istoryworld
Events relating to africa
Live Aid, an all-day concert for famine relief in Africa, is held simultaneously in London and Philadelphia
Milton Obote, toppled in a bloodless Uganda coup, escapes to Zambia
Julius Nyerere, long-serving president of Tanzania, relinquishes power voluntarily
The guerrilla leader Yoweri Museveni takes Kampala and becomes president of Uganda
President Reagan launches an air strike against Libya, accusing Gaddafi of involvement in international terrorism
Western nations finally impose sanctions on South Africa in response to apartheid
The Rwandan Patriotic Front is formed, by a group of exiles, to bring about the downfall of Habyarimana's regime in Rwanda
Desmond Tutu is the first black African to be archbishop of Cape Town
The film Cry Freedom, directed by Richard Attenborough, tells the story of Steve Biko, killed in police custody in South Africa
A cease-fire withdraws Cuban troops from Angola and South African forces from Angola and Namibia
Frederik Willem de Klerk, promising reform, wins a whites-only South African presidential election
South African president F.W. de Klerk announces his radical intention to end apartheid
Nelson Mandela is given an ecstatic reception on his release after twenty-six years in prison on Robben Island, near Cape Town
The aged president, Félix Houphouët-Boigny, wins the Ivory Coast's first democratic elections
Namibia becomes independent with Sam Nujoma as president
Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi transforms Inkatha into a political party, the Inkatha Freedom Party
An army of the Rwandan Patriotic Front crosses the border from Uganda to invade Rwanda
Expelled from his own country, Saudi Arabia, Osama bin Laden moves to Sudan where he continues to develop al-Qaeda
A Tuareg uprising in Mali results in some 120,000 refugees fleeing the country
The incumbent president, Mathieu Kérékou, loses in Benin's first democratic election
As Ethiopian and Eritrean rebels approach Addis Ababa, the leader of the Dergue, Mengistu, flees the country
The rebel Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), led by Meles Zenawi, takes control in Ethiopia
Another cease-fire in Angola's bitter civil war brings another brief period of peace
Morocco and the Polisario end hostilities on the understanding that there will be a referendum in the Western Sahara
Hutu youth militias, known as the Interahamwe, are formed in Rwanda to spearhead attacks on Tutsis
