The African Nations

Within a few years after independence, most African governments had fallen to coups and been replaced by dictatorships or military rule. When the Europeans abandoned colonial control, they left behind nations with borders unrelated to local ethnic populations. As a result, many African countries were torn by devastating civil wars in the following decades. Perhaps the bloodiest such conflict occurred in Rwanda and Burundi in 1994, when long-simmering ethnic hatred resulted in the genocide of more than half a million people within a few months.

Other countries in which civil wars were fought—in some cases for more than a decade—include Angola, Chad, Mozambique, Nigeria, Sudan, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Despite the fighting, most of the colonial-era borders remained intact. A notable exception occurred in 1993, when Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia after a civil war lasting more than 30 years.

In southern Africa, black liberation movements arose in the 1960's against white-dominated governments. These movements achieved significant success in 1975, when Mozambique and Angola won independence; in 1980, when Rhodesia became independent as Zimbabwe; and in 1990, when Namibia achieved independence. South Africa, however, remained under white minority rule until 1994, when the country's first all-race elections were held.

Since 1998, conflict in Congo has claimed nearly 4 million lives, mostly from disease and malnutrition. The pan-Africanism movement, which promotes the unity of African countries, continued and in 2002 the African Union (AU), an association of African states, was formed.