istoryworld
Events relating to africa
Nelson Mandela is sworn in as the first president of the new democratic South Africa
Hastings Banda, president since independence in 1964, is defeated in Malawi's first multiparty elections
Mogadishu, the capital, is divided between two factions in Somalia's civil war
With apartheid ended, South Africa rejoins the Commonwealth of Nations
After the genocide in Rwanda, the Rwandan Patriotic Front captures Kigali and replaces the Hutu government
The fossilized skeleton of an Ardipithecus female, nicknamed Ardi and 4.4 million years old, is found in the Awash valley region of Ethiopia
More than a million Hutus, escaping from the backlash after the genocide in Rwanda, are in refugee camps in Zaire
Asian and African UN troops withdraw from Somalia, though the country is still in a state of violent civil war
Ethiopians have their first experience of democracy in a free presidential election, won by Meles Zenawi
Ken Saro-Wiwa, playwright and pro-democracy campaigner in Nigeria, is among a group hanged by the ruling junta
Mozambique joins the Commonwealth, as the first member not to have emerged from the British empire
Expelled from Sudan, Osama bin Laden moves to Afghanistan where he builds training camps for al-Qaeda
Archbishop Desmond Tutu chairs South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission
Jerry Rawlings has a convincing electoral victory after seventeen years in power in Ghana
Former US Secretary of State James Baker undertakes the difficult task of trying to find a compromise between the Polisario and Morocco over Western Sahara
Ghanaian diplomat Kofi Annan is appointed secretary-general of the United Nations, becoming the first black African in the post
After thirty-two years as the corrupt dictator of Zaire, Mobutu Sese Seko is driven out by Laurent Kabila
The civilian president of Sierra Leone, Ahmad Kabbah, is ousted in a military coup led by Johnny Koroma
The name of Zaire is changed once again, reverting to the Democratic Republic of Congo
Nigerian forces expel Johnny Koroma from Freetown and reinstate Sierra Leone's elected civilian president, Ahmad Kabbah
A UN peacekeeping force takes responsibility for maintaining order in the Central African Republic
Civil war breaks out again in the Congo, after a Tutsi uprising against Laurent Kabila's government
Bitter and devastating warfare breaks out again between Eritrea and Ethiopia as the result of a border dispute
Neighbouring African nations, with an interest in Congo's mineral wealth, take part on both sides in a developing civil war
Violent gangs, calling themselves the Mugabe War Veterans Association, start to 'liberate' more than 100,000 sq km of white-owned farmland in Zimbabwe
