2008/02/01 by Oren Gruenbaum · 1 citation
Social Sciences · #Commonwealth, Australian Politics and Federalism
paper · doi:10.1080/00358530701864963
openalex publication_date 2008/02/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
The Pakistani opposition leader and former premier Benazir Bhutto, who had only recently returned from exile, was assassinated as she campaigned for forthcoming elections. A month earlier, Pakistan had thrown a shadow over the biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Uganda when President Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency. The Commonwealth suspended Pakistan. Another former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, also returned from exile to stand in elections. Islamist insurgents battled the Pakistan army in several regions. In Kenya violence errupted along ethnic lines after Mwai Kibaki was widely seen to have rigged the presidential election. In Australia, John Howard's Liberal Party was swept from power. His successor, Kevin Rudd, signed the Kyoto Protocol and set a date to withdraw troops from Iraq. A European Union – Africa summit underlined familiar divisions: the British prime minister, Gordon Brown, boycotted the event because a travel ban was waived for Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe, who attacked Europe for criticizing human rights in Africa.