A time-line of black AfricaWorld News | Politics | History | Editor(Copyright © 1999-2023 Piero Scaruffi) |
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1000 BC: the Queen of Sheba visits king Solomon of Israel 300 BC: the city of Axum is founded 50: Axum rules Eritrea 300: Axum conquers southern Arabia 320: the Syrian monk Frumentius converts Ethiopian emperor Ezana to Christianity 500: Axum conquers southern Sudan 525: King Ella Kaleb of Axum annexes Yemen 5xx: Polynesian people settle Madagascar 5xx: the Christian kingdom of Dongola rules over Sudan 6xx: Arabs colonize East African trade towns including Zanzibar 710: Arabs invade Eritrea and destroy the Axumite empire 8xx: the empire of Ghana controls Mali, Mauritania, Guinea and Senegal 982 BC: Menelik I, son of the Queen of Sheba, becomes Ethiopia's first emperor 1000: Queen Yodit defeats the last Axumite king Del Na'od 1000: Timbuktu is founded in Africa by Muslim traders 1076: Almoravids from Morocco defeat the kingdom of Ghana and seize Mali and Mauritania 10xx: Great Zimbabwe is the capital of a wealthy Shona kingdom that trades with Asia 10xx: the Shona empire forms between the Limpopo and Zambezi rivers 1137: the Zagwe Dynasty is founded in Ethiopia and the capital is moved from Axum to Lalibela 1250: Sudan (Dongola) is conquered by the Mamaluks of Egypt 1250: Sundiata Keita founds the empire of Mali 1270: Yekuno Amlak ends the Zagwe dynasty and founds the Solomonic dynasty in Ethiopia 12xx: the empire of Ghana rules over Mali and Senegal 12xx: the Mali empire expands to Guinea 130x: kingdoms of Kongo, Luba, Kuba, Lunda in the Congo 130x: Mali emperor Mansa Musa hires Arab architects to rebuild Timbuktu and Djenne 13xx: the kingdoms of Ife, Oyo, Benin in Nigeria engage in the slave trade 130x: the empire of Mali expands to the Atlantic 132x: Amda Siyon becomes negus of Ethiopia and expands the empire 1325: Mansa Musa, the king of Mali, makes his pilgrimage to Mecca carrying 500 slaves and 100 camels 1349: Yaji is the first Muslim ruler of Kano (north Nigeria) 1380: The Kanembu found a state in Bornu (Chad and Niger) 14xx: Bantu people invade the eastern half of South Africa 14xx: Gao raids Mali's capital Niani 1424: prince Henrique the Navigator of Portugal sends the first expedition to Africa 1430: Portugal trades slaves within Africa 1436: Afonso de Baldaya reaches Rio de Oro on behalf of prince Henrique the Navigator of Portugal 1444: the first public sale of African slaves by Europeans takes place at Lagos, Portugal 1460: Portugal settles the islands of Cape Verde 1464: Gao invades all of Mali and Sunni Ali founds the empire of Songhai with capital in Gao 1468: Songhai takes Timbuktu 1472: Portugal explores Gabon and Sao Tome 1482: Portugal founds the first European trading post in continental Africa (Elmina, Gold Coast) 1488: Moroccans invade the African kingdom of Mali 1495: Cape Verde becomes a Portuguese colony 1520: Portugal establishes a trade post in Mozambique 15xx: Portugal raids Eastern Africa trade towns 15xx: the Shonas found the Rozwi state 15xx: Tutsis from Ethiopia establish a feudal system in the Hutu lands (Rwanda and Burundi) 1500: Portugal "discovers" Madagascar 1506: a Christian, Nzinga Mbemba, becomes king of the Kongo Kingdom 1533: Muslim general Ahmad Gran invades Ethiopia 1542: Portugal helps Ethiopia repel an Arab invasion 1571: Portugal attacks Mali 1575: Mali defeats Portugal 1575: Portugal establishes a trade post in Luanda (Angola) to buy slaves for Brazil 1591: the Songhay/Gao empire collapses after a Moroccan invasion 160x: BAntu people invade Namibia 16xx: kingdoms of Kanembornu and Hausa in Niger 1632: Fasiladas founds the modern empire of Ethiopia with capital in Gondar 1637: Holland captures Portugal's main trading post in Africa, Elmina 1641: Holland captures Portugal's trading posts in Sao Tome and Luanda 1648: Portugal recaptures Sao Tome and Luanda 1651: Britain occupies Gambia 1652: Holland establishes a trade post at the Cape of Good Hope (South Africa), which develops into a colony of "boers" with its own language (Afrikaans) 1659: France invades Senegal 1660: Portugal defeats the kingdom of Kongo and renames it Zaire 1663: Abyssinia defeats Portugal 1674: Arabs invade Mauritania 1699: Arabs from Oman invade Zanzibar 17xx: the Ashanti kingdom conquers Ghana with capital at Kumasi, and thrives on the slave trade 17xx: the Muslim kingdoms of Ouadai and Baguirmi (Chad) trade slaves captured in the south 1763: Britain conquers Senegal from France 1776: Ibrahim Sori seizes power in Futa Jallon (Guinea) and converts it to Islam 1779: the Boers are defeated by the Xhusa in the first Bantu war (South Africa) 1783: Britain cedes Senegal to France 1787: Britain founds Sierra Leone as a colony for freed slaves ("krios") 1789: Uthman Don Fodio founds the caliphate of Sokoto, strictly Islamic, and leads Muslim uprising in northern Nigeria and Cameroon 1792: king Andrianampoinimerina of the Merinas invades half of Madagascar and moves his capital to Antananarive 1794: Britain conquers the Seychelles 1796: After France invades Holland, Holland surrenders Melaka/Malacca, Sri Lanka and the Cape of Good Hope to Britain 18xx: the Zulus under king Shaka invade nearby kingdoms in South Africa causing mass migrations (difaqane) 1800: 20,000 slaves from central Africa are sold every year in Egypt 1806: Britain annexes the Dutch colony of the Cape (South Africa) 1807: Britain abolishes the slave trade 1810: king Andrianampoinimerina of Merina dies and is succeeded by king Radama I who continues to expand his rule over Madagascar 1810: Britain conquers Mauritius 1816: Ahmad Lobbo founds the new state of Massina in Mali 1817: Uthman Don Fodio retires to a religious life and is succeeded by Muhammad Bello as the caliph of Sokoto (northern Nigeria) 1820: king Moshoeshoe founds the Sotho kingdom of Basutoland to escape the Zulu expansion 1820: Britain dispatches 5,000 settlers to the Cape 1820: Britain recognizes Madagascar's independence under the Merina king 1821: Massina establishes a new capital in Hamdallahi 1822: Egyptian ruler Mehemet Ali conquers Sudan on behalf of the Ottoman empire 1822: US philanthropists found the state of Liberia for freed slaves 1828: king Radama I of Merina (Madagascar) dies and is succeeded by queen Ranavalona I TM, ®, Copyright © 2005 :www.scaruffi.com/service/terms.html>Piero Scaruffi All rights reserved. 1830: Mzilikazi founds the Ndebele state 1830: Egpyt founds a new capital for Sudan, Khartoum 1831: Teodros becomes king of Ethiopia with a program to conquer Jerusalem and Mecca and to abolish Islam 1832: Oman moves its capital to the slave trade center of Zanzibar 1834: Britain abolishes slavery in South Africa, and 40,000 black slaves are technically free 1834: Mailikazi of the Nbedele people invades the Rozwi state 1836: Fleeing British authority, Boers migrate ("the Great Trek"), massacring thousands of Zulus and kidnapping hundreds of black children, and found the Orange Free State and the Transvaal 1837: Umar seizes power and founds a new dyansty in Bornu 1839: king Sabhuza I of Swaziland dies and the boers invade the country 1843: Britain annexes Natal (South Africa) 1843: Swazi, leader of the Barabuza, declares the independence of Swaziland 1844: Youstol Dispage Frompiero discovers inverted correlation 1847: Liberia becomes independent under Joseph Roberts, which recreates slavery 1849: Libreville is founded as an enclave for freed slaves 1850: Arabs sell into slavery about 100,000 Africans per year 1851: Britain seizes Lagos in Nigeria 1852: Al-Hajj Umar launches a jihad against pagan people and founds an Islamic state in Dingiray (Senegal) 1855: Kasa becomes emperor Tewodros II of Ethiopia 1861: queen Ranavalona I of Merina (Madagascar) dies and is succeeded by king Radama II 1862: king Radama II of Merina (Madagascar) is assassinated and is succeeded by queen Rasoherina, wife of the assassin, prime minister Rainilaiarivony 1865: 15,000,000 Africans have been deported in the Americas since the slave trade began, and 30-40 million have died before reaching the Americas (17 million have been deported by Arab traders to the Muslim world) 1866: diamond deposits are discovered at Kimberley, South Africa 1866: Diamond deposits are discovered at Kimberley, South Africa 1867: Diamonds are discovered in South Africa 1868: Lij Kasa conquers Amhara, Gojjam, Tigray and Shoa in Ethiopia 1868: Madagascar's queen Rahoserina dies and is succeeded by Ranavalona II, still married to the same prime minister Rainilaiarivony Apr 1868: British general Robert Napier defeats Ethiopia at Magdala and the Ethiopian emperor Theodore commits suicide 1868: Basutoland/Lesotho becomes a British colony 1868: Tewodros of Ethiopia is defeated by the British and commits suicide 1869: Italy buys land in Eritrea 1870: the Ndebele relocate their capital to Bulawayo 1870: Huge diamond mines are discovered near the Orange River in South Africa 1870: Guinea Bissau becomes a separate Portuguese colony from Cape Verde 1871: Kimberley attracts thousands of miners and becomes the biggest man-made hole in the world (2,722 kg of diamonds would be extracted by 1914) 1872: the chieftain Tigrayan becomes emperor Yohannes IV of Ethiopia 1874: Britain defeats the Ashanti kingdom (Ghana) and the Gold Coast becomes a British protectorate 1877: Transvaal becomes a British colony Jan 1879: Zulu warriors armed with spears massacre the British army at the battle of Isandhlwana Jul 1879: Britain defeats the Zulus at Ulundi in South Africa, imprisons their ruler Cetewayo and disintegrates their empire Dec 1880: Britain fights the first war against the Boers in South Africa Mar 1881: Britain signs a peace treaty with Paul Kruger's Boers acknowledging their independence in Transvaal 1881: Muhammad Ahmad, leader of the Mahdists, rebels against Egypt and establishes an Islamic state in Sudan 1881: Futa Jallon becomes a French protectorate 1883: Samory Toure founds the Islamic kingdom of Wasulu (Niger) 1883: Madagascar's queen Ranavalona II dies and is succeeded by Ranavalona III, still married to the same prime minister Rainilaiarivony, the real leader of the country while France forces Madagascar to accept a protectorate 1884: German explorer Carl Peters begins to colonize Tanganyika 1884: Cameroon becomes a German protectorate 1885: France colonizes Central Africa 1885: Britain establishes a protectorate over Bechuanaland (Botswana) 1885: Britain establishes a protectorate over the Delta region in Nigeria 1885: Sudan's Mahdists defeat British troops sent to regain Sudan for Egypt and Muhammad Ahmad establishes an Islamic theocratic state over Sudan 1885: Italy occupies Massawa in Eritrea 1885: an international conference at Berlin awards Congo to the king of Belgium, Mozambique and Angola to Portugal, Namibia and Tanzania to Germany, Somalia to Italy, most of western Africa to France, and Egypt, Sudan, Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana to Britain 1886: Leopold II of Belgium establishes the Congo Free State over Kongo/Zaire and enacts a policy of ethnic cleansing that would reduce the population from 20 million to 8 million by 1908 because of disease, torture or executions 1886: George Goldie founds the Niger Company to administer Nigeria on behalf of Britain 1886: The kingdom of Shewa conquers the Oromo lands 1886: Britain establishes a protectorate over Zanzibar, still dominated by Arabs 1886: Gold is discovered in the Boer stronghold of Transvaal, South Africa 1888: British investors in South Africa form De Beers Consolidated Mines to control the diamond trade 1888: The British East African Company acquires Kenya 1889: Yohannes IV of Ethiopia dies in battle and is succeeded by emperor Menelik II, king of Shewa, who establishes Addis Abeba as Ethiopia's new capital 1889: Cecil Rhodes begins to colonize the Southern African regions (Rhodesia, South Africa) for the British 1889: Italy invades Eritrea 1890: Rhodes conquers the Ndebele state (which becomes known as Rhodesia) and founds Salisbury (Harare) and is appointed prime minister of the Cape colony In South Africa 1890: Namibia becomes a German colony 1890: the Tutsi kingdom of Rwanda and Burundi becomes the German colony Ruanda-Urundi 1890: Frederick Lugard is appointed military administrator of Uganda by Britain 1891: Nyasaland becomes a British protectorate 1891: France invades the kingdoms of Niger and Guinea 1891: Somaliland is divided between Italy and Britain 1892: The gold rush brings a railway to Johannesburg in South Africa 1893: Swaziland becomes a British protectorate 1893: France occupies Dingiray (Senegal) 1893: Buganda becomes a British protectorate 1894: Kenya becomes a British colony 1894: Togo becomes a German protectorate 1894: the kingdom of Dahomey is annexed by French West Africa 1894: Belgium conquers eastern Congo from the Arabs 1895: Frances forces the Merina queen to abdicate 1895: Italy invades Ethiopia 1896: Italy is defeated by Ethiopia at Adwa/Adua and only Eritrea becomes an Italian colony 1896: Madagascar becomes a French colony 1896: France conquers southern Chad and Mauritania 1896: Britain attacks Sudan again 1896: France occupies Ouagagougou (Upper Volta) 1898: British general Herbert Kitchener conquers Sudan from the Mahdists at the Battle of Omdurman and massacres thousands of Sudanese tribesmen, returning theoretically Sudan to Egypt which is theoretically under the Ottomans, and encourages southern Sudan to convert to Christianity and ban Arab customs 1898: Muhammad Abdille Hassan resists British occupation in Somaliland 1898: France conquers Samory Toure's kingdom 1898: France conquests French Sudan (Mali) 1899: 26,000 Boer civilians die in concentration camps during the war between Britain and the Boers 1899: About 25% of the gold of the world comes from the mines of Johannesburg, South Africa 1899: Britain buys Nigeria from the Niger Company 1900: The French found Fort-Lamy in Chad (later renamed N'Djamena) 1900: Britain creates an apartheid system in Kenya importing whites from South Africa, Canada and Australia 1900: Britain extends its control from Buganda on the entire territory of Uganda 1901: British Ghana incorporates northern territories 1902: Lourenco Marques becomes the capital of Mozambique May 1902: Boers and British sign a peace treaty granting autonomy to South Africa and creating segregation for blacks 1903: France imposes a "head tax" on Cote d'Avoir's population 1903: Britain sends Indians to work on a railway in Kenya 1904: 12,000 British settlers live in Rhodesia 1904: Lothar von Trotha massacres the Herero and Namaqua in Namibia in 1904-1907 1904: German troops massacre 65,000 members of the Herero tribe in Namibia 1904: Brazzaville becomes the capital of French Central Africa 1905: France occupies all of Madagascar 1905: The Maji Maji revolt against Germany in Tanganyka 1906: Guinea becomes part of French West Africa 1908: at the end of the Congo war, the native population has decline by 10-20 million (at least 8 million were killed) and Congo has become a colony of Belgium 1910: The British colonies of Transvaal, Orage Free State, Natal and Cape unite in the Union of South Africa 1910: Gabon (Libreville) is separated from Congo (Brazzaville) but remains a French colony in central Africa 1910: Middle Congo becomes a colony of French Equatorial Africa 1912: the African National Congress is founded to promote the rights of blacks in South Africa 1913: Menelik of Ethiopia dies and is succeeded by Lij Iyasu 1914: Togo is occupied by Britain and France 1914: Britain unites south and north Nigeria (the north being a caliphate ruling over the Fulani-Hausa ethnic group while the south is still divided into many tribal groups) and Frederick Lugard is appointed governor of the new colony 1915: South Africa inherits Namibia from Germany 1916: Britain conquers Tanganyika from Germany 1916: Britain incorporates Darfur into Sudan 1916: France conquers northern Chad (kingdoms of Ouadai and Baguirmi) 1916: Lij Iyasu of Ethiopia is deposed and is succeeded by Menelik's daughter, Zawditu 1916: Belgium conquers Rwanda and Burundi from Germany 1917: Britain suppresses a rebellion in Southern Sudan 1918: France and Britain conquer Cameroon 1919: Upper Volta becomes a separate territory of French West Africa 1920: Britain drops incendiary bombs on rebels in Southern Sudan 1920: There are 20,000 Indians in Kenya 1922: the British settlers of Rhodesia vote to secede from South Africa 1924: the British governor of Sudan, Lee Stack, is assassinated in Cairo 1925: Sudan completes the Sennar Dam on the Blue Nile 1925: Belgium creates African's first national park, Virunga National Park, in Congo Kinshasa 1926: Andre Matswa forms the liberation movement of French Congo 1926: France makes Niamey, a town of 3,000 people, the capital of Niger 1927: South Africa makes it illegal to have casual sex with a person of the other race 1927: Hastings Banda emigrates from Nyasaland to the USA to study 1928: Britain massacres 200 tribesmen in Bahr-al_Jabal, Southern Sudan 1930: Zawditu of Ethiopia dies and is succeeded by Ras Tafari Makonnen, who becomes emperor Haile Selassie I 1930: USA and Britain cut off diplomatic relations with Liberia, which still practices slavery 1930: France completes the railway in the Congo that cost the lives of 17,000 African workers 1931: white Kenyan archaeologist Louis Leakey discovers human stone tool fossils in the Olduvai Gorge of Kenya 1931: Jomo Kenyatta emigrates from Kenya to Britain to study 1934: racial laws forbid blacks from running any business in Rhodesia 1934: South Africa becomes independent Oct 1935: Italy invades Ethiopia 1937: The Graduates' General Congress is formed to demand independence from Britain in Sudan 1937: The West Nile virus is isolated in Uganda 1937: The US-educated Nnamdi Azikiwe or "Zik" returns to Nigeria 1941: Britain liberates Ethiopia 1943: William Tubman becomes president of Liberia, a state in which only 3% of the population is free 1944: Felix Houphouet-Boigny founds the Syndicat Agricole Africain in Cote d'Avoire 1944: Sayyid al-Rahman, son Muhammad Ahmad and new leader of the Mahdists, founds the Umma Party in Sudan opposed to the union with Egypt 1944: The Nigerian nationalists Zik and Herbert Macaulay found the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroon 1945: Eritrea becomes a British protectorate 1946: Barthlemey Boganda starts a movement for the independence of Central Africa Jun 1946: Pastor Ravelojaona and Gabriel Razafintsalama found the Democratic Party of Madagascar while Philibert Tsiranana founds the Party of the Marginalized of Madagascar 1946: France separates Mauritania and Senegal Mar 1947: The Democratic Movement for Malagasy Reform launches an insurrection 1947: Jomo Kenyatta leads the liberation movement of Kenya 1948: the white government of South Africa creates apartheid to segregate blacks from whites 1948: Kwame Nkrumah founds the Convention People's Party in Ghana Dec 1948: France quells the insurrection in Madagascar after tens of thousands of people have died in executions, tortures and starvation 1949: South Africa bans mixed-race marriages 1950: Nkrumah organizes a general strike in Ghana and is arrested by the British 1952: Eritrea and Ethiopia are federated in one country under Haile Selassie 1952: The first human case of Zika virus is detected in Uganda 1952: The Mau Mau guerrillas pledge to drive white people out of Kenya 1953: Northern Rhodesia, Southern Rhodesia and Nyasaland are united in a federation 1953: Ibos and Yorubas riot in Kano, Nigeria 1953: Ismail al-Azhari wins elections in British Sudan and becomes prime minister appointing mostly northern Sudanese to the government Dec 1953: Britain has arrested 150,000 Mau Mau insurgents 1954: Julius Nyerere founds the Tanganyka African National Union 1954: The CPP wins general elections in British Ghana but the Ashanti start their own National Liberation Movement 1956: British Togo votes to be annexed to Ghana 1956: Amilcar Cabral founds an independence movement in Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde 1956: The Movimento Popular de Libertacao de Angola (MPLA) is founded 1956: Britain grants full independence to Sudan, a country with more than 400 languages/dialects and more than 50 ethnic groups that mainly relies on exports of cotton, but the Christian south rebels against the Muslim rulers 1957: Ghana, under Nkrumah, becomes the first black African country to win independence from a European colonizer 1957: Ethiopia abolishes the Arabic and Eritrean languages 1958: Guinea becomes independent under Sekow Toure, who creates a Maoist one-party state and carries out widespread "purges" TM, ®, Copyright © 2005 :www.scaruffi.com/service/terms.html>Piero Scaruffi All rights reserved. 1958: Kenneth Kaunda forms a liberation movement in Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) 1958: Mauritania becomes independent 1958: Sudanese general Ibrahim Abboud overthrows the civilian government, abolishes political parties and imposes Arabic and Islam on the south 1958: The All-African Peoples Conference is held in Accra, calling for the liberation of the whole continent 1958: Liberia outlaws racial discrimination 1958: Patrice Lumumba founds the liberation movement of Congo 1959: Tutsis kill Hutu leaders, starting riots that will kill 100,000 Tutsis 1959: Boganda is killed in a mysterious plane crash in Central Africa 1959: end of the Mau Mau rebellion in Kenya (13,000 Kenyans and 100 Europeans dead) 1960: British and Italian Somaliland gain independence and merge to form Somalia 1960: Mali becomes independent under Modibo Keita 1960: Senegal becomes independent under Leopold Senghor 1960: Central Africa becomes independent under David Dacko 1960: Mauritania becomes independent under Mokhtar Ould Daddah 1960: Gabon becomes independent under Mba and enjoys an economic boom 1960: Benin becomes independent 1960: Chad becomes independent under dictator Francois Tombalbaye 1960: Niger becomes independent under Hamani Diori 1960: Nigeria becomes independent under prime minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa 1960: Belgian Congo (Zaire) becomes independent, with Patrice Lumumba as prime minister and Joseph Kasavubu as president, while the province of Katanga declares its independence under Moise Tshombe 1960: Herman Toivo Ya Toivo form the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO), the Namibia liberation movement 1960: the white police of South Africa kills 67 blacks during anti-apartheid demonstrations in Sharpeville 1960: Madagascar becomes independent under Philibert Tsiranana 1960: French Congo (Brazzaville) becomes independent under Fulbert Youlou 1960: Nigeria becomes independent under Abubakar Tafawa Balewa 1960: the African National Congress is banned in South Africa and Nelson Mandela launches armed resistance against the white regime 1960: Cote d'Avoire becomes independent under Houphouet-Boigny and enjoys an economic boom 1960: Keita of Mali is deposed by a coup led by Moussa Traore 1960: Upper Volta (Burkina Faso) becomes independent under Maurice Yameogo 1960: French Togo becomes independent under Sylvanus Olympio 1961: Tanganyika becomes independent under Julius Nyerere 1961: Kenya's first multiparty elections are won by Kenyatta's KANU 1961: Lumumba is assassinated in Congo (Zaire) 1961: Cameroon becomes independent under Ahmadou Ahidjo 1961: Anti-Portuguese riots and guerrilla in Angola by the Movimento Popular de Libertacao de Angola (MPLA), sponsored by the communists, and the Uniao Nacional paraa a Independencia Total de Angola (UNITA), sponsored by South Africa June 1962: The Frente de Libertacao do Mocambique (Frelimo), led by Eduardo Mondlane, starts a liberation war against Portugal in Mozambique 1962: Ethiopian emperor Haile Sellassie dissolves the Eritrean parliament and annexes the country, while Eritreans begin an independence war 1962: Nelson Mandela is arrested in South Africa 1962: Milton Obote leads Uganda to independence under the Buganda king Edward Mutesa 1962: Rwanda becomes independent under Gregoire Kayitanda, a Hutu, while Tutsis start a guerrilla war 1962: Burundi becomes independent under Tutsi king Mwambutsa IV 1962: Christians in the south of Sudan start a civil war (the "Anya Nya" movement) 1963: the first conference of the Organisation of African Unity is held in Addis Ababa 1963: Chad's government outlaws all opposition parties, triggering civil war with Frolinat 1963: Olympio overthrown and killed in Togo 1963: Alphonse Massamba-Debat seizes power in Congo Brazzaville and steers the country towards socialism 1963: the federation of the Rhodesias dissolves 1963: Katanga accepts integration in the Congo (Zaire) and president Joseph Kasavubu appoints Moise Tshombe prime minister 1963: Tuaregs of the Sahara stage a failed insurrection in Mali 1964: Nothern Rhodesia becomes independent and is renamed Zambia 1964: Nyasaland becomes independent and is renamed Malawi under Hastings Banda who declares himself president for life 1963: Zanzibar becomes an independent sultanate Dec 1963: Kenya becomes independent under president Kenyatta, a Kikuyu (an ethnic group that constitutes 22% of the population) Dec 1963: Africans overthrow the Arab sultanate of Zanzibar 1964: Kenyatta outlaws all parties but his own Nov 1964: Sudan's dictator Abboud is forced to resign and Sudan returns to civilian rule under the young Oxford-educated Sadiq al-Mahdi 1964: Zanzibar is united to Tanganyika to become Tanzania 1964: Pierre Mulele leads the Simba rebellion in Congo 1964: Samora Machel leads Frelimo's first military attacks against the Portuguese in Mozambique 1964: Mauritania becomes a one-party state under the People's Party 1965: Lumumba of Congo is overthrown by Belgium and USA that install Joseph Desire Mobutu (later renamed Mobutu Sese Seko) 1965: Gambia becomes independent under Dawda Jawara 1965: Riots in Nigeria 1965: Hutus win the elections in Burundi but Tutsi king Mwambutsa IV refuses to appoint a Hutu prime minister 1965: white leader Ian Smith declares the independence of (Southern) Rhodesia, not recognized by Britain 1966: Yameogo of Upper Volta (Burkina Faso) is deposed by Maurice Lamizana 1966: Milton Obote seizes power in Uganda deposing the Buganda heir Edward Mutesa 1966: Senghor proclaims Senegal a one-party socialist state 1966: Mobutu of Congo hangs former prime minister Evariste Kimba and cabinet members in front of a large crowd 1965: Seretse Khama wins the first national elections and becomes prime minister of Bechunaland 1966: Bechuanaland becomes independent under Seretse Khama and changes name to Botswana 1966: Ntare V deposes his father Mwambutsa IV in Burundi but is overthrown by Michel Micombero in a military coup 1966: SWAPO of Namibia launches guerrilla attacks against the occupying troops of South Africa 1966: Jean-Bedel Bokassa ousts Dacko in Central Africa and installs a brutal dictatorship with help from France 1966: Balewa is overthrown and killed in a failed military coup by general Ironsi and is succeeded by colonel Yakubu Gowon 1966: Basutoland declares independence and changes name to Lesotho 1966: Kwame Nkrumah is overthrown in Ghana by the army May 1967: Ojukow declares Biafra independent from Nigeria, following massacres of Ibos and sparking a civil war 1967: the two factions involved in the Nigerian civil war agree to a 48-hour ceasefire so they can watch Pele play an exhibition game in Lagos 1967: Mba dies and El Hadj Omar Bongo seizes power in Gabon with help from Morocco, turning the richest African country into a one-party corrupt mess 1967: Nyere turns Tanzania into a Maoist state, thereby destroying the economy and turning Tanzania into one of the poorest countries in the world 1967: Gnassingbe Eyadema seizes power in Togo 1968: Swaziland becomes independent 1968: Samora Machel proclaims Marxism-Leninism as the ideology of Frelimo in Mozambique 1968: Pierre Mulele is arrested in Congo, tortured and killed (his limbs amputated one by one) 1968: Sierra Leone becomes independent under Siaka Stevens 1968: the United Nations imposes economic sanctions on the racial government of Rhodesia, while Joshua Nkomo, Abel Muzorewa, Ndabaningi Sithule, and Robert Mugabe start guerrilla warfare 1968: France saves Tombalbaye of Chad from Muslim rebels 1968: Massamba-Debat is ousted in a coup by Marien Ngouabi 1968: Moussa Treore seizes power in Mali 1968: Mauritius gains independence from Britain 1969: minister Tom Mboya is assassinated in Kenya 1969: Eduardo Mondlane, leader of Frelimo in Mozambique, is assassinated October 1969: Somalia's general Muhammad Siad Barre seizes power in Somalia and turns Somalia into a communist dictatorship 1969: Francisco Macias Nguema seizes power in Equatorial Guinea May 1969: Sudanese colonel Jaafar Muhammad al-Numairi/Nimeiri overthrows the civilian government and sets out to ban political parties but grants autonomy to the south 1970: Nigeria re-annexes Biafra after one million people died 1970: The Eritrean People's Liberation Front is founded to fight for the independence of Eritrea from Ethiopia 1970: Sudan's army defeats an attempted coup by the Mahdists Jan 1971: Muslim general Idi Amin stages a coup in Uganda with the support of Nubian forces of the Ugandan army and becomes the dictator of a mostly Christian country (300,000 people will die in 8 years of political violence and starvation) 1971: Sudan's army defeats an attempted coup by the communists 1971: Mobutu renames Congo as Zaire 1971: Tubman of Liberia dies and is succeeded by William Tolbert 1972: Gabriel Ramanantsoa seizes power in Madagascar and steers the country towards socialism 1972: Sudan grants autonomy to the south who elects its own president, Abel Alier 1972: Nigeria switches to driving on the right 1972: Mathieu Kerekou seizes power in Dahomey and turns it into a socialist state 1972: Kaunda outlaws all opposition parties, introduces socialism and turns Zambia into one of the poorest countries in the world 1972: Libya occupies northern Chad in cahoots with Chad's dictator Tombalbaye 1972: 1,000 Tutsis (including king Ntare V) are massacred in Burundi, and in retaliation the Burundi government kills 150,000 Hutus 1972: general Juvenbal Habyarimana stages a coup in Rwanda 1973: France sends troops to help quell Chad's revolt March 1973: Black September kills three Western diplomats in Sudan, including the USA ambassador to Sudan 1973: King Sobhuza II abrogates Swaziland's independence constitution and creates an absolute monarchy 1973: El-Ouali leads a group of Sahrawi (Western Saharan) students to form the "Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el Hamra and Rio de Oro", or Polisario, fighting for independence from Spain 1974: 200,000 people die of famine in Ethiopia 1974: Mali and Burkina Faso (Upper Volta) fight a border war September 1974: Haile Selassie of Ethiopia is deposed in coup while Mengistu Haile Mariam seize power and turns the country into a communist state (end of the empire of Ethiopia) 1974: Guinea Bissau gains independence from Portugal under president Luis de Almeida Cabral 1974: Hundreds of people die of starvation in Somalia 1974: Seyni Kountche seizes power in Niger 1975: Didier Ratsiraka seizes power in Madagascar and establishes a socialist state Feb 1975: The Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), representing the ethnic group Tigrayans which makes up about 6% of the population, is founded in Ethiopia to fight against the dictatorship 1975: Cape Verde gains independence from Portugal 1975: Somalia executes Muslim religious leaders, grants equal rights to women, improves literacy and sedentarizes nomads 1975: Tombalbaye of Chad is deposed by Felix Malloum 1975: Spain withdraws from Western Sahara, Morocco invades Western Sahara and the Polisario proclaims the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic and begins an independence war against Morocco 1975: Mozambique becomes independent under Samora Machel of Frelimo, who creates a socialist state, but 600,000 people die of starvation in the next ten years TM, ®, Copyright © 2005 :www.scaruffi.com/service/terms.html>Piero Scaruffi All rights reserved. 1975: Nigerian leader Gowon is overthrown by Murtala Ramat Mohammed, who moves the capital to Abuja January 1975: Angola becomes independent but civil war erupts between UNITA, led by Jonas Savimbi, and MPLA, led by Agostinho Neto, who becomes Angola's first president March 1975: Cuba and the Soviet Union send "advisors" to the MPLA in Angola May 1975: The countries of West Africa establish the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) October 1975: South Africa intervenes on the side of UNITA in Angola 1975: The Comoros gain independence from France 1975: Desmond Tutu is appointed dean of St Mary�s Cathedral in Johannesburg, the first Black South African to hold that position 1976: Lourenco Marques is renamed Maputo 1976: Tsadkan Gebretensae joins the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) 1976: the Ebola virus is first identified in western Sudan and in a region of Congo 1976: Sudan has 18 million people 1976: Sadiq al-Mahdi attempts a coup in Sudan with help from Libya 1976: white police massacres 600 blacks during an anti-apartheid uprising in Soweto, South Africa 1976: colonel Jean Baptiste Bagaza, a Tutsi, seizes power in Burundi July 1976: Israeli commandos storm an Air France plane hijacked by Palestinian terrorists in Entebbe, killing all the Palestinians and scores of Ugandan soldiers that were protecting them October 1976: Mengitsu of Ethiopia orders the execution of 100,000 dissidents over four years of "red terror" 1976: Renamo is formed by white Rhodesian officers to fight the government of Mozambique Sep 1976: Belgian scientist Peter Piot discovers an epidemics near the Ebola river in the Congolese rainforest that kills 300 people in the village of Yambuku February 1977: Mengitsu of Ethiopia liquidates his political rivals and assumes absolute power Mar 1977: The Front for the National Liberation of the Congo (FNLC) invades Zaire from Angola to overthrow Mobutu, but the coup is repelled by Moroccan troops and Egyptian aircrafts assembled by France July 1977: Somalia invades the Ogaden region of Ethiopia August 1977: Mengitsu of Ethiopia declares "total war" against the Eritrean secessionists 1977: Bokassa, known for cannibalism, appoints himself emperor of Central Africa in a ceremony, sponsored by France, that costs the equivalent of the country's entire gross national product 1977: France, Belgium and Morocco help Mobutu repel an Angolan attack on Zaire 1977: Sudan signs a mutual defense treaty with Egypt, thus becoming de facto an ally of the USA 1977: Ngouabi of Congo Brazzaville is assassinated in a coup and Massamba-Debat (instigator of the coup) is executed, while Joachim Yhombi-Opango becomes the new president 1977: Riots in Guinea against Toure's communist government May 1978: The Front for the National Liberation of the Congo (FNLC) invades Zaire again, and massacres 80 Europeans and 200 Africans, and this time is repelled by France's Foreign Legion 1978: the Soviet Union and Cuba send troops to support Mengitsu's regime March 1978: Ethiopia with help from the Soviet Union and Cuba regains the Ogaden from Somalia 1978: Daddah of Mauritania is deposed by Mohammed Khouna Haidallah 1978: South Sudan's regional elections are won by general Joseph Lagu Aug 1978: Kenyatta of Kenya dies and is succeeded by Daniel Arap Moi, a Kalenjin, who establishes an even more brutal dictatorship 1978: Abel Muzorewa succeeds Ian Smith in Rhodesia 1978: France attacks the Polisario to defend Mauritania's president 1979: Alhaji Shehu Shagari of the National Party (representing the Muslim North) wins the elections in Nigeria September 1979: Angola's president Agostinho Neto dies and is succeeded by Jose Eduardo Dos Santos of the left-wing MPLA 1979: Francisco Macias Nguema is overthrown in Equatorial Guinea (50,000 have died) by his nephew Teodoro Obiang 1979: Jerry Rawlings leads the revolution in Ghana against corrupt officers 1979: Goukouni Oueddei seizes power in Chad, the first Muslim leader of the country, with help from Libya, starting a civil war that almost destroys the capital 1979: France overthrows Bokassa (after it is revealed that he ordered the massacre of 100 children) and re-installs Dacko as president of Central Africa 1979: Uganda attacks Tanzania, but Tanzania defeats Uganda and ousts president Amin 1979: Denis Sassou Nguesso, supported by Angolan troops, seizes power in Congo Brazzaville 1980: Robert Mugabe wins elections in Rhodesia and declares the independent country of Zimbabwe 1980: A coup deposes Guinea Bissau's president Luis de Almeida Cabral and installs general Joao Bernardo Vieira 1980: Seretse Khama dies and vice-president Ketumile Masire succeeds him as the new president of Botswana 1980: Senghor resigns and Abdou Diouf is elected president of Senegal 1980: Mauritania recognizes the Polisario 1980: Samuel Doe overthrows and kills Tolbert in Liberia (the native population runs the country for the first time in its history) 1980: Obote wins rigged elections in Uganda and Yoweri Museveni starts a guerrilla war 1980: Lamizana of Upper Volta (Burkina Faso) is deposed 1980: Mugabe wins the first free elections in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) and creates a one-party socialist state 1980: Libya sends troops to support Chad against the French-backed rebels of Hissene Habre (thousands of civilians die) 1982: North Korean troops help Rhodesia crush a rebellion led by Joshua Nkomo that leaves thousands dead 1982: South Africa builds a nuclear weapon Jun 1982: Moi declares a one-party socialist dictatorship in Kenya 1981: Hissene Habre seizes power in Chad 1981: Andre Kolingba ousts Dacko in Central Africa 1982: Swaziland king Sobhuza II dies, leaving 600 children to contend the throne 1982: Ahidja retires and Paul Biya becomes president of Cameroon Jan 1983: Mugabe's Fifth Brigade, supported by North Korean troops, begins a genocide of Ndebele people (the "Gukurahundi" massacre) in Zimbabwe 1983: Thomas Sankara seizes power in Upper Volta and changes its name to Burkina Faso 1983: Sudan mandates Islamic shariha law on the entire country and Christian leader John Garang leads the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army (SPLA), helped by Ethiopia, in a new civil war against the Sudanese government 1983: Drought causes a famine that will kill 500,000 people in three years in Sudan 1983: Christian leader John Garang leads the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army (SPLA) in a new civil war against the Sudanese government 1983: Renamo (supported by Rhodesia and South Africa) starts guerrilla war against Frelimo in Mozambique 1983: Nkomo starts guerrilla warfare against Mugabe, and Mugabe retaliates with mass executions Dec 1983: Shagari is overthrown by the military in Nigeria and Muhammadu Buhari becomes the new dictator 1984: 900,000 people die in Ethiopia of famine 1984: Haidallah of Mauritania is overthrown by Maaouya Ould Taya 1984: Sekou Toure of Guinea dies and Lansana Conte succeeds him 1984: France sponsors a coup against Cameroon's Biya that fails but kills hundreds 1984: Famine in Mozambique kills 100,000 people 1985: Ibrahim Babangida seizes power in Nigeria 1985: Every major country of the world has AIDS cases 1985: After mass graves of dissidents are discovered, Obote of Uganda is removed in a military coup led by Tito Okello 1985: Nyere of Tanzania retires and is succeeded by Ali Mwinyi 1985: Nimeiri/Numairi is deposed in Sudan by general Abd al-Rahman Siwar al-Dhahab 1986: Machel of Mozambique dies in an airplane crash and is succeeded by Joaquim Chissano 1986: Wole Soyinka is awarded the Nobel Prize, the first one in Africa 1986: Botswana posts the second highest growth rate in the world 1986: Joseph Momoth succeeds Siaka Stevens in Sierra Leone 1986: Museveni's guerrillas, helped by Paul Kagame's exiled Rwandan fighters of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), conquer Uganda's capital 1986: Dacko creates a one-party state in Central Africa 1986: riots in Zambia stemming from poverty 1986: a successor to king Sobhuza II is chosen in Swaziland, Mswati II 1986: al-Barakat is established in Somalia to facilitate the transfer of money from emigrants abroad to their relatives in Somalia 1986: Sadiq al-Mahdi becomes prime minister of Sudan but the Islamic Front (Muslim Brotherood) of Turabi controls the government 1986: Abebech Gobena opens an organization in Ethiopia to help orphans, Abebech Gobena Children's Care and Development Association (Agohelma) Feb 1987: A bus crash kills 35 near Nsukka in Nigeria 1987: Ndura Waruinge and Maina Njenga found Mungiki, a religious sect that promotes traditional moral values and the Mau Mau view of African nationalism 1987: Seyni Kountche of Niger dies and Ali Seybou succeeds him 1987: South African troops invade Angola to support Savimbi's rebels 1987: major Pierre Buyoya seizes power in Burundi 1987: Thomas Sankara of Burkina Faso is overthrown and executed by Blaise Campaore 1987: Mugabe and Nkomo reach an agreement that ends the civil war in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) 1987: the Mungiki sect in Kenya has more than a million members 1987: France expels Libya from Chad 1988: 20,000 Hutus are massacred by Tutsis in Burundi 1988: civil war erupts in Somalia between Barre and the Isaqs (Somaliland) December 1988: South African and Cuban troops withdraw from Angola 1989: DeKlerk wins national elections in South Africa on a democratic program 1989: Sudanese general Umar al-Bashir seizes power with support from Hassan al-Turabi's Islamic Front and from Iran, bans all political parties and creates a totalitarian Islamic state 1989: riots erupt in Mauritania between Arabs and blacks, and thousands of blacks are expelled to Senegal 1989: a ceasefire is signed between Morocco and the Polisario 1989: Charles Taylor leads rebels against Doe's government of Liberia, the beginning of Liberia's civil war 1989: SWAPO wins the first free elections in Namibia 1989: People riot against Didier Ratsiraka's economic policies in Madagascar 1989: Joseph Kony founds the Christian terrorist movement the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) 1990: Namibia becomes independent under president Sam Nujoma July 1990: The MPLA converts Angola to a market economy 1990: pro-democracy riots in Cote d'Avoire 1990: civil war in Senegal 1990: the Tuaregs of Niger rebel against the government 1990: Tutsi rebels helped by Uganda invade Rwanda but are repelled by Zaire, Belgium and France 1990: Mugabe wins rigged elections in Zimbabwe against Edgar Tekere's pro-capitalist and democratic party 1990: king Moshoeshoe II of Lesotho is deposed by her son Letsie III 1990: Habre of Chad (responsible for the death of 40,000 dissidents) is overthrown by Idriss Deby with help from Libya 1990: Tuaregs revolt against Mali 1990: Nelson Mandela is released from jail in South Africa 1990: Frelimo in Mozambique abandons socialism in favor of capitalism Oct 1990: Paul Kagame's RPF invade Rwanda from Uganda May 1991: the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front, led by Meles Zenawi and dominated by the Tigray People's Liberation Front of Tsadkan Gebretensae, and the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) remove Mengitsu from power, and the 36-year-old Meles becomes Africa's youngest head of state, leading a government mainly consisting of the Tigray ethnic group that constitute only 6% of Ethiopia's population 1991: Antonio Mascarenhas Monteiro wins elections in Cape Verde 1991: Barre is deposed in Somalia but civil war erupts among the Somali clans, while Somaliland declares independence under president Mohamed Ibrahim Egal 1991: Seybou is deposed in Niger 1991: Eritrean rebels conquer Eritrea under Isaias Afwerke 1991: the brutal dictatorship of Mobutu causes riots in Zaire 1991: South Africa repeals the apartheid laws 1991: Traore of Mali is deposed by Amadou Toure 1991: Frederick Chiluba wins the first free elections in Zambia 1991: Foday Sankoh leads an invasion of Sierra Leone by Sierra Leonean dissidents, mercenaries and forces of Liberia's rebel Charles Taylor TM, ®, Copyright © 2005 :www.scaruffi.com/service/terms.html>Piero Scaruffi All rights reserved. 1992: Chissano of Mozambique and Renamo leader Alfonso Dhaklama sign a peace agreement that ends the civil war (900,000 people have been killed) 1992: Valentine Strasser deposes Joseph Momoh and seizes power in Sierra Leone Apr 1992: The United Nation sends troops (led by the USA) in Somalia to stop fighting by clans that has claimed 300.000 lives ("Operation Provide Relief") 1992: Albert Zafy wins the first free elections in Madagascar 1992: Biya wins rigged elections in Cameroon 1992: Alpha Konare wins the first free elections in Mali 1992: Jose Eduardo Dos Santos of the left-wing MPLA wins the first free elections in Angola, but Savimbi refuses to recognize the result and resumes the civil war 1992: Pascal Lissouba wins the first free elections in Congo Brazzaville 1992: Jerry Rawlings wins the first democratic elections in Ghana Dec 1992: The USA sends 25,000 troops to Somalia as peace keepers Dec 1992: Moi wins the first democratic elections in Kenya since 1963, despite having destroyed its economy, because the opposition splits along ethnic lines (Kibaki's Kikuyu group versus Raila Odinga's Luos) 1993: Eritreans vote to become independent Feb 1993: Paul Kagame's RPF kills thousands of Hutus in northern Rwanda Aug 1993: Rwanda's president Juvenbal Habyarimana and Paul Kagame's RPF sign a peace accord Oct 1993: 18 US soldiers and hundreds of Somali militia fighters led by warlord Muhammad Aideed/ Aydid and civilians are killed in Mogadishu and the USA withdraws all troops from Somalia 1993: Houphouet-Boigny dies after ruling Cote d'Avoire for 33 years, and is succeeded by Henri Konan Bedie 1993: Bongo barely wins the first free elections in Gabon 1993: end of the civil war in Senegal 1993: Felix Patassie wins the first free elections in Central African Republic 1993: Mahamane Ousmane wins the first free elections in Niger 1993: Melchior Ndadaye wins the elections in Burundi and becomes the first Hutu president, but is assassinated by Tutsis in a coup that leaves thousands dead and starts a civil war that would kill 200.000 people 1993: a senior Bin Laden associate negotiate the purchase of enriched South African uranium with the mediation of Sudanese officials 1993: Omar Hassan al-Bashir is appointed president of Sudan while Hassan al-Turabi remains the most powerful man in the country 1993: Moshood Abiola wins the elections but general Sani Abacha seizes power in Nigeria 1994: Nelson Mandela wins the first free elections in South Africa and becomes its first black president 1994: Mozambique's president Chissano, who has received an honorary degree from a Hindu University, introduces mandatory meditation for all soldiers and police officers 1994: South Africa's right-wing movement AWB, led by supremacist leader Eugene Terreblanche, carries out a bombing campaign that kills 21 people 1994: Yahya JAmmeh deposes Jawara in Gambia Apr 1994: a moderate Hutu, Cyprien Ntaryamira, is appointed president of Burundi, but is assassinated together with the president of Rwanda, Juvenbal Habyarimana 1994: Jean Kambanda leads the government of Rwanda and Theoneste Bagosora defines its strategy while 800,000 Tutsis are slaughtered by Hutus and the RPF slaughters Hutus Jul 1994: Tutsi rebels conquer Rwanda, led by Paul Kagame , while the RPF, led by Kayumba Nyamwasa massacres more than 50,000 Hutus 1994: Banda is defeated in Malawi's first free elections and Bakili Muluzi becomes president 1994: South Africa has the highest rate of murders in the world (67 per 100,000 people) 1995: Benjamin Mkapa wins the first free elections in Tanzania 1995: Ugandan Muslims set up the Allied Democratic Forces in Congo to fight the Ugandan government 1995: Malawi's former president Hastings Banda is tried for killing more than 10,000 people during his rule Apr 1995: Rwanda's RPF, led by led by Kayumba Nyamwasa, massacres 4,000 Hutus in the refugee camp of Kibeho 1995: Serial killer Moses Sithole is arrested in South Africa after raping and killing 38 women 1995: Meles Zenawi wins elections in Ethiopia 1995: Konare's government of Mali signs a peace agreement with the Tuareg rebels 1995: Abacha executes oppposition leaders in Nigeria 1995: The Ebola virus kills entire villages in Congo Kinshasa (Zaire) 1995: White palaeontologist Richard Leakey leads the opposition in Kenya 1996: A meningitis epidemics kills thousands of people in Burkina Faso 1996: Ethiopian troops raid an al-Qaeda base in Somalia 1996: A puritanical Muslim sect in the Ruwenzori mountains of western Uganda founds the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) Jan 1996: Julius Maada overthrows Strasser's military junta of Sierra Leone and announces free elections Feb 1996: Ahmed Tejan Kabbah wins Sierra Leone's elections 1996: warlord Muhammad Aideed of Somalia dies and is succeeded by his son Hussein 1996: Zafy is deposed by parliament and Didier Ratsiraka wins the new elections in Madagascar 1996: Rwanda invades Congo/Zaire to fight Hutu militias 1996: Mugabe wins rigged elections in Zimbabwe after all other candidates withdraw 1996: colonel Ibrahim Mainassara seizes power in Niger 1996: a ferry sinks in Lake Victoria killing about 600 people 1996: Museveni wins the first free elections in Uganda 1996: an Islamic militant of Takfir wal Hijra kills 12 people in a Sudanese mosque June 1996: Following the Khobar Towers attack, Sudan expels Osama bin Laden 1996: Pierre Buyoya seizes power again in Burundi, while Hutu rebels conduct a guerrilla war that kills 100,000 people 1996: Army unites rebel in Central Africa 1996: Central Africa's president Patasse names Francois Bozize' chief of the army May 1997: Sierra Leone's president Kabbah is deposed by general Johnny Paul Koroma, who abolishes political parties 1997: Patasse and the rebel soldiers sign a peace treaty in Central Africa 1997: Charles Taylor wins rigged elections in Liberia and his opponent Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has to flee the country 1997: Kofi Annan of Ghana becomes the secretary general of the United Nations 1997: the government of Niger and the Tuareg rebels sign a peace treaty 1997: Somali factions sign a peace treaty May 1997: Laurent-Desire Kabila, helped by Rwanda, wins Congo/Zaire's civil war while Mobutu is abroad, and Jean-Pierre Bemba and other Mobutu officials flee the capital 1997: Rwandan troops, pursuing Hutu militias, invade Congo/Zaire Aug 1997: Rwanda's RPF, led by Kayumba Nyamwasa, massacres thousands of Hutus in Mahoko Oct 1997: Rwanda's RPF, led by Kayumba Nyamwasa, massacres 10,000 Hutu refugees in Kayove-Bisizi, Kanama, Karambo, Rwerere, Mutura and Rubavu Dec 1997: Rwanda's RPF, led by Kayumba Nyamwasa, stages a massacre of Congolese Tutsi refugees 1997: Denis Sassou-Nguesso becomes president of Congo Brazzaville after military confrontation 1998: Ethiopia and Eritrean fight a border war 1998: Masire retires and vice-president Festus Gontebanye succeeds him as president of Botswana 1998: Nigerian troops restore president Tejan Kabbah in Sierra Leone, but Foday Sankoh continues the civil war 1998: an oil pipeline explodes in Nigeria killing more than 500 people 1998: Civil war in Chad between the forces of president Deby and the rebels led by Youssouf Togoimi 1998: Jean Kambanda of Rwanda is convicted of genocide by the United Nations tribunal 1998: 80 students burn to death in their dormitories when the ADF attacks Uganda's Kichwamba Technical Institute near the border with Congo Kinshasa and more than 100 students are abducted Aug 1998: A new civil war starts in Congo Kinshasa after Kabila tries to expel Rwandan forces, and Namibia, Angola and Zimbabwe send troops to the Congo/Zaire to support Laurent Kabila against rebels backed by Uganda and Rwanda 1998: Nigerian dictator Abacha dies 1998: the U.S.A. bombs Sudan for helping terrorists and Afghanistan's camps where Osama bin Laden trains his militants 1998: two truck bombs destroyed the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, killing 213 people in Kenya and 11 in Tanzania 1998: Puntland declares its independence from Somalia under the presidency of Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed 1998: Ernest Wamba dia Wamba leads the Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD), backed by Uganda and Rwanda and based in Goma, in a rebellion against Kabila in Congo Kinshasa, while Jean-Pierre Bemba founds the Congolese Liberation Movement (MLC) in the east of Congo Kinshasa 1999: Rwanda installs Emile Ilunga as head of the RCD in Congo Kinshasa and Wamba flees to Kisangani, protected by Uganda Jan 1999: A bomb by Muslim terrorists kills two people at a restaurant in Cape Town, South Africa to protest the showing of the film "The Siege" Apr 1999: Civil war resumes in Liberia 1999: Olusegun Obasanjo wins democratic elections in Nigeria 1999: A coup deposes Guinea Bissau's dictator Joao Bernardo Vieira 1999: Umar al-Bashir has Turabi arrested in Sudan 1999: general Robert Guei seizes power in Cote d'Avoire (Ivory Coast) 1999: Liberia supports rebels of Sierra Leone led by Sam Bockarie, a deputy of Foday Sankoh 1999: Mainassara of Niger is assassinated and succeeded by Daouda Wanke 1999: Thabo Mbeki wins the elections in South Africa and succeeds Mandela as president 1999: South African president Thabo Mbeki declares AIDS drugs dangerous 1999: Tandja Mamadou wins democratic elections in Niger 2000: 2,000 people are killed in fighting between Muslims and Christians in the Nigerian city of Kanduna 2000: mass killing in Kanungu, Uganda, is carried out by members of Joseph Kibwetere's Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God (more than 700 dead) 2001: Opposition leader John Kufuor wins the elections in Ghana and becomes its new president, while Rawlings retires peacefully 2001: Pedro Pires wins elections in Cape Verde 2000: Abdoulaye Wade wins the first free elections in Senegal and replaces Diouf 2000: rebel Foday Sankoh is captured in Sierra Leone, but civil war continues 2000: the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), supported by Guinea, is formed by Liberian refugees and exiles to fight Charles Taylor's government 2000: Squatters seize hundreds of white-owned farms in Zimbabwe 2000: Islamic law ("sharia") is introduced in several states of Nigeria 2000: Laurent Gbagbo wins rigged elections in Cote d'Avoire (Ivory Coast) 2000: A peace treaty is signed between Ethiopia and Eritrea after 80,000 have been killed 2000: the USA approves a law (AGOA) to eliminate tariffs on hundreds of items for African countries 2000: 425 people are infected by the ebola virus in Uganda and more than half of them die May 2000: Christian churches are destroyed by the Sudanese government Dec 2000: an Islamic militant of Takfir wal Hijra kills 20 people in a Sudanese mosque 2000: Carlos Cardoso, a journalist who exposed corruption in Mozambique, is murdered 2000: The Union of Islamic Courts is founded in Somalia and Aden Hashi Ayro organizes its armed militia, Al-Shabaab 2000: Life expectancy in Africa is 46 Sep 2001: Riots between Christians and Muslims around Nigeria's Jos leave 913 people dead 2001: Tycoon Marc Ravalomanana wins the elections in Madagascar but Ratsiraka refuses to concede 2001: the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) dissolves and is replaced by the African Union 2001: Riots in Nairobi's slums 2001: Laurent Kabila of Zaire (DR Congo) is killed by a bodyguard and succeeded by his son Joseph Kabila, supported by Angola 2001: the Sudanese government arrests several leaders of the Islamist party (Popular National Congress), including its leader Hassan al-Turabi 2001: Nigerian army soldiers kill 200 civilians in retaliation for the murder of soldiers in Benue state 2001: an Ebola epidemic spreads in Congo Brazzaville and Gabon 2001: the party of Mauritania's president Maaouiya Ould Taya, the Democratic and Social Republican Party (PRDS), wins democratic elections 2001: African nations launch the "New Plan for Africa's Development" (Nepad) to foster progress and democracy 2001: Following Al Qaeda's terrorist attacks, the USA shuts down al-Barakat causing the economic collapse of Somalia 2001: Mohammed Yusuf founds the Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram in northern Nigeria Nov 2001: Suspected of plotting a coup against Central African president Patasse, Bozize' flees to Chad 2002: 100 people are killed in the Nigerian city of Lagos during riots between Muslims and Christians Sep 2002: A militia from the Ngiti tribe carries out a massacre at Nyankunde Christian Hospital in Congo, killing more than one thousand people 2002: Mohamed Ibrahim Egal of Somaliland dies and is succeeded by Dahir Riyale Kahin Apr 2002: The Constitutional Court of Madagascar recognizes tycoon Marc Ravalomanana as the new president 2002: Ivory Coast's president Laurent Gbagbo accepts to share power with Alassane Ouattara, leader of the opposition, but soldiers mutiny, form three rebel groups and start a civil war, splitting the country between the Muslim north (rebels) and the Christian south (government) 2002: France sends "peacekeeping" troops to Ivory Coast 2002: Somali factions sign a truce deal after decades of civil war 2002: almost 2,000 people die in Senegal when a ferry capsizes 2002: Togoimi and Deby sign a peace deal, ending the civil war in Chad 2002: Alpha Konare steps down as president of Mali and Amadou Toumani Toure wins the new elections 2002: Jonas Savimbi, leader of UNITA, is killed and the Angolan civil war ends 2002: Levy Mwanawasa wins elections in Zambia and becomes the new president 2002: 90 Somalis die on a boat from Somalia to Aden 2002: 200 people are killed in the Nigerian city of Kanduna by Islamic fanatics protesting against a Miss World pageant 2002: Mugabe loses national elections in Zimbabwe but declares himself the winner and approves the "acquisition" of thousands of white farms 2002: France sends troops to restore order in Cote d'Avoir, following an armed uprising 2002: "Ninja" rebels, led by Pastor Ntumi, stage a rebellion against government of Congo Brazzaville 2002: the Burundi government and the Hutu rebels sign a ceasefire agreement 2002: Jean-Pierre Bemba's Congolese Liberation Movement (MLC) kill at least 60,000 members of Pygmy tribes in the east of Congo Kinshasa TM, ®, Copyright © 2005 :www.scaruffi.com/service/terms.html>Piero Scaruffi All rights reserved. Jan 2002: The Sudanese government and the Christian rebels of the SPLA sign a ceasefire agreement 2002: Francois Bozize leads a rebellion against Patasse in Central Africa, and Libya sends troops to defend the government together with Jean-Pierre Bemba's MLC of bordering Congo Kinshasa, which commit atrocities against civilians 2002: about 42 million people are infected with AIDS (70% in Africa), 3.1 million people died of AIDS in 2002 alone, and half of them are women 2002: the Congolese Liberation Movement carries out cannibalism, rape, torture and murder in the Congo province of Ituri 2003: Mwai Kibaki, a Kikuyu, wins the elections in Kenya and replaces Moi 2003: Mungiki cult members kill 23 people in Kenya 2003: Hundreds of people are killed during ethnic fights in the oil-producing region of the Niger Delta in Nigeria Mar 2003: Francois Bozize captures the capital of Central Africa and deposes Patasse, vowing to restore democracy 2003: fierce battles between the army of Burundi and rebels of the Forces for the Defense of Democracy 2003: both Sam Bockarie and Johnny Paul Koroma flee from Sierra Leone to Liberia 2003: Hutu politician Dominitien Ndayizeye becomes the new leader of Burundi while Hutu rebels of the Forces for National Democracy (FNL) attack the capital killing hundreds of people 2003: 1,000 people die in fierce tribal fighting in eastern DR Congo (Zaire) as Ugandan troops pull out of Congo Aug 2003: Charles Taylor of Liberia is indicted for war crimes by a United Nations court, while LURD soldiers close in on the capital, and is forced to step down by USA pressure and take asylum in Nigeria 2003: Isaias Samakuva is elected leader of Angola's former rebel movement UNITA Apr 2003: A transitional government of national reconciliation is created in DR Congo/Zaire (president Joseph Kabila, Abdoulaye Yerodia Ndombasi for the old Kinshasa government, Azarias Ruberwa for the Rwandan-backed RCD-Goma, the largest rebel group, Jean-Pierre Bemba for the Ugandan-backed Congolese Liberation Movement (MLC), the second largest rebel group, and Arthur Z'Ahidi Ngoma for the Kinshasa political opposition). 2003: rebel Foday Sankoh of Sierra Leone dies in jail 2003: the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), led by Joseph Kony, responsible for abducting thousands of children during the civil war, kills about 60 people in Uganda 2003: more than 250 people die when a boat capsizes in the Democratic Republic of Congo 2003: Domitien Ndayizeye is appointed president of Burundi by a coalition government in an effort to end the civil war 2003: former Madagascar prime minister Tantely Andrianarivo is sentenced to 12 years of hard labour for abuse of office 2003: Darfur rebels demanding autonomy launch attacks against the Sudanese government Aug 2003: Taylor and the rebels sign a peace agreement that finally ends Liberia's civil war and Gyude Bryant is appointed interim president 2003: 20,000 murders are committed in South Africa in one year, the second highest rate in the world after Colombia 2004: the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) kills 192 people in Uganda (february) 2004: Defeated in Uganda, the ADF moves its operations to neighboring DR Congo/Zaire 2004: Ethiopia's economy grows about 10% yearly between 2004 and 2011 2004: Arab militias (JAnjaweed militias led by Sheik Musa Hilal) carry out massive atrocities in Sudan's Darfur region 2004: Sudan and John Garang's Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) sign a peace deal, ending a civil war that cost the lives of two million people 2004: Sudanese government and southern rebel sign a peace deal, and ex-rebel leader John Garang becomes Sudan's vice-president 2004: Angola's economy grows 17% a year on average between 2004 and 2008 Nov 2004: Ali Gedi is appointed prime minister of Somalia 2004: a woman, Tanzania's Getrude Mangella, is elected president of the Pan African parliamen 2004: the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) kills 42 people in Uganda (may) 2004: hundreds of Muslims are massacred by Christians in Yelwa, Nigeria 2004: Hutu rebels massacre 156 Congolese Tutsi refugees in Burundi 2004: France dectroys the entire airforce of Ivory Coast, guilty of accidentally killing a few of its soldiers 2004: 39.4 million people have AIDS worldwide 2004: The government and the rebels of Senegal make peace 2004: Djibouti becomes a counter-terrorism base for the USA Aug 2004: Agathon Rwasa's militia massacres 152 Banyamulenge Congolese refugees at Gatumba in Burundi Nov 2004: The "Bush War" starts in the Central African Republic with Muslim rebels (later known as Seleka) fighting the dictator Francois Bozize' Dec 2004: Armando Guebuza of Frelimo, one of the richest men in the country, wins presidential elections in Mozambique, succeeding Chissano who wants to devote himself to peace missions 2005: Namibia president Sam Nujama retires and is succeeded by Hifikepunye Pohamba 2005: Sudanese vice-president and former rebel leader John Garang dies in a helicopter crash 2005: Former dictator Joao Bernardo Vieira wins elections in Guinea Bissau 2005: Riots following disputed elections in Ethiopia won again by Meles Zenawi cause about 200 deaths 2005: Niamey has 750,000 people, three times what it had in 1980 2005: Gnassingbe Eyadema dies and his son Faure Gnassingbe but is forced by international pressures to resign 2005: A deadly ebola-like virus kills 174 people in two weeks in Angola 2005: More than one million people are left homeless in Zimbabwe after police destroys their illegal homes 2005: Burundi's former Hutu rebel group FDD, led by Pierre Nkurunziza, win the first free parliamentary elections in Burundi 2005: bandits raid the village of Turbi in Kenya killing 76 people Aug 2005: A military council, including Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz and Ould Ghazouani, overthrows Mauritania's president Maaouiya Ould Taya and installs Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi as president Aug 2008: A military coup led by Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz overthrows Mauritania's president Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi and installs 2005: Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf wins the first democratic elections in Liberia and becomes the first woman elected head of state in Africa 2005: Rebels supported by Sudan kill more than 100 people in Chad 2005: Jakaya Kikwete wins presidential elections in Tanzania 2005: Bitange Ndemo is placed in charge of information technology in Kenya and launches a program of modernization 2006: Government troops carry out ethnic cleansing in the north of the Central African Republic 2006: The Sudanese government funds its war in Darfur via the French bank BNP Paribas 2006: former dictator Charles Taylor is returned by Nigeria to Liberia where he is wanted for war crimes 2006: Nigeria pays off its foreign debt, the first African nation to do so Jun 2006: Islamists of the Union of Islamic Courts led by Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed take control of Somalia's capital Dec 2006: Ethiopia helps the Somali government of Ali Gedi expel the Union of Islamic Courts from Mogadishu 2006: Chad repels an attack by Janjaweed rebels on its capital, N'Djamena Sep 2006: Agathon Rwasa signs a peace deal with Burundi's government 2006: First democratic elections are held in DR Congo/Zaire, won by president Joseph Kabila 2006: The Ugandan government signs a truce with the Lord's Resistance Army, that moves to nearby countries 2006: A pipeline blast kills 260 in Nigeria Dec 2006: Laurent Nkunda founds the National Congress for the Defence of the People leads a rebellion in eastern Congo Kinshasa to protect Tutsi tribes from Hutu bandits 2007: The government of Ivory Coast and the rebels sign a peace accord 2007: Ernest Koroma wins democratic elections and becomes president of Sierra Leone 2007: Inflation reaches 1,594% in Zimbabwe 2007: Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi wins the first democratic elections in Mauritania 2007: Africa's economy grows 5.7% yearly Mar 2007: The first suicide attack by Al-Shabaab in Somalia's Mogadishu kills 73 people 2007: Battles between Ethiopian soldiers and Islamists kill more than 1,000 people in Somalia 2007: Janjaweed rebels kill 400 civilians of Chad near the border with Sudan 2007: a French judge accuses Paul Kagame of having plotted the killing of former president Juvenbal Habyarimana that sparked the genocide of 1994 2007: Umaru Yar'Adua of the north wins elections in Nigeria and Obasanjo retires 2007: 74 people are killed in Ethiopia by the Ogaden National Liberation Front 2007: Kenyan police kill 21 members of the banned Mungiki sect 2007: Kenya's Safaricom launches the mobile payment system M-Pesa 2007: Riots erupt between Shhites and Sunnis in Sokoto, Nigeria 2007: Ebola outbreak in DR Congo Zaire 2007: Tuareg rebels of Niger begin military operations under the name Niger Movement for Justice 2007: Southern Africa's largest shopping mall opens in Soweto, South Africa 2007: Gnassingbe Eyadema dies and Togo holds its first democratic elections Dec 2007: Riots erupt in Kenya after rigged elections get Mwai Kibaki reelected as president of Kenya over opposition leader Raila Odinga (1,500 people die) 2007: 5.4 million people have died in Congo since 1998 due to war, famine and disease Mar 2007: A fire at the Malhazine armoury in Mozambique's capital Maputo kills more than 100 people and destroys 14,000 homes Dec 2007: five French tourists are killed by Al Qaeda (Mauritania) Apr 2008: Kenya's president Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga form a coalition government with the latter joining as prime minister May 2008: Black racists in South Africa kill 62 black foreigners in Johannesburg 2008: Bosco Ntaganda's militia kills 150 civilians in Congo Kinshasa's Kiwanji 2008: The last rebel group surrenders in Burundi 2008: Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party loses parliamentary elections for the first time in 28 years but Mugabe intimidates opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai to withdraw from the presidential run-off, while unemployment reaches 80% and inflation 100,000% 2008: The USA bombs Somalia to kill an Al Qaeda leader, Aden Hashi Ayro 2008: Zimbabwean inflation hits 2.2 million per cent 2008: A roadside bomb kills more than 20 people in Somalia's capital Mogadishu May 2008: A US air strike kills Al Shabaab's leader Ayro who is succeeded by Ahmed Godane 2008: A military coup led by general Mohamed Ould Abdelaziz ousts Mauritania's democratically elected president Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi 2008: Zambia's president Levy Mwanawasa dies and is succeeded by vice-president Rupiah Banda 2008: Zimbabwe's inflation hits 11,250,000% 2008: The ruling Movimento Popular de Libertacao de Angola (MPLA) wins parliamentary elections in Angola September 2008: Islamic extremists kill 12 soldiers in Mauritania September 2008: South Africa's president Mbeki resigns following a scandal and is succeeded by Kgalema Motlanthe Sep 2008: Islamic extremists kill 12 soldiers in Mauritania (Mauritania) October 2008: Several car bombs kill 29 people in Hargeisa, Somaliland Oct 2008: Shirwa Ahmed, a Somali-American, blows himself up in Somalia killing 20 other people November 2008: A study by the Harvard School of Public Health claims that former South African president Thabo Mbeki is responsible for 330,000 AIDS-related deaths November 2008: Somali pirates seize a Saudi oil tanker November 2008: Muslim riots erupt after a Christian-backed party is declared the winner of elections in Nigeria's Plateau state November 2008: Hundreds of people are killed in the central Nigerian city of Jos during fights between Christians and Muslims November 2008: Riots involving Christians and Muslims leave 761 dead in Nigeria's Jos December 2008: Guinea's president Lansana Conte dies and the military led by Moussa Dadis Camara seize power December 2008: More than 600 people are killed at the border with DR Congo/Zaire by Ugandan rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army December 2008: Opposition candidate John Atta Mills wins a tight presidential election in Ghana December 2008: Somali pirates, mostly based in Puntland, collect at least $120 million in 2008 after seizing dozens of foreign ships Dec 2008: Zimbabwe's inflation reaches 200% a day (230 million percent a year) 2008: South Africa establishes the "Joburg Art Fair", the largest art fair of Africa 2008: The skeletons of a previously unknown two-million-year-old humanlike species, Australopithecus Sediba, are found in South Africa 2008: A cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe results in 100,000 cases and 4,287 reported deaths Jan 2009: Zimbabwe adopts multiple hard currencies to replace the Zimbabwe dollar Jul 2009: Military leader Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz is elected president of Mauritania 2009: Erik Hersman founds the iHub in Kenya for high-tech startups 2009: N'djamena has almost one million people, twice what it had in 1993 Jan 2009: Abdirahman Mohamed Mohamud "Farole" is elected president of Puntland jan 2009: Somalia's president Abdullahi Yusuf resigns amid chaos, Ethiopia pulls out of Somalia and Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed is elected president of Somalia while the Islamist movement al-Shabab led by sheik Ahmed Godane takes control of the south of the country and other Islamist groups join in the movement Hizbul Islam (who most powerful figure is warlord Hassan Dahir Aweys) to fight the Somali government of Sheikh Sharif Ahmed jan 2009: Madagascar's president Marc Ravalomanana fire's Antananarivo's mayor Andry Rajoelina, starting riots that cause the death of more than 100 people Jan 2009: The Rwandan government, cooperating with the government of Congo, arrests former Congolese rebel leader Laurent Nkunda, betrayed by his chief of staff Bosco Ntaganda feb 2009: Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai is sworn in as prime minister in a unity government with president Robert Mugabe mar 2009: Madagascar's president Ravalomanana resigns and is replaced by opposition leader Andry Rajoelina, a former disc jockey turned media magnate, following anti-government riots that kill more than 100 people mar 2009: Congolese rebel leader Bosco Ntaganda signs a peace agreement with the Congolese government and becomes a general in the army mar 2009: Bissau's president Vieira is shot dead by rebel soldiers apr 2009: Islamist opposition leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys returns to Somalia after two years in exile may 2009: Islamist groups al-Shabaab and Hizbul Islam launch a joint attack to oust Somalian president Sheik Sharif, laying a siege to Mogadishu that costs hundreds of lives may 2009:Jacob Zuma is elected president of South Africa jun 2009: president Bongo of Gabon dies and is replaced by Rose Francine Rogombe jun 2009: a minister and 35 people are killed by a suicide car bomb attack in Somalia jul 2009: protesters demonstrate against Niger's president Tandja Mamadou who wants to extend his term as president jul 2009: attacks on police stations by Boko Haram, an anti-Western Islamic movement led by Mohammed Yusuf, leave hundreds dead in Nigeria's northern states, and Yusuf is killed by the police but soon replaced by Abubakar Shekau jul 2009: Sub-Saharan Africa's main exporters of oil are Angola, Nigeria, Sudan and Equatorial Guinea Sep 2009: Ali Ben Bongo, son of El Hadj Omar Bongo, is elected president in rigged elections, igniting riots Apr 2009: Murle tribesmen kill 177 people, mainly women and children, of the Lou Nuer tribe in southern Sudan Aug 2009: Murle tribesmen kill 185 people, mainly women and children, of the Lou Nuer tribe in southern Sudan Sep 2009: Murle tribesmen kill more than 100 people, mainly women and children, of the Dinka Hol tribe in southern Sudan Sep 2009: Guinean troops kill more than 150 people during opposition protests against Moussa Dadis Camara 2009: More than 2,000 people are killed in ethnic clashes in South Sudan's Jonglei state Mar 2009: Lou Nuer tribesmen kill 453 people, mainly women and children, of the Murle ethnic group in Jonglei state, southern Sudan Dec 2009: A suicide bomb attack in Somalia kills 20 people including four government ministers Dec 2009: Madagascar's president Andry Rajoelina appoints a military prime minister, Vital-Albert Camille Dec 2009: Tens of members of the religious cult Kala Kato are killed in riots in the northern Nigerian state of Bauchi 2009: More than 3,000 white farmers have been murdered in South Africa since the end of apartheid in 1994 2009: Nigerian forces attack the stronghold of the Islamic group Boko Haram in Maiduguri 2009: Bending to pressures from mainland China, South Africa refuses to issue a visa to the Dalai Lama to attend an international peace conference Sep 2009: Guinea's security forces storm a stadium where tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters are demonstrating against president Moussa Dadis Camara, kill more than 150 people and rape more than 100 women Jan 2010: More than one thousand people are killed in clashes between Christians and Muslims in the Nigerian city of Jos Jan 2010: The Guinean army surrenders power to a civilian, Jean-Marie Dore Jan 2010: Nuer tribesmen kill more than 100 members of Dinkas in southern Sudan Feb 2010: Nigeria's ill president Umaru Yar'Adua hands power over to his vice-president, Goodluck Jonathan, from the south Feb 2010: The army overthrows Niger's president Mamadou Tandja, who was trying to extend his term in office Feb 2010: 500 people are killed, mostly women and children, when Islamic pastoralists attack a village south of Jos in Nigeria Mar 2010: Muslim Hausa-Fulani herders massacre 354 Christians in Dogo-Nahawa village near Nigeria's Jos May 2010: Human-rights activist Floribert Chebeya is killed in Congo Kinshasa May 2010: May 2010, with over 400 deaths, is the bloodiest month in Darfur (Sudan) since peacekeeping forces were deployed in december 2007 Jun 2010: Pierre Nkurunziza wins Burundi's rigged elections in which he was the only candidate and opposition leader Agathon Rwasa goes into hiding Jun 2010: A twin bombing in Uganda's capital Kampala by Somali Islamists of al-Shabab kills 74 people who are watching the World Cup final Jul 2010: Ntabo Ntaberi's Nduma Defense of Congo attacks villages in Congo Kinshasa's province of North Kivu, raping about 400 people and killing almost 300 Aug 2010: Kenya adopts a new constitution after a referendum Aug 2010: Rebels gang-rape more than 240 women in Congo Kinshasa Aug 2010: Islamists kill 30 people at a hotel in Somalia's capital Sep 2010: Car bombs placed by Henry Okah and others of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, or MEND, kill 12 people in Nigeria's capital Abuja Nov 2010: Somali-USA citizen Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed becomes Somalia's new prime minister Nov 2010: Opposition leader Alpha Conde wins presidential elections in Guinea Nov 2010: Opposition leader Alassane Ouattara wins presidential elections in Ivory Coast but Laurent Gbagbo is sworn in again as president, causing riots Dec 2010: Hizbul Islam (The Party of Islam) surrenders its Mogadishu territory to the Shabab militia in Somalia Dec 2010: Following a series of bomb blasts on Christmas Eve in two Christian communities in Nigeria's Jos, more than 200 people are killed in religious fighting with Muslims Dec 2010: Pirates take a record 1181 hostages in 2010, of which 1016 off the coast of Somalia, hijacking 53 ships of which 49 off the coast of Somalia 2010: Famine kills nearly 260,000 people, half of them children, in Somalia from 2010 to 2012 Jan 2011: South Sudan votes for secession from Sudan 2011: Rwanda sentences to jail former RPF commander Kayumba Nyamwasa for terrorist acts 2011: Dadaab in Kenya near the border with Somalia is the world's largest refugee camp with more than 500,000 people Feb 2011: Congo's colonel Kibibi Mutware is convicted of sending his troops to rape, beat up and loot from the population of Fizi on New Year's Day Feb 2011: African Union peacekeepers, Ethiopian troops and Somali government militias stage a coordinated offensive against the Islamist group Shabab Mar 2011: About 1,000 people are killed as rebels attack the government in Ivory Coast and France bombs government troops Apr 2011: French troops arrest Ivory Coast's president Gbagbo and deliver him to his opponent Alassane Ouattara, who becomes the new president of the country, ending the 10-year civil war that killed more than 3,000 people Apr 2011: Goodluck Jonathan wins national elections in Nigeria May 2011: Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram carries out terrorist attacks in the northern city of Bauchi that kill 14 people Jun 2011: The first suicide bombing in Nigeria's history, claimed by Islamist group Boko Haram, kills eight people, and bombs set by the Islamic group Boko Haram kill 25 people in the northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri June 2011: Mauritanian and Malian soldiers raid an al-Qaeda camp in western Mali (Mali) Jun 2011: Sudan kills hundreds of rebels in the Nuba mountains of Southern Kordofan state and then disposes of the bodies in mass graves Jun 2011: Renegade Congolese soldiers rape 121 women in the eastern village of Nakiele Jul 2011: 197 people drown in the Red Sea when a boat carrying Sudanese migrants to Saudi Arabia sinks Jul 2011: South Sudan becomes an independent country with capital in Juba and run by Salva Kiir Mayardit Jul 2011: A new civil war begins in Sudan waged by Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) Aug 2011: The Murle tribe kills 600 men and women of the Nuer tribe in South Sudan over a cattle dispute Aug 2011: A car bomb by Boko Haram kills 18 people at the United Nations building in the Nigerian capital Abuja Sep 2011: About 200 people die when a ship sinks off the coast of Zanzibar Sep 2011: A fire kills 61 people in a slum of Kenya's capital Nairobi Sep 2011: Agathon Rwasa's militia massacres 36 government supporters in Burundi in retaliation for the government's campaign of targeted assassinations of the opposition Oct 2011: More than 60 people are killed by a suicide bomb in the Somali capital of Mogadishu Oct 2011: Liberian-born women Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Leymah Gbowee win the Nobel Peace Prize Oct 2011: Kenya sends troops into Somalia after al-Shabab militants kidnap foreign nationals in Kenya Oct 2011: The world's population is 7 billion up from 1 billion in 1850 and less than 3 billion in 1950. 2011: Malaria kills a child every 45 seconds in Africa Oct 2011: Michael Sata, who campaigned to protect workers from exploitation by mainland China, wins presidential elections in Zambia Nov 2011: Multiple coordinated attacks by Boko Haram in Damaturu and Maiduguri (northeastern Nigeria) kill at least 63 people Dec 2011: North Sudan kills Khalil Ibrahim, the leader of Darfur's main rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) Dec 2011: Boko Haram kills 40 people in Nigeria on Christmas Day Dec 2011: More than 150 people are held hostage in Somalia, mostly sailors from foreign ships seized for ransom by pirates Jan 2012: Boko Haram kills scores of Christians in northern Nigeria Jan 2012: Three huge bomb explosions target police and government offices in Nigeria's second-largest city Kano killing 185 people Jan 2012: Tuareg rebels stage a rebellion against Mali Jan 2012: The Nuer tribe kills 1000 men and women of the Murie tribe in South Sudan in retaliation for the 2011 massacre Mar 2012: A suicide car bomber kills 10 people at a Catholic church in Jos, Nigeria Mar 2012: Mali's democratically elected president Amadou Toumani Toure is deposed by rebel soldiers under the command of Amadou Sanogo who then surrenders power to parliament speaker Dioncounda Traore while Tuareg rebels occupy the north of the country Mar 2012: Opposition leader Macky Sall wins democratic elections in Senegal Mar 2012: A Sudanese court sentences Meriam Yahya Ibrahim to death because she married a Christian man, but the government later sets her free Mar 2012: Congolese general Bosco Ntaganda starts his own Tutsi militia backed by Rwanda, the M23 Apr 2012: Malawi's president Bingu wa Mutharika dies and is replaced by female vice-president Joyce Banda Apr 2012: A suicide car bomber kills 38 Christians in Kaduna, Nigeria, on Easter sunday Apr 2012: South Sudan invades Sudan's Heglig oil field May 2012: Tuareg rebels and Al Qaeda declare the independent state of Azawad in northern Mali May 2012: Church bombings kill at least 15 people in Nigeria Jun 2012: Islamists destroy ancient tombs Mali's Timbuktu Jun 2012: Islamists kill 15 Christians in churches in Kenya Jul 2012: Islamists kill 56 Christians in Christian villages in north Nigeria Jul 2012: More than 100 people have die near the Nigerian village of Okogbe while trying to steal fuel from a petrol tanker that crashed Jul 2012: Ghana's president John Atta Mills dies and is succeeded by vice-president John Dramani Mahama Aug 2012: At least 19 people are killed in a gun attack on a church in the central Nigerian city of Kogi Aug 2012: About 60 miners die in northeastern Congo Aug 2012: 34 striking miners are killed by police in South Africa Aug 2012: Ethiopian prime minister Meles Zenawi dies and his replaced by his deputy Hailemariam Desalegn Aug 2012: At least 112 people are killed in ethnic clashes between the Orma and Pokomo groups in south-eastern Kenya Aug 2012: Mali forms new unity government under interim prime minister Modibo Diarra Aug 2012: The first Somali parliament in two decades is inaugurated in Mogadishu and Hassan Mohamud is elected president Aug 2012: South Africa's police kills 34 striking miners in Marikana Sep 2012: Gunmen kill 26 people (mostly students) in college hostel in Mubi, north-eastern Nigeria Nov 2012: More than 30 police officers are killed by villagers in Samburu County of Kenya over cattle theft Nov 2012: Jean-Marie Runiga's M23 militia seizes the town of Goma in eastern DR Congo/Zaire Nov 2012: Muslim rebels of the Central African Republic create the Seleka coalition against president Francois Bozize' and occupy the north of the country 2012: Tanzania's manufacturing has grown about 7.5% yearly since 1997 Jan 2013: France attacks the Islamists that rule northern Mali Jan 2013: Central African Republic's president Francois Bozize' signs a peace deal with the Seleka rebels 2013: Congo Kinshasa defeats the M23 rebels and their leader Bosco Ntaganda, wanted for war crimes, surrenders to the US embassy in Rwanda Mar 2013: Uhuru Kenyatta, son of the first president of Kenya, wins presidential elections in Kenya despite accusations of masterminding ethnic cleansing Mar 2013: Seven foreign workers are killed in the northern Bauchi state of Nigeria by the Islamist group Ansaru Mar 2013: At least 28% of South African schoolgirls are HIV positive compared with 4% of boys Mar 2013: Five explosions at a bus park in northern Nigeria's Kano kill at least 25 people Mar 2013: France kills the leader of Mali's Islamists, Abdelhamid Abou Zeid Mar 2013: Michel Djotodia's (mainly Muslim) Seleka rebels overthrow president Francois Bozize' in the (mainly Christian) Central African Republic Apr 2013: At least 20 people are killed in a series of bomb and gun attacks in the Somalian capital Mogadishu Apr 2013: King Mswati III of Swatziland has 14 wives and 27 children Apr 2013: More than 200 people are killed in Baga by the Nigerian army fighting Islamists May 2013: Two car bombs by the group of Algerian terrorist Mokhtar Belmokhtar target an army base and a French uranium plant in Niger Jun 2013: After France expels the Islamists from nothern Mali, the government of Mali signs a ceasefire deal with the Tuareg separatist rebels that started the civil war Jun 2013: Senegal arrests Chad ex-president Hissene Habre, who is wanted for atrocities during his rule Jul 2013: Islamist extremists kill 22 students and torch a school in Nigeria's north-eastern Yobe Jul 2013: Former prime minister Ibrahim Boubacar Keita is elected president of Mali Aug 2013: Islamic militants of Boko Haram kill 44 people praying at a mosque in in Konduga (northeast Nigeria) and 12 people at Ngom village and scores of vigilantes in the town of Monguno in Borno state Sep 2013: Islamic militants of Somalia's Al-Shabab storm a shopping centre in Kenya's capital Nairobi and kill 67 people Sep 2013: Boko Haram gunmen kill 50 students at a college dormitory in Yobe state of north-eastern Nigeria Oct 2013: The USA tries to kill the Kenyan-born terrorist Ikrima (Abdulkadir Mohamed Abdulkadir) in Somalia Oct 2013: Boko Haram militants wearing army uniforms kill 19 motorists in Nigeria's Borno state Oct 2013: Three Europeans are killed and burned by a mob in Madagascar because suspected of killing a child and trafficking in organs Nov 2013: Killings escalate in Central African Republic between (mainly Muslim) Seleka militia and (mainly Christian) "anti-Balaka" militia and France sends troops to restore order Nov 2013: Islamist gunmen kill 19 people in a police station run by African Union forces north of Somalia's capital Nov 2013: More than thousand people have been killed in Central African Republic in fights between (mainly Muslim) Seleka militia and (mainly Christian) "anti-Balaka" militia and France sends troops to restore order Dec 2013: Nelson Mandela's funerals are attended by more than 90 heads of state Dec 2013: Thousands of people are killed in clashes between the government and followers of Riek Machar in the South Sudanese capital of Juba Dec 2013: A remotely controlled bomb kills eight people in a restaurant of the Somali capital Mogadishu and a few days later two car bombs kill 10 people at a hotel Dec 2013: The Congolese government repels attacks by rebels on the capital Kinshasa and on Lubumbashi, the main city of mineral-rich Katanga province Dec 2013: Uganda officially criminalizes homosexuality 2013: Nigeria leads the world in kidnappings (more than 500) 2013: Reports surface that tens of thousands of Eritreans have been abducted and taken to Egypt's Sinai to be tortured and ransomed since 2007 2013: Three of sons of Ibrahim Zakzaky, leader of the Shiite, pro-Iranian, Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), are killed by the Nigerian army Jan 2014: Nigeria officially criminalizes same-sex relationships Jan 2014: Michel Djotodia resigns in the Central African Republic and goes into exile while chaotic fighting increases in the country even between factions of Seleka, and Central African Republic's parliament elects Catherine Samba-Panza as interim president Jan 2014: Islamist militants of Boko Haram attack two villages in Nigeria's north-east killing more than 70 people Jan 2014: A former finance minister, Hery Rajaonarimampianina, wins Madagascar's first presidential election since the 2009 coup Feb 2014: Islamist militants of Boko Haram attack the northeasten village of Izghe in Nigeria killing 106 people one week after killing nine soldiers in an ambush, and then attack a school in the town of Buni Yadi killing dozens of pupils and then kill at least 39 people and destroy the entire village of Mainok Feb 2014: Two senior officials and nine attackers are killed when Al-Shabab attacks Somalia's presidential palace Mar 2014: A French missile strike kills Mali's Islamist leader Oumar Ould Hamaha, known as Red Beard Mar 2014: At least 100 villagers are killed in Nigeria's central Kaduna state in racial attacks by Muslims, while Nigeria's army kills some 600 detainees who had escaped in Maiduguri Mar 2014: Outbreak of ebola in Guinea that spreads to Sierra Leone and Nigeria Mar 2014: Nigeria's GDP ($0.5 trillion) passes South Africa's and Nigeria becomes Africa's biggest economy Apr 2014: A bomb at a crowded bus station on the outskirts of Nigeria's capital Abuja kills more than 70 people Apr 2014: Islamist group Boko Haram kidnaps 276 teenage schoolgirls from the Nigerian town of Chibok Apr 2014: Hundreds of people are killed because of their ethnicity after South Sudan rebels seize the oil hub of Bentiu Apr 2014: A bomb kills 88 people in Nigeria's capital Abuja May 2014: At least 10 people are killed as al-Shabab militants attack Somalia's parliament May 2014: At least 14 people have been killed in a bomb attack in Mubi in north-eastern Nigeria May 2014: Peter Mutharika wins presidential elections in Malawi Jun 2014: Terrorists attack two villages near the town of Mpeketoni in Kenya, killing more than 50 people and kidnapping 12 women Jun 2014: A bomb kills 21 people in Nigeria's capital Abuja and a bomb kills 18 people in Maiduguri Jun 2014: About 30 people are killed in two attacks by al-Shabab in the Northern Kenyan village of Hindi Jun 2014: About 60 people are killed in an attack on a police station in western Uganda (41 of which attackers) Jul 2014: Boko Haram seize the city of Damboa in north-east Nigeria Sep 2014: An air strike by the USA kills the leader of the Somali Islamist group al-Shabab, Ahmed Godane Sep 2014: China commits 700 troops to defend oilfields in South Sunda Sep 2014: A suicide car bomber kills twelve people in an attack aimed at African Union (AU) troops in Somalia Sep 2014: Boko Haram kills 15 people at a teacher training college in Kano and scores at a rural market in Mainok, Nigeria Sep 2014: Kenya's Dennis Kimetto breaks the marathon world record in Berlin, winning the race in a time of 2 hours and 3 minutes Sep 2014: Ivory Coast adopts the educational tablet computer Qelasy, a "digital backpack" for schoolchildren, created by Thierry N'Doufou Oct 2014: More than 7,000 people, mostly women, have been infected with ebola in West Africa (Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia) and more than 3,400 people have died including 370 health-care workers Oct 2014: DR Congo/Zaire's army starves to death about 100 former fighters and their families in a remote demobilization camp Oct 2014: An Ugandan Islamist group, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), stage massacres of civilians in the DR Congo/Zaire villages near Beni Oct 2014: Boko Haram kidnaps dozens of women and girls from two villages in Nigeria's north-eastern Adamawa Oct 2014: Zambian white vice-president Guy Scott is named acting president following the death of president Michael Sata Oct 2014: Demonstrators against Burkina Faso's president Blaise Compaore set fire to parliament and the president resigns, replaced by interim prime minister Michel Kafando Nov 2014: Dozens of students are killed by a suicide bomber at a boys school in the north-eastern Nigerian town of Potiskum Nov 2014: A plague outbreak kills 40 people in Madagascar Nov 2014: Ugandan Islamist group ADF (Allied Democratic Forces) kills more than 200 people in two months near the Ugandan border Nov 2014: The Somali Islamist group al-Shabab attacks a bus in Kenya's Mandera region killing the 36 non-Muslims on board, and in retaliation the Kenyan military announces the killing of more than 100 al-Shabab militants Nov 2014: The ADF attacks DR Congo/Zaire's village of Beni and kills more than 200 villagers Nov 2014: Boko Haram militants attack the village of Azaya Kura in Nigeria's Borno state killing at least 45 people, and then ambush and kill 48 people near the village of Doron Baga at the border with Chad; Boko Haram then massacres more than 100 people at Kano's central mosque; two female suicide bombers kill 44 people in Maiduguri Dec 2014: al-Shabab militants kill 36 non-Muslim quarry workers in Kenya's Mandera region 2014: Ethiopia's GDP grows by more than 10% Dec 2014: Boko Haram raids Baga, the site of a Nigerian army massacre in 2013, and the last town in the Borno North area under government control, killing hundreds of people Dec 2014: Gambia averts a coup attempt Dec 2014: Cameroon arrests adults as well as children in Guirvidig's madrasas, accusing the teachers of training children for Boko Haram 2014: Boko Haram has killed more than 2,000 people in 2014 and controls 70% of Nigeria's Borno state 2014: Ethiopia's manufacturing has grown about 10% yearly since 2006 2014: Boko Haram, having killed 6644 people in five countries in 2014, is the deadliest of all Islamist groups 2014: Fulani militants have killed 1,229 people in Nigeria in 2014 Nov 2014: Hage Geingob is elected president of Namibia Jan 2015: The USA arrests Dominic Ongwen, deputy commander of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), in Uganda Jan 2015: A ten-year old suicide bomber kills 19 people in Maiduguri, in Nigeria's Borno state, followed by other underage suicide bombers in other cities Jan 2015: Boko Haram destroys the towns of Baga and Doron Baga in Nigeria, killing hundreds of people Jan 2015: Boko Haram kidnaps dozens of people in villages of north Cameroon Jan 2015: The ebola outbreak has killed 8,429 out of 21,296 people infected Jan 2015: Boko Haram has killed about 16,000 people since 2001 in Nigeria Jan 2015: Muslim mobs burn 45 churches in Niger to protest against cartoons "offending" Mohammed published in France (by an atheist magazine) Jan 2015: South Sudan's president Salva Kiir and rebel commander Riek Machar agree on peace after tens of thousands of people have been killed Jan 2015: Boko Haram kills about 100 people in Cameroon's border town of Fotokol, and Cameroon joins Nigeria in fighting Boko Haram Feb 2015: Boko Haram attacks Chad for the first time, and Chad begins a military offensive against Boko Haram Mar 2015: Boko Haram kills at least 45 people in the village of Njaba in Borno state, north-east Nigeria Mar 2015: Boko Haram's suicide bombers kill more than 50 people in Maiduguri in north-eastern Nigeria followed by a female suicide bomber who kills at least 12 Mar 2015: Boko Haram's leader Abubakar Shekau pledges allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria Mar 2015: Gilles Cistac, a journalist who supports the opposition Renamo, is murdered in Mozambique Mar 2015: Boko Haram fighters kill dozens of Nigerian women whom they had kidnapped and forced to marry them in the town of Bama Mar 2015: Boko Haram militants kidnaps more than 400 women and children from the northern Nigerian town of Damasak Mar 2015: Former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari wins Nigeria's presidential elections over sitting president Goodluck Jonathan, the first time that the opposition wins a presidential election in Nigeria Apr 2015: Al-Shabab militants led by Mohamed Kuno, aka Mohamed Mohamud aka Dulyadeyn, kill 147 non-Muslims at the university of Garissa in north-eastern Kenya Apr 2015: Boko Haram militants disguised as preachers kill 24 people at a mosque in Nigeria's Kwajafa Apr 2015: Al-Shabab militants attacks a government complex in Somalia's capital Mogadishu, killing at least 10 people Apr 2015: A group of Muslim migrants from Ivory Coast, Senagal, Mali and Guinea Bissau throw overboard Christians to drown in the Mediterranean Apr 2015: Boko Haram rebels kill hundreds of people in the northeast Nigerian town of Damasak Apr 2015: Liberia is declared ebola-free after the ebola outbreak has killed 11,000 people in West Africa Apr 2015: A Tunisian fishing vessel carrying illegal African emigrants to Europe capsizes off the coast of Libya, killing more than 1,000 people May 2015: The DR Congolese/Zaire army kills 16 Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels but the ADF kills two United Nations peacekeepers May 2015: Central African Republic's warring factions sign a national peace agreement May 2015: Burundi's general Godefroid Niyombare stages a coup to overthrow president Pierre Nkurunziza amid popular protests against the president's rule, but the coup fails May 2015: Madagascar's parliament impeaches president Hery Rajaonarimampianina Jun 2015: A suicide attack kills 26 people inside a mosque in Nigeria's Maiduguri 2015: A United Nations report indicates that Eritrea under dictator Isaias Afwerke has been committing crimes against humanity, while Eritreans constitute almost 25% of all illegal immigrants reaching Europe via sea Jun 2015: Boko Haram suicide bombers kill 33 people in Chad's capital N'Djamena and Boko Haram fighters kill more than 40 people in several attacks in Niger Jun 2015: A female 12-years-old suicide bomber kills 10 people at Nigeria's Wagir market Jun 2015: Mali and Tuareg rebels sign a peace deal Jun 2015: Al-Shabab kills 30 at an African Union military base in Somalia Jun 2015: A raid by al-Shabab militants on a Burundian base of the African Union in Somalia kills at least 70 soldiers Jul 2015: Boko Haram gunmen kill 118 people in the northwestern Nigerian city of Kukawa, a girl blows herself up in a mosque in in Malari village, six suicide bombers attack the village of Zabamari, a suicide bomber attacks a church in Potiskum, and other killings take place around Borno state for a total of more than 200 dead, plus a twin bomb attack on the central Nigerian city of Jos that kill 44, a suicide bomber kills 25 in Zaria, scores are killed in attacks on Kalwa and Gwollam villages in Borno state Jul 2015: Al-Shabab kills 14 workers in northern Kenya Jul 2015: Boko Haram slits the throats of 26 civilians in Chad Jul 2015: Suicide attacks by Boko Haram kill more than 30 people in northern Cameroon towns and kidnap more than 100 Aug 2015: Islamists seize hostages in a hotel in central Mali and 12 people are killed Aug 2015: Jean Bikomagu, who led the Tutsi armed forces during Burundi's civil war, is assassinated, the latest victim of a series of killings since contested presidential elections Aug 2015: About 150 people drown in a river or are shot dead fleeing Boko Haram gunmen in Kukuwa-Gar, a village in Nigeria's northeastern Yobe state Sep 2015: Two Boko Haram suicide bombings kill at least 30 in north Cameroon Sep 2015: Muslims kill 21 Christians in the Central African Republic's capital Bangui Sep 2015: A military coup replaces Burkina Faso's interim president Michel Kafando with Gilbert Diendere but the coup fails Sep 2015: Boko Haram suicide bombers kill more than 140 people in Nigeria's Maiduguri and Monguno Oct 2015: Teenage female suicide bombers from Boko Haram kill 9 people in Nigerian's Maiduguri, and another attack kills 38 in Chad's Baga Sola town Oct 2015: Tanzania's governing CCM party's candidate John Magufuli, a Christian, wins presidential election and begins a policy of repression of the opposition Nov 2015: Al-Shabab militants kill 15 people in the Somali capital Mogadishu, including Abdikarim Dhagabadan, the general who drove al-Shabab out of the city in 2011 Nov 2015: Boko Haram suicide bombers kill more than 30 people at a Yola market and kill 10 Shiites near Kano in northwest Nigeria Nov 2015: Boko Haram suicide bombers kill 9 people in Cameroon's town Fotokol Nov 2015: Islamists of Al-Qaeda affiliate organization Al-Mourabitoum, led by Mokhtar Belmoktar, kill 22 people at a hotel in Mali's capital Bamako Nov 2015: Nigeria's president orders the arrest of the former national security adviser for corruption Nov 2015: John Magufuli, a devout Christian, wins presidential elections in Tanzania Dec 2015: Roch Marc Christian Kabore is elected Burkina Faso's president, the second civilian to become president since the country won independence in 1960 Dec 2015: More than 200 people have been killed since April in Burundi's political violence Dec 2015: Three Boko Haram suicide attacks kill 27 people on a Lake Chad island Dec 2015: Government militias summarily execute dozens of anti-gvernment protesters Dec 2015: Boko Haram attacks the village of Dawari killing 21 people Dec 2015: Guinea is declared free of Ebola after two years of epidemic that have killed 12,000 people in 3 countries Dec 2015: The Nigerian army kills about 300 members of the Shiite, pro-Iranian, Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), and arrests its leader Ibrahim Zakzaky Dec 2015: Gambia's president Yahya Jammeh declares his country an Islamic republic, Africa's second, after Mauritania 2015: Since 2000 the economies of sub-Saharan Africa have expanded at an average 5% yearly rate 2015: Kenyan exiles form al-Shabab in southern Tanzania and northern Mozambique 2015: Eritrea and Ethiopia rank among the ten most censored countries in the world, and Eritrea is #1, even ahead of North Korea 2015: Congo's average growth rate since 2009 has been 7% 2015: Boko Haram has staged 34 suicide attacks in Cameroon in one year, killing about 200 people 2015: Congolese troops of the United Nations gang rape women in the Central African Republic 2015: Filipe Nyusi wins presidential elections in Mozambique Jan 2016: Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Mourabitoun attacks a hotel in Burkina Faso, and 23 people of 18 different nationalities die while 150 hostages are freed 2016: Jean-Pierre Bemba's is convicted by the the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity committed in Congo Kinshasa and Central African Republic Jan 2016: Uganda bans housemaids from working in Saudi Arabia because they are often abused and even tortured Jan 2016: Boko Haram suicide bombers kill 12 people at a mosque and (days later) 29 people at a market, both in Bodo near the northern border with Nigeria. Jan 2016: Boko Haram attacks the village. of Dalori in north-eastern Nigeria and kills 86 people Jan 2016: Somalia's al-Shabab kills 180 Kenyan troops in el-Ade and 20 people in a restaurant at Mogadishu's Lido beach Feb 2016: A double female suicide bombing by Boko Haram kills 58 people at the Dikwa refugee camp in north-east Nigeria, mostly women and children. Feb 2016: Clashes in Nigeria's Benue state between herdsmen from the Fulani ethnic group and local farmers leave hundreds dead Feb 2016: Al Shabaab kills 9 people at Mogadishu's SYL hotel and 30 people in Baidoa Mar 2016: The USA kills about 150 Al Shabaab fighters in Somalia Mar 2016: Terrorists kill 16 people at a beach resort in Ivory Coast's capital Abidjan Mar 2016: A yellow fever outbreak has killed 225 people in Angola and 21 in DR Congo/Zaire since December Mar 2016: Faustin Archange Touadera is elected president of the Central African Republic Apr 2016: Members of South Sudan's Murle tribe kill 140 people in Ethiopia near the border with South Sudan and abduct at least 39 children Apr 2016: South Sudan's president Salva Kiir appoints former rebel Riek Machar vicepresident May 2016: Uganda and the USA suspend the hunt of Joseph Kony, whose Lord's Resistance Army has kidnapped 66,000 children, killed more than 100,000 people and displaced some two million people since 1989 May 2016: Uganda's opposition leader Kizza Besigye is arrested and charged with treason May 2016: An African Union court sentences Chad's former dictator Hissene Habre to life in prison, the first time that an African dictator is held accountable for genocide Jun 2016: Boko Haram attack kills 32 in Niger Jun 2016: Al Shabaab attacks a hotel in Somalia's capital Mogadishu, resulting in 16 deaths Jun 2016: DR Congo kills Kamwina Nsapu's leader Jean-Pierre Pandi in the Kasai region Jul 2016: South Sudan plunges into civil war again with 270 people killed Aug 2016: Two Al-Shabaab suicide bombers kill 21 people in Somalia's capital Mogadishu Aug 2016: Supporters of Gabon's opposition candidate Jean Ping protest when Ali Bongo is declared winner of the national election Aug 2016: Anti-government protests in Ethiopia, mostly by the Oromo ethnic group, leave dozens dead Aug 2016: An attack by the Pakistani Taliban kills 70 people in Quetta Sep 2016: An al-Shabab bomber kills a Somalia general Sep 2016: Islamists kill 26 Christians the Central African Republic Sep 2016: Dozens of opposition supporters are killed during protests against Joseph Kabila in DR Congo Oct 2016: Al-Shabab carries out attacks in Kenya targeting Christians, including killing 12 people in Mandera Oct 2016: Ethiopia withdraws from Somalia and declares a state of emergency following anti-government demonstrations at home Nov 2016: A car bomb kills 11 people in Somalia's capital Mogadishu Dec 2016: Adama Barrow beats Yahya Jammeh, the dictator for 22 years, in Gambia's general election, Jammeh annuls the elections but is forced to resign by Senegal and other countries Dec 2016: Two female suicide bombers of Boko Haram kill 45 people in the north-eastern Nigerian town of Madagali, and two days later two little girls bomb a market in Maiduguri killing one person Dec 2016: A car bomb kills 29 people at Somalia's main port Dec 2016: After Congo Kinshasa's electoral commission cancels scheduled elections, dozens are killed in anti-Kabila protests 2016: The last polio case in Nigeria, which means that polio is eradicated in Africa Jan 2017: Congo Kinshasa's president Kabila and his rival Etienne Tshisekedi agree on a transitional government until elections to be held by the end of 2017 Jan 2017: Nana Akufo-Addo wins elections and becomes the new president of Ghana Jan 2017: An Islamist suicide bomber kills more than 50 people in Mali's Gao Jan 2017: A joint West African military force sends Yahya Jammeh in exile and installs Adama Barrow as new president of Gambia Jan 2017: An Al-Shabab attack at a Mogadishu hotel kills 28 people Feb 2017: A car bomb kills 34 people at a Mogadishu market in Somalia Feb 2017: Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed (aka Farmaajo) is elected president of Somalia Feb 2017: Somali-USA citizen Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed becomes Somalia's president Mar 2017: Kamwina Nsapu fighters decapitate about 40 police officers in DR Congo's central province of Kasai, bringing the total of people killed by unrest to 400 Mar 2017: Zambia's opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema is jailed on charges of treason May 2017: Boko Haram releases 82 Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped three years earlier May 2017: Fighting among militias in the Central African city of Bangassou leaves more than 100 people dead Jun 2017: Islamists attack a hotel and a restaurant in Somalia's capital Mogadishu killing about 20 people Aug 2017: Cannibalism is discovered in the village of Shayamoya in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province Aug 2017: Mudslides in Sierra Leone kill about 1,000 people Sep 2017: Joao Lourenco is appointed president of Angola, succeeding Jose Eduardo dos Santos who was in power for 38 years, and begins an anti-corruption campaign, even firing Isabel dos Santos, daughter of the previous president Sep 2017: Tanzania's opposition politician Tundu Lissu of the Chadema party narrowly survives an assassination attempt Oct 2017: Russia sends troops to the Central African Republic to help the government against the rebels Oct 2017: Four US soldiers are killed in Niger Oct 2017: A massive bomb kills more than 500 people in the Somali capital Mogadishu and another bomb on a hotel kills 23 more Oct 2017: Islamists begin a terrorist campaign in Mozambique's northern province of Cabo Delgado Oct 2017: Russia provides arms and training to the Central African Republic Nov 2017: Zimbabwe's president Robert Mugabe fires his vice-president Emmerson Mnangagwa leaving his 40 years younger wife Grace as his successor, but the army forces him to resign and appoints Mnangagwa as the new president Nov 2017: Four suicide bombers kill 10 people in the north-eastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri Nov 2017: A suicide bombing by Boko Haram kills more than 50 people in Nigeria's north-eastern town of Mubi Nov 2017: US air strikes kill 100 fighters from the Islamist group al-Shabab in Somalia Dec 2017: Former football star George Weah is elected president of Liberia, the first peaceful transfer of power since 1944 Dec 2017: Rebels of the Allied Democratic Forces kill 15 United Nations peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Kinshasa) 2017: The Democratic Republic of Congo (Kinshasa) has less than 3,000 kms of paved roads for 78 million people Jan 2018: Widespread demonstration in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Kinshasa) Jan 2018: The French newspaper Le Monde Afrique publishes a report according to which the African Union's computers have been hacked for five years by China Feb 2018: Zuma is forced to resign as South African president and Cyril Ramaphosa succeeds him Feb 2018: Three Boko Haram suicide bombers kill more than 18 people in the town of Konduga in north-east Nigeria Feb 2018: Boko Haram kidnaps 110 schoolgirls in the town of Dapchi in the north-eastern Yobe state of Nigeria Mar 2018: Burundi's government anoints president Pierre Nkurunziza as "eternal supreme guide" after more than 1,000 protesters have died since 2015 Mar 2018: Anti-government protests in Guinea leave 11 people dead Mar 2018: Following protests fomented by the media network of Jawar Mohammed, Abiy Ahmed replaces resigning Ethiopia's prime minister Hailemariam Desalegn, becoming the first Oromo leader of Ethiopia in more than 2,000 years Mar 2018: Botswana's president Ian Khama resigns and is succeeded by Mokgweetsi Masisi Mar 2018: Sierra Leone's opposition candidate Julius Maada Bio wins presidential elections Apr 2018: Boko Hamar suicide bombers kill more than 60 people in the north-east Nigerian town of Mubi Apr 2018: Muslims kill 15 people in a church attack in the Central African Republic, following religious clashes that left 28 people dead May 2018: The ninth ebola outbreak in Congo Kinshasa May 2018: Mozambique's Islamist militants of Ahlu Sunnah Wa-Jama behead ten people in Monjane of Cabo Delgado province Jun 2018: Ethiopia accepts the conclusions of the 2002 Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission to end the war with Eritrea Jun 2018: The International Criminal Court acquits Congolese warlord Jean-Pierre Bemba Jul 2018: Eritrea and Ethiopia re-establish diplomatic and trade ties Jul 2018: Three Russian journalists investigating reports of Russian mercenaries' involvement in the Central African Republic are murdered Aug 2018: The Ethiopian government and the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) sign a peace agreement but the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) split from the OLF Sep 2018: Rwanda releases more than 2,000 prisoners, including a opposition leader Victoire Ingabire of the FDU-Inkingi party who was serving a 15-year prison sentence Sep 2018: A ferry capsizes in Tanzania's Lake Victoria killing more than 200 people Oct 2018: Muslims and Christians clash after a row between wheelbarrow porters at the market of Kasuwan Magani in Nigeria's Kaduna state, leaving 55 dead Nov 2018: More than 200 people are killed by ebola in Congo's Ituri and North Kivu provinces in three months Nov 2018: The government of Congo Kinshasa grants ministers lifetime salaries Nov 2018: Ethiopia's prime minister Abiy launches an anti-corruption campaign that results in the arrest of high-ranking TPLF officials, including Kinfe Dagnew, the head of the military-run Metals and Engineering Corporation (METEC) Dec 2018: US air strikes kill 62 fighters from the Islamist group al-Shabab in Somalia 2018: US air strikes targeting Al-Shabab have killed 326 Somalis in 2018 2018: The former finance minister of Mozambique, Manuel Chang, is arrested in South Africa, accused of a giant corruption scheme 2018: Swaziland changes name to Eswatini Jan 2019: Opposition candidate Felix Tshisekedi is declared the surprise winner of presidential elections in Congo Kinshasha while the country is fighting its worst outbreak of ebola, although independent observers see Martin Fayulu as the real winner, but this is still the first peaceful transfer of power in the history of the country Jan 2019: Al-Shabab militants attack a hotel in the Westlands district of the Kenyan capital Nairobi killing 24 people Feb 2019: Central African Republic signs yet another peace agreement with rebel militias Mar 2019: Members of the Dogon ethnic group kill 160 people of the Fulani ethnic group in Ogossagou in central Mali's Mopti region Mar 2019: Islamists attack both the French embassy and the military headquarters in Burkina Faso's capital Ouagadougou, killing eight people Apr 2019: Congo Kinshasa captures Ntabo Ntaberi, leader of the militia group Nduma Defense of Congo May 2019: French military forces free four foreign hostages held by Islamists in Burkina Faso, and Islamists attack a Catholic church, the third time in 2 months May 2019: Islamists kill 28 soldiers in Niger Jun 2019: Fulani militants kill about 100 Dogon villagers in Mali's Sobane-Kou Jun 2019: Bandits kill at least 34 people in Nigeria's north-western state of Zamfara Jun 2019: A triple suicide bombing by Boko Haram kills more than 30 people in Konduga village in Borno State of north-eastern Nigeria Jun 2019: A coup attempt in Ethiopia kills a general, Seare Mekonnen, and Amhara's governor Ambachew Mekonnen Jul 2019: Islamists kill 18 soldiers in western Niger and are repelled by air strikes by US and French forces Jul 2019: Nigeria joins the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), leaving Eritrea as the only African country not to be part of it Jul 2019: Al Shabab gunmen and suicide bombers kill 26 people at a Kismayo hotel in southern Somalia Jul 2019: An Al-Shabab suicide bomber kills six people in a terrorist attack against the mayor's office in Somalia's capital Mogadishu Jul 2019: More than 65 people are killed by Boko Haram at a funeral near Maiduguri in Nigeria's north-eastern state of Borno in retaliation for the killing of 11 Boko Haram members in the same village Aug 2019: Following a surge in violent crime, South Africa deploys the army in Cape Town Aug 2019: Abdalla Hamdok is appointed new prime minister by a joint commission of civilians and military Sep 2019: A wave of anti-immigrant riots in South Africa peaks with five people killed in Johannesburg Oct 2019: Islamists kill 16 people at a mosque in Burkina Faso's town of Salmossi and 20 people in a gold-mining site Oct 2019: The media network of Jawar Mohammed foments protests against Abiy Ahmed's Ethiopian government that leave 67 ethnic Oromos dead Nov 2019: Islamists kill 37 workers of a Canadian mining company in Burkina Faso Nov 2019: Congo Kinshasa attacks the Ugandan Islamist group, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), that has been terrorizing the province of Ituri Nov 2019: Islamists kill 53 soldiers and one civilian in an attack on a military post in north-east Mali, and then 24 soldiers at the border with Niger Nov 2019: Ethiopian prime minister Abiy Ahmed forms a new Prosperity Party and the ending the domination of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) which moves to the opposition Nov 2019: Islamists kill 14 people in a church of Hantoukoura, in eastern Burkina Faso Dec 2019: Islamists attack a Niger army base near the border with Mali and kill 71 soldiers, bringing the total number of people killed by Islamists in one year in Niger to about 400 Dec 2019: More than 2,000 people have died of ebola in Congo Kinshasa one and a half year into the outbreak Dec 2019: Islamists attack a Burkina Faso army base near the border with Mali, killing more than 35 civilians, mostly women Dec 2019: A bomb by Al-Shabaab kills 94 people in Somalia's capital Mogadishu Dec 2019: Several rebel groups, including Return Reclamation Rehabilitation (3R), mostly from the Muslim minority, form an alliance against the government of the Central African Republic 2019: The USA has conducted 93 air strikes in Somalia, the highest number yet 2019: Kenyan tele-evangelist Paul Makenzie Nthenge moves his religious cult to the village of Shakaola and encourages his members to starve to death 2019: Ould Ghazouani is elected president of Mauritania, Mauritania’s first-ever peaceful transfer of power Jan 2020: A roadside bomb planted by Islamists kills 14 people in Burkina Faso near the border with Mali, Islamists attack a village market in Sanmatenga province killing 36 people, and another attack kills 39 people in Soum province of northern Burkina Faso Jan 2020: Islamists attack an army base at Chinagodrar in north Niger near the border with Mali and kill 25 soldiers Jan 2020: Islamists kill 15 soldiers at the Sokolo military camp in the central Segou region of Mali Feb 2020: Islamists kill more than 20 civilians in Lamdamol village in the Seno province of north-western Burkina Faso Feb 2020: Islamists kill more than 30 people and abducted women and children in a raid on Auno in Borno state in north-eastern Nigeria Feb 2020: Gunmen kill 31 people of the Fulani ethnic group in Ogossagou in central Mali's Mopti region Feb 2020: South Sudan's rivals Salva Kiir and Riek Machar reach an agreement to end the civil war Mar 2020: Bandits kill about 50 people in attacks on the villages of Kerawa, Zareyawa and Minda in Nigeria's Kaduna state Mar 2020: Covid-19 spreads in Africa Mar 2020: Mozambican immigration officers find 64 dead Ethiopian emigrants in a truck headed for South Africa Mar 2020: A drone strike by the USA against Al-Shabab kills only Somali civilians Apr 2020: Islamists kill more than 50 people northern Mozambique Apr 2020: Congo Kinshasa arrests separatist rebel Ne Muanda Nsemi, leader of Bundu Dia Kongo (BDK), after more than 20 people die in clashes Apr 2020: Rwandan rebels of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation kill 17 people including 12 rangers in Virunga National Park in Congo Kinshasa May 2020: Evariste Ndayishimiye, a former army general handpicked by the ruling party to replace Pierre Nkurunziza, is elected president in Burundi May 2020: The USA has launched 40 airstrikes in Somalia in five months compared with a total of 41 airstrikes in the previous 10 years) May 2020: Islamists kill 15 people of a convoy of traders in Burkina Faso near the border with Mali, and gunmen kill 30 people in a crowded market of Kompienga May 2020: Congo Kinshasa reports a new Ebola outbreak in Mbandaka, in the west Jun 2020: Demonstrations erupt in Nigeria following the rape and murder of the 22-year-old university student Uwavera Omozuwa in a church of the southern city of Benin Jun 2020: Kenya bans all single-use plastics from national parks and beaches Jun 2020: Islamists kill 26 people in a village in central Mali while French troops in northern Mali kill the leader of al Qaeda in the Maghreb, Algerian-born Abdelmalek Droukdel Jun 2020: The Islamic State in West Africa (ISWAP), a Boko Haram faction, kills more than 100 people in the villages of Gubio, Monguno and Nganzai in Nigeria's Borno state Jun 2020: The worst-ever outbreak of Ebola in Congo Kinshasa ends after 2,280 people died since August 2018 Jun 2020: Large protests demanding the resignation of Mali's president imam Keita are organized by Islamic imam Mahmoud Dicko Jun 2020: Lazarus Chakwera wins presidential elections in Malawi Jun 2020: More than 50 people are killed during protests for the killing of a popular singer, Hachalu Hundessa, in the Oromia region of Ethiopia Aug 2020: At least 11 people are killed by al-Shabab militants who storm a beachside hotel in Somalia's capital Mogadishu Aug 2020: The main factions of the SPLM sign a peace agreement with the government of Sudan Aug 2020: Islamists of Ahlu Sunnah Wa-Jama capture Mozambique's port of Mocimboa da Praia Aug 2020: Yahaya Sharif-Aminu is sentenced to death in Nigeria's northern state of Kano for blaspheming against Islam's founder Mohammed Aug 2020: The military force Mali's president Imam Keita to resign and appoint retired military officer and former defense minister Bah N'Daou as new president Aug 2020: Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), an offshoot of Boko Haram, kidnap hundreds of people from Kukawa in Nigeria's Borno state Sep 2020: The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) kills 58 people in Congo Kinshasa Sep 2020: ISIS attempts to kill the governor of Nigeria's north-eastern Borno state, Babagana Zulum Oct 2020: The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) free more than 1,000 prisoners in the Beni prison of eastern Congo Oct 2020: 12 people are killed in Nigeria's Lagos when soldiers open fire on a protest against the brutality and brutality of Nigeria's Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) Oct 2020: Islamists kill seven children in a school of Cameroon's town of Kumba Oct 2020: About 67 people are killed in Ethiopia's region Oromia during anti-Abiy protests and ethnic clashes Nov 2020: The Oromo Liberation Army attacks three villages in the West Welega Zone killing more than 50 ethnic Amhara people Nov 2020: Ethiopia attacks Tigray rebels with help from Eritrea and militias Nov 2020: ISIS-affiliated Islamists behead more than 50 people in Mozambique's Cabo Delgado province Nov 2020: Hundreds of people are stabbed or hacked to death in Mai-Kadra town in Ethiopia's Tigray region Nov 2020: French troops kill Bah ag Moussa/ Bamoussa Diarra, a military leader in Mali of al Qaeda's affiliate Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin Nov 2020: Debretsion Gebremichael leads an armed rebellion in the Tigray region against Ethiopia's prime minister Abiy, with Tsadkan Gebretensae leading the Tigray Defence Forces, which incorporates both TPLF and non-TPLF members Nov 2020: Boko Haram kills more than 100 farm workers in Koshobe, near Maiduguri in Nigeria's Borno state Dec 2020: Trump orders the withdrawal of US troops from Somalia Dec 2020: Boko Haram kidnaps about 300 teenage students in Kasina state, the president's home state Dec 2020: As rebels are advancing towards the capital, Central African Republic's president Faustin Archange Touadera invites Russian mercenaries of the Wagner Group to defend him Dec 2020: Since Trump became president, the USA has carried out 196 air strikes in Somalia, using both drones and manned aircraft Jan 2021: Islamists kill more than 50 people in Niger's village of Tchombangou and more than 30 in Zaroumdareye town near the border with Mali Jan 2021: Ethnic clashes in Darfur between Arabs and non-Arabs kill more than 80 people Jan 2021: The USA withdraws all troops from Somalia Feb 2021: A boat capsizes in Congo Kinshasa killing dozens of people Feb 2021: 42 people are kidnapped from a school in Nigeria's Kagara and more than 300 schoolgirls are kidnapped from a school of Jangebe in Nigeria's northwestern Zamfara state Feb 2021: Mohamed Bazoum wins presidential elections in Niger Mar 2021: More than 100 people die when a military depot explodes in Equatorial Guinea's capital Bata Mar 2021: Tanzania's president John Magufuli dies and is succeeded by vice-president Samia Hassan, a hijab-wearing Muslim woman from Zanzibar Mar 2021: Islamists kill 58 villagers in Niger's Tillaberi region and 137 people in several villages of Niger's Tahoua region bordering Mali Mar 2021: Islamists of Al-Sunna wa Jama'a attack Mozambique's northern town of Palma Apr 2021: Islamists of the Front for Change and Concord kill Chad's president Idriss Deby May 2021: At least 30 people are killed by Islamists in Kodyel village in the Komandjari province of eastern Burkina Faso near the border with Niger May 2021: A coup installs vice president Assimi Goita as the new president of Mali May 2021: Halima Cisse, a woman from Mali, gives birth to nine babies May 2021: Bandits kidnap for ransom 136 students from an Islamic school of Tegina in Nigeria's Niger state May 2021: Boko Haram's leader Abubakar Shekau kills himself after being cornered by a rival faction Jun 2021: Islamists kill 132 people in Solhan village in northern Burkina Faso Jun 2021: Tigray rebels seize Mekelle in Ethiopia Jun 2021: Somali Islamists of Al-Shabaab attacks a military base in Galmudug's Wisil town and kill 30 people Jun 2021: Pro-democracy protests erupt in Eswatini Jun 2021: Bandits kidnap 102 students and 8 teachers in Nigeria's Kebbi state Jul 2021: Bandits kidnap more than 100 schoolchildren in Nigeria's Kaduna state, and more than 1,000 children have been kidnapped in eight months Jul 2021: Riots erupt in South Africa after the arrest of former president Jacob Zuma for contempt of court l Jul 2021: Madagascar arrests several generals over a plot to kill president Rajoelina Jul 2021: Russian mercenaries of the Wagner Group kill 13 unarmed civilians in Central African Republic's Bossangoa Jul 2021: Rwanda, and then South Africa, Botswana, Angola and Zimbabwe, send soldiers into Mozambique to fight the Islamist insurgency Aug 2021: Hakainde Hichilema beats president Edgar Lungu and becomes Zambia's new president Aug 2021: Gunmen kill 22 Fulani Muslim worshippers and two weeks later gunmen kill 36 villagers in Jos, the capital of Nigeria's Plateau state, while 83 people are kidnapped in Zamfara state Aug 2021: Islamists kill 30 people in Burkina Faso Aug 2021: 200 people die in Ethiopia during clashes between the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) and and ethnic Amharas in the East Wollega Zone Aug 2021: The students kidnapped at Tegina in Nigeria's Niger state are freed by a militia hired by the town Sep 2021: Protests erupt in Chad against Idriss Deby's son Mahamat who seized power after the death of his father Sep 2021: Rwandan troops help Mozambique regain control of the northern region of Cabo Delgado from Islamist militias Sep 2021: An Al-Shabab suicide bomber kills 7 people near the presidential palace of Somalia Oct 2021: Mamady Doumbouya seizes power in Guinea with a coup Nov 2021: About 100 people are killed in Sierra Leone's Freetown when an oil tanker collides with a truck Nov 2021: Suicide bombers of Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), based Congo Kinshasa, strike in Uganda's Kampala Nov 2021: An Al-Shabab bomb kills 8 people near a school in Somali's capital Mogadishu Nov 2021: Islamists kill 69 people in Niger near the border with Mali Nov 2021: Islamists kill 53 people in Burkina Faso's Inata village Nov 2021: Burkina Faso, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Togo launch a joint counterterrorism operation against Islamists Dec 2021: A boat capsizes killing about 30 people in Nigeria's Kano state Dec 2021: Uganda troops enter Congo Kinshasa to chase Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) Dec 2021: A suicide bomb attack by the Allied Democratic Forces on a crowded restaurant in Congo Kinshasa's city of Beni kills several people celebrating Christmas 2021: Transparency International ranks South Sudan as the most corrupt country in the world, and it is also the largest refugee crisis in Africa Jan 2022: After the Nigerian military bombs their hideouts, bandits massacre more than 200 people in Nigeria's north-western Zamfara state Jan 2022: Dissatisfied with his response to Islamist attacks, colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba removes Burkina Faso's president Roch Kabore' Jan 2022: Somalia suffers the worst drought in four decades Feb 2022: A rebel militia kills at least 60 people in the Plaine Savo refugee camp in Ituri province of Congo Kinshasa Feb 2022: Ethiopia inaugurates the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam over the Nile Feb 2022: An accident at a gold mine in Burkina Faso's Gaoua kills 60 people Feb 2022: An Al Shabab suicide bomber kills 13 people in Beledweyne and the USA carries out a drone strike on Al Shabab Feb 2022: CODECO gunmen kill 60 Hema people in the Plaine Savo refugee camp in Congo Kinshasa Mar 2022: Two Al Shabab suicide bombings kills 48 people in Somalia's Beledweyne including Amina Mohamed, a vocal critic of the government Mar 2022: Bandits attack Nigeria's Abuja-Kaduna train killing 9 passengers and kidnapping others Mar 2022: Large-scale fighting breaks out in eastern Congo between the M23 rebels and the Congolese military Mar 2022: More than 300 people are killed by Mali's army and the Wagner Group in Mali's town Moura Mar 2022: Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria launch a joint military operation against Islamists around the Lake Chad basin Apr 2022: Nigerian atheist Mubarak Bala is sentenced to 24 years in prison for blaspheming Islam by Nigeria's state of Kano Apr 2022: Al Shabab kills 6 people at a restaurant near Mogadishu Apr 2022: An illegal oil refinery in Nigeria's Imo state explodes killing 109 people May 2022: Human Rights Watch reveals that Russian mercenaries are behind Central African Republic atrocities May 2022: Deborah Samuel is killed and burned by Muslim students in Nigeria's Sokoto for posting "blasphemous" statements about Islam on social media, and Muslims stage protests when the suspects are arrested May 2022: Former president Hassan Mohamud is reelected president of Somalia and the USA sends back troops to fight al-Shabab Jun 2022: Islamists kill 40 Catholic worshippers at a church in Owo of Nigeria's Ondo State Jun 2022: Islamists kill 132 people in Central Mali's area Bankass Jul 2022: More than 400 prisoners escape from a prison in Nigeria's capital Abuja, following a raid by Boko Haram Jul 2022: One person gets shot dead in South Africa almost every hour Aug 2022: William Ruto is declared winner of presidential elections in Kenya but members of the electoral commission refuse to support the result Aug 2022: Abdoulaye Seydou and others form the M62 movement in Niger to protest against the presence of the French forces and the economic and security crises Aug 2022: After nine years and having lost 58 soldiers against the Islamists, France leaves Mali Aug 2022: A US airstrike in Somalia kills 13 members of al-Shabaab and days later 20 people are killed in a hotel attack by Al-Shabab in the Somali capital, Mogadishu Sep 2022: An ebola outbreak in Uganda Sep 2022: Ibrahim Traore overthrows Burkina Faso's dictator Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba and moves closer to Russia Oct 2022: 76 people die when a boat capsizes in Nigeria's southeastern state Anambra Oct 2022: Floods kill hundreds of people in Nigeria Oct 2022: 50 people die in protests against the military junta in Chad Oct 2022: Al-Shabab car bombs kill at least 100 people in Mogadishu Oct 2022: Angola's president João Lourenco nationalizes Unitel, thus confiscating the Isabel dos Santos' remaining shares of an Angolan company Nov 2022: Angola issues an international warrant for the rest of Isabel dos Santos, the billionaire daughter of Angola's former president, accused of embezzlement Nov 2022: Ethiopia and the Tigray People's Liberation Front sign a truce after more than 200,000 people have been killed and more than 100,000 women in Tigray have been raped by Ethiopian and Eritrean soldiers Nov 2022: The M23 slaughters 171 eople in Congo Kinshasa's villages of Kisheshe and Bambo Dec 2022: Bandits kill 12 worshippers and kidnapped several others from a mosque in Nigeria's Maigamji Dec 2022: French troops leave the Central African Republic due to the increased presence of Russian mercenaries Dec 2022: Boko Haram militants kill 33 women married to ISIS militants in Nigeria's Jan 2023: 40 people are killed when two buses collide in Senegal Jan 2023: Bandits abduct dozens of people waiting at the Igueben train station in Nigeria’s southern Edo state Jan 2023: ISIS-affiliated Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) stages a bomb attack at a Christian church in Congo Kinshasa's eastern town Kasindi that kills 17 people Jan 2023: A US air strike kills about 30 Al-Shahab militants in Somalia Jan 2023: US air strikes kill dozens of Al-Shahab militants in Somalia and the local ISiS leader, Bilal al-Sudani Feb 2023: Nigerian politician Chinyere Igwe is arrested after being caught with a huge amount of cash for buying votes Feb 2023: Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) wins Nigeria's presidential elections over Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi of the Labour Party by getting 36% of the votes amid a record low turnout of 29% Apr 2023: Kenya arrests Paul Makenzie Nthenge, leader of a religious cult that has encouraged hundreds of members to starve to death Apr 2023: Fano starts a new civil war in Amhara against the Ethiopian government Apr 2023: Islamists kill 44 people in separate attacks on villages in northern Burkina Faso, and the military kill 136 other in the same region May 2023: Uganda enacts a law against homosexuality that includes the death penalty May 2023: Senegal's opposition leader Ousmane Sonko is condemned to jail May 2023: 31 illegal miners die in a ventilation shaft in South Africa’s Free State province Jun 2023: A river boat capsizes in Nigeria's Niger River in the western state of Kwara killing more than 100 people Jun 2023: Islamists of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) kill at least 37 people at a school in western Uganda's Lhubiriha Jun 2023: At least 48 people are killed in a road accident in western Kenya's Londiani Jun 2023: 17 illegal gold miners die in a mine of the Angelo squatter camp of South Africa's Boksburg Jul 2023: Niger's general Abdourahmane Tchiani (aka Omar Tchiani) stages a coup and overthrows president Mohamed Bazoum, following Mali and Burkina Faso where too Islamist terrorist led to coups Jul 2023: Between July 2022 and July 2023 more than 3,620 people have been abducted in Nigeria Jul 2023: Senegal's government arrests opposition leader Ousmane Sonko and dissolves his party, triggering violent demonstrations Aug 2023: Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the United Emirates and Saudi Arabia join BRICS Aug 2023: Gabon's president Ali Ben Bongo is deposed by general Brice Oligui Nguema Aug 2023: A fire in a building used by migrants kills more than 70 people in South Africa's Johannesburg Aug 2023: More than 40 people are killed during anti-UN protests in Congo Kinshasa Sep 2023: More than 60 people are killed in Mali by Islamists in two attacks on an army base and a passenger ship on the Niger River Nov 2023: Burkina Faso's military kill 100 civilians (mostly women and children) in Zaongo Nov 2023: Joseph Boakai wins Liberia's presidential election over incumbent president George Weah Dec 2023: A mistaken bombing by Nigeria’s air force kills at least 85 civilians in Kaduna state 2023: Congo Kinshasa produces 70% of the world's cobalt 2023: South Africa reports the murder of more than 27,000 people in one year, a 20-year record, with only 12% of the murders being solved 2023: 600,000 people die of malaria in Africa, mostly children 2023: Mozambique's GDP per capita is $600 and Madagascar's 520 Jan 2024: Cameroon starts vaccinating children against malaria Jan 2024: More than 1,800 people have been kidnapped for ransom in Nigeria since May 2023 Jan 2024: Somaliland signs a deal with Ethiopia to get recognition for its independence from Somalia in return for granting Ethiopia access to the sea Jan 2024: Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger (all led by a military junta that overthrew democratic governments) withdraw from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Feb 2024: Namibia's president Hage Geingob dies and is succeeded by his vice-president Nangolo Mbumba Feb 2024: Burkina Faso's military kills 179 people in Soro village and 44 others in the nearby Nondin village Feb 2024: Nigeria's inflation hits 29% and the currency (naira) falls to an all-time low to the dollar ($6.40 for one naira, compared with $22 in May 2023) Feb 2024: Somalia signs a treaty with Turkey to protect its coastline Mar 2024: Nigeria's Boko Haram kidnaps dozens of women in Gamboru Ngala, 280 pupils in Kuriga and 15 pupils and 4 women in Gada Mar 2024: Opposition leader Bassirou Diomaye Faye wins elections in Senegal Apr 2024: A ferry disaster in Mozambique kills more than 90 people Apr 2024: A boat carrying migrants capsizes off the coast of Djibouti killing more 38 people Apr 2024: Nigeria's currency collapses and inflation hits 33% Apr 2024: Niger and Chad form closer ties with Russian and ask the USA to remove all troops from their countries Jun 2024: The Nigerian currency has plunged 70% in one year and an estimated 87 million people live below the poverty line Jun 2024: Riots erupt over a proposed tax in Kenya with protesters breaking into parliament and several protesters killed Jun 2024: Islamist of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) kill more than 80 people in Congo Kinshasa’s northeast villages Jul 2024: Kenya sends peacekeeping troops to Haiti Jul 2024: Namibia decriminalizes homosexuality Jul 2024: A landslide caused by heavy rains in southern Ethiopia's Gofa Zone kills more than 200 people Jul 2024: A Boko Haram bomb in Nigeria's Borno state's Kawori kills 16 people Aug 2024: Following violent protests against food prices, Nigeria's states of Kano, Jigawa, Yobe and Katsina introduce 24-hour curfews Aug 2024: Al-Shabab terrorists kill more than 30 people at a beach resort in Mogadishu Jul 2024: With help from Ukraine, Tuareg rebels in Mali kill 84 Russian mercenaries of the Wagner Group and 47 Malian soldiers at Tinzaouten Aug 2024: A deadly variant of mpox clave 1 emerges from the mining town of Kamituga in Congo Kinshasa, a variant that kills about 10% of those infected and mostly children under 15 Sep 2024: 129 inmates die when they attempted to escape from the Makala high-security prison in Congo Kinshasa Oct 2024: Britain surrenders its last African colony, the Chagos Island, to Mauritius, but retains the Diego Garcia airbase for 99 years Oct 2024: Opposition leaders Elvino Dias and Paulo Guambe are murdered in Mozambique Oct 2024: The Umbrella for Democratic Change wins elections in Botswana defeating the Botswana Democratic Party which has ruled since independence in 1966, and Duma Boko becomes the new president Oct 2024: Daniel Chapo of Frelimo wins presidential elections in Mozambique, but opposition candidate Venancio Mondlane's supporters start protests against rigged elections Nov 2024: 56 people die in a stampede at a football game in Guinea Dec 2024: Former President John Mahama wins Ghana's presidential election Dec 2024: Ethiopia and Somalia reach a peaceful agreement on Ethiopia's use of a port in Somaliland Dec 2024: 10 people are killed by a crowd crush at a Catholic church in Nigeria's capital Abuja, a crowd crush kills 22 people in the south-east town of Okija, and 35 children are killed during a carnival event in Ibadan Dec 2024: Cyclone Chido kills more than 100 people in Mozambique Dec 2024: More than 1,500 prisoners escape from a prison in Mozambique, taking advantage of the political unrest following elections rigged by the ruling Frelimo party, which is in power since 1975 Dec 2024: About 70 West Africans die when a boat full of refugees bound for Spain capsizes off Morocco 2024: Four democratic elections in Africa are won by the opposition: Botswana, Mauritius, Senegal and Ghana Jan 2025: M23 rebels capture the town of Masisi in eastern Congo Kinshasa Jan 2025: Mozambique's opposition leader Venancio Mondlane returns to Mozambique Jan 2025: Nigeria's military kills by mistake 16 civilians in western Zamfara State while trying to bomb criminal gangs |
| (Copyright © 1999-2023 Piero Scaruffi) |