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10/27/2004:

"Why Africa roots for Kerry"

If George Bush took a break from election campaigning to ponder Africa he might feel aggrieved. After all that effort, all those bold policies to tackle poverty and disease, Africans want him to lose next week.

From the US administration's point of view that must rankle. Here is a continent which for the past four years basked in Washington's attention and money, pocketing favours in trade and aid from a generous president.

Before his election in 2000, Bush bluntly stated that Africa was of no strategic interest to the US. But in office he became passionate about boosting economic ties and treating millions of people with HIV/Aids. He visited Senegal, South Africa, Botswana, Uganda and Nigeria, called leaders by their first names and invited them to the White House.

So for Africa to wish him a speedy farewell from office must strike Bush as ingratitude on a grand scale.

"If Africa was to vote, Kerry would get a landslide," said Robert Kabushenga, a political analyst in Uganda, told Reuters.

"All public opinion surveys show the publics of the world don't know Kerry but they don't like Bush. Someone sitting in Chad doesn't know who Kerry is, but he sure knows who Bush is," said John Stremlau, a professor of international relations at Johannesburg's Witwatersrand University.

Full Article: Guardian UK