Africa Read online

  CONTENTS

  Acknowledgements

  List of Illustrations

  List of Maps

  Dateline

  Prologue

  Introduction

  Part I: The 1960s Decade of Hope

  CHAPTER ONE Problems of Independence

  CHAPTER TWO The Congo Crisis

  CHAPTER THREE African Unity and the Formation of the OAU

  CHAPTER FOUR The Coup d’Etat and the One-Party State

  CHAPTER FIVE Problems of Development

  CHAPTER SIX North Africa

  CHAPTER SEVEN The Nigerian Civil War

  CHAPTER EIGHT West and Equatorial Africa

  CHAPTER NINE The Horn of Africa

  CHAPTER TEN East Africa

  CHAPTER ELEVEN White Racism in Central Africa

  CHAPTER TWELVE Portugal in Africa

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN South Africa

  The Decade in Retrospect

  Part II: The 1970s Decade of Realism

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN Patterns of Development

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN Four Different Development Paths

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN Oil and Israel; A New International Economic Order

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN The Growth of Aid

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN Strategic Highways

  CHAPTER NINETEEN The Cold War Comes to The Horn

  CHAPTER TWENTY Rhodesia

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE The End of Portuguese Africa

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO Namibia

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE South Africa: The Critical Decade

  The Decade in Retrospect

  Part III: The 1980s Basket Case?

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR Introduction to the Decade: The OAU Tries to Cope

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE The Arab North

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX The Horn: Continuous Warfare

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN West Africa: Nigeria and Ghana

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT East and Equatorial Africa

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE Endgame in Southern Africa

  CHAPTER THIRTY Development Standstill

  The Decade in Retrospect

  PART IV: The 1990s New Directions and New Perceptions

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE The End of the Cold War

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO South Africa: The Last Hero

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE Democracy

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR Civil Wars: Algeria, Somalia, Sudan

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE Genocide and Border Confrontation

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX Failed States and the Return of the Imperial Factor

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN The Congo: Africa’s Great War

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT Mugabe’s Zimbabwe

  CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE Corruption

  CHAPTER FORTY Century’s End: Globalization

  EPILOGUE

  Afterword to the 2017 Edition: The New Colonialism 2000-2015

  List of Abbreviations

  Notes

  Bibliography

  Index

  A Note About the Author

  Picture Section

  Copyright

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  From 1960 to 2000, the period covered by this book, momentous changes occurred throughout Africa to transform the continent from being a colonial extension of Europe into fifty independent nations. Following independence these new nations, struggled to achieve an identity of their own, faced the pressures of the Cold War, witnessed the emergence of the one party state and the charismatic political leader, watched the rise of their armies as major political players who carried out coups on a scale unequalled anywhere else and saw their continent wracked by wars that inevitably attracted interventions by the world’s leading powers – in the Congo, Angola, the Horn and elsewhere. Lack of trained personnel and economic weakness rendered most African countries deeply vulnerable to external manipulation by the former colonial powers, the new superpowers, part of whose ideological confrontations were conducted in Africa, and the western controlled World Bank and IMF, a process famously described by Kwame Nkrumah as neo-colonialism. The Africa which established the Organization of African Unity in 1963 had changed out of recognition by the beginning of the 21st century. By any reckoning the events of these years amount to an historical revolution.

  During 40 years of travelling in Africa and writing about its political and economic development I have drawn upon the knowledge and experience of a wide range of people whom it would be impossible to name. Their insights have influenced my own growing understanding and attachment to Africa over my professional writing life and this book reflects that influence though the arguments and conclusions are entirely my own.

  I wish to record my particular thanks to Toby Mundy, my publisher, who has backed this large project with enthusiasm; and Louisa Joyner who has overseen each stage in the preparation of the book for publication. I am particularly grateful to Sue Hewitt and Ruth Weiss for their careful reading of the text and suggestions as to facts, presentation and clarity, and to Derek Ingram for a final appraisal.

  Guy Arnold

  2005

  LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

  SECTION 1:

  Kwame Nkrumah and Gamal Abdul Nasser

  Kwame Nkrumah

  Gamal Abdul Nasser

  Patrice Lumumba with U. N. Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold

  Patrice Lumumba

  Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa

  Ferhat Abbas

  Ahmed Ben Bella

  Nigerian (Federal) soldiers

  Ian Smith

  SECTION 2:

  J. B. Vorster and Ian Smith

  Portuguese troops in Luanda, Angola, August 1975

  MPLA Child Soldiers

  Britain’s Foreign Secretary, Jim Callaghan and Idi Amin

  J. B. Vorster and K. D. Kaunda

  Tanzam Railway

  Helen Suzman

  J. B. Vorster

  Idi Amin

  Bantu Housing

  Black Sash protest

  SECTION 3:

  Robert Mugabe and Lord Soames

  Robert Mugabe

  Joshua Nkomo

  Agostinho Neto

  Jonas Savimbi

  Hastings Banda

  Woman of Lesotho

  Lesotho landscape

  P. W. Botha and his wife

  Andries Treurnicht

  Olusegun Obasanjo

  SECTION 4:

  Sam Nujoma and F. W. de Klerk

  President Sam Nujoma’s guard of honour

  Nelson Mandela and F. W. de Klerk

  Archbishop Desmond Tutu

  Muammar Gaddafi and Jerry Rawlings

  Nelson Mandela and Joaquim Chissano

  Thabo Mbeki

  Olusegun Obasanjo, Thabo Mbeki and Tony Blair

  SECTION 5:

  Hu Jintao and Umaru Yar’Adua

  Workers at the construction of the African Union buildings

  Young miners, Democratic Republic of Congo

  Jacob Zuma and Joseph S. Blatter

  Egyptian protester

  African migrants

  French troops, northern Mali

  Catherine Samba-Panza

  LIST OF MAPS

  African Nations 2017

  Part I: The 1960s Decade of Hope

  African Independence

  The Congo Crisis

  African Unity and the OAU

  Africa’s Regional Divisions

  Arab North Africa

  The Nigerian Civil War

  West Africa

  Equatorial Africa

  The Horn of Africa

  East Africa

  Southern Africa

  Highways of Southern Africa

  Part II: The 1970s Decade of Realism

  Regional Development Communities

  Strategic Highways

  Proposed Trans-Africa Highway

&n
bsp; War in the Horn of Africa

  South Africa and its Neighbours

  Part III: The 1980s Basket Case?

  The Arab League

  Islam in Africa

  Areas of Conflict in North Africa

  West African Economic Groups

  South African Destabilisation Tactics

  PART IV: The 1990s New Directions and New Perceptions

  Africa’s Wars 1952–2000

  Africa’s Great War

  The Commonwealth in Africa

  — * —

  A Geographical Map of Africa

  DATE LINE

  1940s

  1945 End World War II

  Establishment of United Nations

  Sixth Pan-African Conference (Manchester, England)

  Setif Uprising, Algeria

  Only four African countries independent – Egypt, Ethiopia Liberia, South Africa

  1948 National Party wins South African election; implements apartheid

  1950s

  1951 Portugal transforms its African colonies into overseas provinces

  Egypt abrogates 1936 Treaty with Britain; British troops occupy Canal Zone

  Libya independent

  1952 Army coup in Egypt; King Farouk goes into exile

  Ahmed Ben Bella forms Algerian Revolutionary Committee in Cairo

  1952-1959 Mau Mau rebellion in Kenya

  1953 Trial of Jomo Kenyatta for managing Mau Mau backfires, helps create myth of Kenyatta the nationalist leader

  Britain forms Central African Federation (CAF): Northern Rhodesia, Southern Rhodesia, Nyasaland under white minority rule

  1954 Col. Nasser takes full control in Egypt

  National Liberation Front (FLN) launches Algerian war of independence

  1956 Sudan, Morocco, Tunisia independent

  Suez Crisis

  French Loi Cadre gives universal suffrage in French West and Equatorial Africa

  1957 Gold Coast independent as Ghana

  1958 De Gaulle tours Francophone Africa; offers self-government within a French Community

  Guinea under Sekou Touré opts for full independence; France breaks relations

  1960s

  1960 Harold Macmillan gives ‘Wind of Change’ speech in Cape Town

  21 March, Sharpeville Massacre in South Africa

  30 June, Belgian Congo independent; descends into chaos

  ‘annus mirabilis’ – most of Francophone Africa – Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo (B), Dahomey (Benin), Gabon, Ivory Coast (Côte d’Ivoire), Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Togo, Upper Volta (Burkina Faso) – independent

  Ethiopia, abortive coup against Emperor Haile Selassie

  British Somaliland joins former Italian Somaliland to form independent Republic of Somalia

  Nigeria independent

  1961 Patrice Lumumba murdered in Katanga (Congo)

  Casablanca (radical) and Monrovia (moderate) groups threaten to divide Africa into rival camps

  Portugal claims its African subjects are full citizens of Portugal

  Liberation struggle launched in Angola

  Sierra Leone, Tanganyika independent

  South Africa leaves Commonwealth

  Death of UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold

  ECA study: “Impact of Western European integration on African trade and development” – EEC a threat to African exports

  1962 Algeria, Uganda independent

  Haile Selassie ends Federation of Eritrea and Ethiopia, incorporates Eritrea in Empire – prelude to 30 years’ warfare

  UN general assembly calls upon all members to break ties with South Africa; special committee against apartheid is established

  1963 Katanga secession ended by UN forces

  Addis Ababa conference of 30 independent African states creates Organisation of African Unity (OAU)

  Early OAU resolution calls on all members not to establish any relations with South Africa until apartheid is abandoned

  Amilcar Cabral launches independence struggle in Portuguese Guinea (Guinea-Bisau)

  First Yaounde Convention between the EC and African countries with ties to EC (former colonies of members)

  Kenya, Zanzibar independent Central African Federation dissolved

  1964 revolution in Zanzibar (January); Zanzibar joins Tanganyika to form

  United Republic of Tanzania (April)

  British forces quell army mutinies in East Africa

  First OAU summit held in Cairo

  FRELIMO launches liberation struggle in Mozambique

  French troops reverse coup in Gabon to keep M’Ba in power

  The Shifta border war between Kenya and Somalia – to 1967

  Rivonia treason trial in South Africa: Mandela, Sisulu and other African nationalist leaders get life sentences, sent to Robben Island

  Nyasaland and Northern Rhodesia independent as Malawi and Zambia

  Zhou en Lai in Mali enunciates Eight Principles of Chinese aid

  1965 Coup in Algeria: Ben Bella deposed; Boumedienne becomes head of state

  The Gambia independent

  White minority government of Southern Rhodesia makes unilateral declaration of independence (UDI) 11 November

  OAU resolution calls on members to break diplomatic relations with Britain by 15 December unless it has taken action to reverse UDI; only 11 countries do so

  Joseph Mobutu carries out second coup in the Congo (24 November) – to rule to 1997

  1966 Commonwealth summit in Lagos devoted to UDI in Rhodesia

  Coup in Nigeria: military rule replaces civilian government

  UN imposes sanctions on Rhodesia

  Coup ousts Nkrumah in Ghana; military rule

  UN General Assembly proclaims 21 March (Sharpeville day) International day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

  UN terminates South Africa’s mandate over South West Africa (Namibia)

  SWAPO launches armed struggle in Namibia

  Assassination of Prime Minister Verwoerd of South Africa

  Botswana, Lesotho independent

  1967 Formation of East African Common Market (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda)

  Col. Ojukwu proclaims independent state of Biafra (May);

  Nigerian civil war begins (July)

  Egypt humiliatingly defeated by Israel in Six day War

  Arusha Declaration, Tanzania

  President Banda of Malawi enters into diplomatic relations with South Africa

  1968 Spanish Guinea independent as Equatorial Guinea

  Britain passes Commonwealth Immigration Act restricting immigration from Commonwealth countries

  Mauritius, Swaziland independent

  1969 Coup in Somalia brings Siad Barre to power

  Coup in Libya brings Muammar al-Gaddafi to power

  Coup in Sudan brings Jaafar Nimeiri to power

  Hardline Afrikaners break with National party in South Africa to form Herstigte Nasionale Party under Albert Hertzog

  Second EC-Africa Yaounde Convention

  Pearson Report

  1970s

  1970 Rhodesia proclaims itself a republic

  UN strengthens arms embargo against South Africa; urges members to terminate all relations with the Republic

  Non-Aligned Summit in Lusaka, Zambia

  China begins construction of 1,100-mile TANZAM railway linking Tanzania and Zambia; opens 1976

  1971 Commonwealth summit in Singapore debates decision of Heath Government to resume sale of arms to South Africa

  Idi Amin mounts coup in Uganda to oust Milton Obote (in Singapore for Commonwealth summit)

  Mobutu assumes absolute power in the Congo, renames Zaïre

  International Court of Justice rules that South Africa is illegally in Namibia

  President Banda of Malawi on state visit to South Africa

  US Polaroid corporation experiment in South Africa: improved work conditions for black employees break apartheid rules

  Ovambo strike in Namib
ia (to 1972) brings country to a standstill

  1972 Opening of Orapa diamond mine in Botswana signals rapid development of mineral wealth

  Pearson Commission to Rhodesia reports (April) that Africans

  overwhelmingly reject constitution proposed by Britain

  Sudan: Addis Ababa Agreement ends North-South civil war:

  Nimeiri grants regional autonomy to South

  Burundi: 100,000 Hutus massacred

  Uganda: Amin forces all non-citizen Asians to leave; Britain receives 30,000

  Rhodesia: commencement of sustained guerrilla warfare in northeast by forces of Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU)

  1973 Rhodesia closes border with Zambia

  Britain joins European Community: opens way for EC aid to Anglophone Africa under Lomé Conventions

  Sahel drought

  British journalist Adam Raphael, in Guardian, reveals that only three of the top 100 British companies in South Africa pay their African workers above the poverty datum line

  24 September: PAIGC declares Guinea-Bissau independent; recognized by a majority of UN members

  Yom Kippur War: almost all African countries break relations with Israel

  Algeria hosts Non-Aligned summit (September) and Arab summit (November): Boumedienne calls for Algeria and Arab world to take control of their economies

  African economies hit by fourfold in crease in price of oil

  1974 Portugal: 25 April Revolution; Caetano government overthrown;

  Gen. Spinola recognizes right of African territories to independence

  UN General Assembly rejects South Africa’s credentials and South Africa ceases to participate in UN deliberations

  South Africa sponsors détente with its neighbours to ease tensions in the region

  UN Sixth Special Session held in Algiers: launch of New International Economic Order (NIEO) initiative

  General Assembly adopts Declaration and Programme of Action on the Establishment of an NIEO

  Ethiopia: fall of Haile Selassie; military Dergue to rule

  1975 End of Portugal’s African Empire: Mozambique (June), São Tomé and Principe (July), Cape Verde (September), Angola (November) independent

  Mozambique: civil war between ruling FRELIMO and rebel

  RENAMO – to 1992

  South African force invades Angola; a PR disaster for Pretoria

  Formation of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)

  Nigeria launches Third Development Plan, at Naira 32 billion the largest ever in Africa to that date

  Nigeria: Gen. Gowon ousted in coup by Gen. Murtala Muhammad Lome I

  Comoros independent