Africa Between 1990 - 1999

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1990

  • President F.W. de Klerk lifts ban on over sixty opposition organizations in South Africa, including ANC, Pan-Africanist Congress, and the Communist Party

  • Mandela is released from prison after twenty-seven years in jail

  • Negotiations between ANC and the South African government threatened by police killing eleven black demonstrators in Sebokeng

  • Mandela heads ANC delegation to begin formal talks with South African government

  • Somalia: Institution of a multi-party system (6 October)
  • Sudan: Diplomatic relations are resumed with the Central African Republic (12 February); 10% reduction of administrative staff and in the public sector at the IMF's instigation
  • National Conference in Benin to study the institution of a multi-party system and democracy (19-28 Feb); adoption of the new constitution (2 Dec)
  • National Conference in Guinea-Bissau on transition to multi-party system (8-12 Oct)
  • Amos Sawyer's interim government is established in Monrovia, Liberia (22 Nov.)
  • Clashes between Senegal and Guinea-Bissau troops (19-23 May); incidents in Casamance (May-Jun)
  • Institution of multi-party system in Niger (15 Nov)
  • Violent student demonstrations, strikes in schools in Ivory Coast demanding structural reforms (19/20 Feb); reelection of President Félix Houphouet-Boigny (28 Oct)
  • Chad: Idriss Deby's troops enter Njamena (2 Dec); Idriss Deby is appointed head of state (4 Dec)
  • Congo: Politically and socially motivated street demonstrations and strikes take a firm hold of the country (Oct-Nov); multi-party system introduced in the constitution (6 Dec)
  • Institution of a multy-party system in Somalia
  • Cameroon: Bill concerning a multi-party system (6 December)
  • Troubles linked to actions of Islamists who demand closure of bars and brothels (10-25 Jan)
  • Morocco establishes Diplomatic relations with Namibia (26 March)
  • Mali: The population is estimated at 7,696,000 inhabitants

  • The ruling Parti Congolais du Travail (PTC) abandons Marxist, Leninist and monopoly of power

  • ECOWAS peacekeeping force (Ghana, Guinea, Gambia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone) of 4,000 men is deployed to Liberia

  • South West African People's Organization candidates win forty-one of seventy-two seats in pre-independence Constituent Assembly

  • South West Africa becomes independent Namibia. South West African People's Organization (SWAPO) wins majority of votes in parliament; Sam Nujoma, its president, becomes president of Namibia

  • Rwanda: A multi-party system is introduced (13 November); the soldiers of the National Patriotic Front, who had taken refuge in Uganda, attempt an invasion of the country (1-3 October)
  • Zaire: President Mobutu Sese Seko announces the institution of a multi-party system limited to three parties (24 April); opposition movements demand that a pluralist national conference be convened to organize free elections; strikes and demonstrations become increasingly frequent (1-25 May)
  • Comoro Islands: Mr Ahmed Abdallah is elected President of the Republic (14 March) Lesotho: Prince Mohato Seeisa is proclaimed king in place of his father who was driven into exile by the military (11 Nov)
  • Malawi: Joins the OAU's African Charter of Human and People's Rights (23 Feb)
  • Mozambique: Capital punishment is abolished (22 Oct)
  • Namibia: The Constituent Assembly adopts the constitution. Mr Sam Nujoma is elected President of the future independent Namibia; Namibia becomes independent (21 Mar); Namibia officially becomes the 181st member of the United Nations (23 Apr); Namibia joins the IMF and the World Bank (25 Sep) and the Lomé IV Convention (19 Dec)
  • Republic of South Africa: (RSA) Legalization of the ANC, the PAC (Pan-African Congress) and the South African Communist Party (SACP) (2 February); Nelson Mandela is freed after 27 years in prison (11 February) Tanzania: President Ali Hassan Mwinyi is re-elected President of the Republic (28 October)
  • Zambia: Legalization of multiparty system (17 December)
  • Zimbabwe: Mr Robert Mugabe is re-elected
  • France-Africa: The 16th African summit in La Baule. French President François Mitterand declares in his speech that in order to benefit from French aid, African countries must make efforts towards democratization (19-21 June)
  • Tunisia: Creation of an African training centre for publishing, circulation and distribution of books (19 May)
  • Vatican: Pope John-Paul II's sixth trip to Africa, Cape Verde Islands, Burkina Faso, GuineaBissau, Mali, RSA, Chad (21 Jan-1 Feb)

  • Idrissa Ouedraogo's film Tilai wins the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival

  • Férid Boughedir's film Halfouine is released

  • Studio Museum's "Contemporary African Artists: Changing Tradition" opens in New York. Work of African artists, except those from Egypt and South Africa, is shown at the Venice Biennale

  • October 3: Accession of the GDR to the Republic of Germany; Reunification of the two German states
  • First "Black History Month" in Berlin

1991

  • Over 200 are killed in rioting between Christians and Muslims in northern Nigeria

  • Ruling Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) abandons Marxist-Leninist platform for socialist democracy.

    Estoril Accord ends sixteen-year civil war between Angolan government and UNITA rebels

  • Repeal of land and Group Areas Act marks official and legal end of apartheid in South Africa

  • Oliver Tambo is succeeded as president of the ANC by Nelson Mandela

  • Forum for the Restoration of Democracy (FORD) forms opposition groupings. Kenyan opposition Democratic Party is formed in Kenya by former minister, Mwai Kibaki. General strike in Kenya is called by Forum for the Restoration of democracy, demanding release of political prisoners and multiparty elections

  • ANC announces end of thirty-yera struggle against apartheid regime in South Africa

  • Convention on a democratic South Africa (CODESCA) representing nineteen parties begins meeting in Johannesburg.

    Apartheid is abolished; South Africa prepares for multiracial elections

  • Total Arabisation of higher education in Algeria (22 Jul)
  • Libya: Withdrawal of customs posts and border formalities with Egypt (7 August); inauguration of the first section of work on the `Great River', 630 km of canals bringing ground water to Benghazi
  • Somalia: General Haideed seizes power in Mogadishu (18 November)
  • Sudan: A decree transforming the Sudan into a federal state (5 February); student demonstrations on the subject of housing
  • Benin: Mr Nicéphore Soglo is elected President of the Republic (25 March)
  • Burkina Faso: Captain Blaise Compaoré is elected President of the Faso (8 December)
  • Cape Verde: Mr Mascarenhas Monteiro is elected President of the Republic (17 Feb)
  • Côte d'Ivoire: Latest census results: 10,815,694 inhabitants (19 November)
  • Liberia: The beginning of the national conference (16 March)
  • Mali: Cease-fire agreement between Touareg rebels and the government (6 January); demonstration of thousands of people demanding a multi-party system (3-4 March); violent rioting in Bamako and the major towns in the country. Police repression causes the death of some 148 people, President Moussa Traoré is arrested. Lieutenant-Colonel Amadou Toumani Touré leads the National Reconciliation Council (CNR) (17-27 March)
  • Mengistu Haile Mariam resigns from his functions as Head of State (21 May); Port of Asmara is taken by the forces of the Eritrean Popular Liberation Front (10 Jun)
  • Angola: Law introducing a multi-party system (25 March)
  • Burundi: Results of the census show that on 16 January 1990 the population stood at 5,356,266 inhabitants, i.e. a density of 207 inhabitants per km', one of the highest in Africa; President Pierre Buyoya confirms the introduction of a multi-party system into the country (1 May)
  • Cameroon: Opening of a diplomatic representation in Japan (28 January)
  • Congo: The National Conference is held to set up democratic institutions (25 February)
  • Equatorial Guinea: The new constitution introducing a multi-party system is adopted (22 November)
  • Republic of Central Africa: The head of state announces the adoption of a multi-party system (22 April)
  • Zaire: Riots and looting continue in Kinshasa. The democratic process is blocked (September- October)
  • Kenya: The Anglican and Catholic bishops launch an appeal in favour of the multiparty system and the respect of human rights (April)
  • Republic of South Africa: The government fixes 30 June as the date on which apartheid ends (28 May); it is announced that South Africa will take part in the 22nd Olympic Games in Barcelona (6 November)
  • Zambia: Mr Frederick Chiluba is elected President of the Republic (2 November)
  • Africa: UNESCO awards the Félix Houphouët-Boigny Prize for peace-seeking to Nelson Mandela and Frederik de Klerk jointly (27 June)
  • French-speaking communities: The 4th summit of French-speaking communities in Paris. African countries are encouraged to continue with the democratization of their regimes (19-21 November)
  • Great Lakes: Conference of the Catholic bishops of Africa to discuss the socio-political problems of the Great Lakes Region (1 Oct)
  • OAU: Opening in Bamako of OAU ministerial conference on the environment concerning in particular the dunping of toxic waste in Africa by the industrialised countries (28 Jan)

  • South African author Nadine Gordimer is awarded Nobel Prize for Literature

  • Susan Vogel curates "Africa explores: 20th Century African Art" at the Center for African Art, New York

  • "Africa Hoy", curated by André Magnin opens at the Centro Atlantico de Arte Moderno, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria; it is mounted at other venues under the title "Africa Now" and, at the Saatchi Gallery, London, as "Out of Africa"

  • Nigerian writer Ben Okri's The Famished Road wins the Booker Prize for Literature

  • Revue Noire, a magazine of contemporary African art, is published in Paris by Jean Loup Pivin, with Simon Njami as editor


1992

  • UN: Boutros Boutros-Ghali becomes first African Secretary General of the UN

  • Nigeria: Two-day general strike in Lagos against rule of President Babangida

  • South Africa: ANC begins "mass action" campaign to remove F.W. de Klerk from power

  • South Africa: Forty people are killed in South African township Boipatong by Inkhata Freedom Party supporters

  • Nigeria: National Assembly elections, Nigeria, won by government-sponsored Social Democratic Party against government-sponsored National Republic Convention

  • South Africa: Four million black workers support two-day general strike against white government called by Congress of South African Trade Unions

  • Angola: President Eduardo dos santos is reelected

  • Kenya: opposition party Forum for the Restoration of Democracy (FORD) splits into FORD-Asili and FORD-Kenya

  • South Africa: Constitutional Amendment Act, entry of black South Africans to Cabinet

  • Angola: 1,000 killed in fighting between MPLA government and opposition UNITA forces after disputed elections results.

  • Ghana: Jerry Rawlings elected president; Rioting by opposition

  • Kenya: President Daniel Arap Moi returns to office in first multi-party elections

  • Cameroon: Paul Biya is re-elected President of the Republic , after dubious elections, which many organisations say to have been won by the opposition leader John Fru Ndi
  • Burundi: After elections, the projected Constitution instituting a multi-party system is adopted

  • DAK'ART, the Dakar Biennale, is founded as major exposition of contemporary international art

  • First Egyptian International Print Triennale, Cairo

  • The Eye: A Journal of Contemporary Art is published in Zaria, Nigeria, by the Eye Society

  • Mo Edoga's and Ousmane Sow's participation in Documenta IX, Kassel, marks the first African presence there


1993

  • Eritrea, a former region of Ethiopia, becomes an independent state

  • Democratic elctions results are annuled by the military dictatorship in Nigeria. Nigerian Transitional Council under Ernest Shonekan sworn in instead

  • Kenyan opposition parties FORD, FORD-Asili, and FORD-Kenya forms a united front

  • High Council of Republic of Zaire declares Mobutu guilty of treason for dissolving cabinet

  • South African artist Gerard Sekoto dies in exile in Paris.

    Second International Symposium on Nigerian Art, Lagos.

    The Museum for African Art, New York, presents five African artists at the Venice Biennale

  • Haile Gerima's "Sankofa" is released

  • First black member of South African cabinet appointed, by F.W. de Klerk

  • Chris Hani, South Arican Communist Party leader and ANC member, is assassinated

  • Elections for civilian president in Nigeria is won by Chief Moshood Abiola of Social Democratic Party. Nigerian military govenment announces presidential elections to be invalid. Demonstrations in Lagos demanding end of military rule. Nigerian military leader, Major-general Ibrahim Babangida, relinquishes power to interim president, Ernest Shonekan.

    Nineteen die and twenty-two are wounded in shooting at Wadeville industrial area, Johannesburg. Thirty-one are killed in "Day of Terror" as South African Parliament begins discussing establishment of a Transitional Council

  • Nelson Mandela and F.W. de Klerk are awarded Nobel Peace Prize

  • Nigerian interim president, Ernest Shonekan, is replaced by General Sani Abacha. Banning of political parties, restoration of civilian rule delayed until August 1993


1994

  • Ceremonial farewell to the Allied troops in Berlin. "7th Pan-African Congress" in Kampala, Uganda
  • End of apartheid in South Africa, electoral victory of the African National Congress Party
  • At least 500,000 Tutsi civilians are massacred by Hutu vigilantes in rwanda

  • 500 Nigerians troops occupy Diamond Island and Djabane, Cameroonian islands in the Gulf of Guinea

  • Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army offers to surrender for resettlement aid

  • Ghanian diplomat Kofi Annan replaces Boutros-Ghali as Un Secretary General

  • Nigerian artist Ben Enwonwu dies in Lagos

  • Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art is founded by Okwui Enwezor in New York

  • Kunle Tejuosho publishes Glendora Review: African Quarterly on the Arts in Lagos, Nigeria

  • Forces of Change: Artists of the Arab World, a major show of arab woman artists opens at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.

  • Pan-African Congress announces end of armed struggle in South Africa

  • Oginga Odinga Kenyan Nationalist leader dies

  • 1,000 people die, 150,000 are displaced in a week of clashes in northern Ghana between Konkomba and Namumba "ethnic" groups

  • President Mangope is forced to resign in South African "homeland" of Bophutthatswana

  • First multiracial elections in South Africa end 350 years of white domination

  • Mandela is inaugurated as president of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki as first deputy-president, marking the first institution of black majority rule in South Africa. First multiracial cabinet is appointed

  • Moshod Abiola, winner of the 1993 Nigerian presidential elections, is arrested for treason after calling for an uprising

  • Peace accord signed between MPLA in Angola and UNITA forces.

    November 17, Bomb explodes iat Lagos International Airport

  • "Première rencontre de la Photographie Africaine" in Bamako, Mali


1996

  • 13,252 foreigners from Africa are registered in Berlin
  • August: Death of the Black German poet and activist May Ayim

1997

  • Premiere or the documentary film "Black Survivors of the Holocaust" in London
  • First edition of "African German Contacts - Afro-centric Address book and Calendar", published in Berlin

1998

  • Exhibition: `Kommen Gehen Bleiben, Die Afrikanische Diaspora in Berlin 1887-1967" (Coming Going Staying - The African Diaspora in Berlin 1887-1967) in the Berlin - Wedding Museum of Local History
  • 10th anniversary of the magazine "afro look"; published in Berlin
  • Launch of the newspaper "The African Courier", published in Speyer.

1999

  • Wave of racially motivated violence and murders in Germany (since 1990)
  • Tenth "Black History Month"
  • 15,016 Foreigners from Africa are registered in Berlin
  • 24 Novemebr: 55th anniversary of the death of B. Mohamed Husen, an African victim of Nazi tyranny; Memorial service held at the Cemetery for Victims of Wars and Tyranny in Berlin-Reinickendorf