% of the vote; in 2003, he was re-elected with 67% of the vote amid claims of massive voting fraud. The next nearest candidate was Premier Lt. Col. Mohamed Khouna Ould Heydalla, whom President Taya overthrew in 1984 – he got 19% of the vote and was arrested after the election.

As a largely Muslim country, Mauritania has cultural ties to the House of Saud, as protectors of Islam’s holy cities of Mecca and Medina. President Taya was in Saudi Arabia for King Fahd’s funeral when 16 officers announced that they were the new government and that President Taya needn’t return to his duties. "The armed forces have unanimously decided to put an end to the totalitarian practices of the deposed regime under which our people have suffered much over the last several years," according to a statement from the junta, which calls itself the Military Council for Justice and Democracy. It also said, "This council pledges before the Mauritanian people to create favorable circumstances for an open and transparent democracy" with elections to be held within the next two years.

Rather than welcome the departure of a man who’s been president of his country from two decades and used fraudulent means to keep the job, US State Department spokesman Tom Casey said the US wants “a peaceful return for [sic] order under the constitution and the established government of President Taya.” And why might this be?

President Taya made a point of being a close friend of the US and Israel, and his opposition has been Islamists and Fascislamists. Better still, offshore oil was recently discovered, and commercial production should begin next year. The Bush administration appears to have fallen into the Cold War trap – “he’s an SOB, but he’s our SOB.” The White House is likely to start calling Mr. Taya a democratically elected leader as it tries to restore him to his throne, but the facts don’t support the contention. Well, facts have never been much of a concern to the president and the Busheviks.



© Copyright 2005 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.
Produced using Fedora Linux.


Home