This week in African history #39
Monday September 29, 2003
29 September – 5 OctoberBotswana, Nigeria, and the Kingdom of Lesotho achieve independence from Britain, Guinea achieves independence from France, and Italy bombs Adwa, Abyssinia. Find out more...
Nigeria Gets Its First Satellite
Friday September 26, 2003
Nigeria is set to get its first satellite, launched from Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia, reports BBC World News. It will apparently be used to monitor the country for agricultural and ... Read More
Satellite Surfing
Tuesday September 23, 2003
Nigeria to give more of its population access to the internet through mobile "internet buses" using satellite technology, reports the BBC World News. As well as providing access to the ... Read More
Rebuilding of District Six Begins
Tuesday September 23, 2003
District Six in Cape Town was one of the most notorious forced removals in Apartheid South Africa. Now, some 30 years later, building has begun for new houses for some ... Read More
This week in African history #38
Monday September 22, 2003
22 – 28 SeptemberAnthropologists discover a new hominid in Ethiopia (Ardipithecus ramidus), De Gaule's Free French are repulsed at Dakar, and President Nasser of Egypt dies of a heart attack. ... Read More
New Chairman for African Union
Thursday September 18, 2003
A new chairman of the African Union, the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), established last year, has been sworn in. At a ceremony in Addis Ababa, where ... Read More
This week in African history #37
Monday September 15, 2003
15 – 21 September
Supporters of the former President Apolo Milton Obote attack Uganda from Tanzania, and David Dacko becomes president of a newly re-instated Central African Republic. Find out more...
Row over alleged pornography in Kenyan schools
Monday September 15, 2003
A Man of the People, and two other books by internationally recognised author Chinua Achebe are at the centre of a education row in Kenya. According to a BBC World ... Read More
Zimbabwe's Only Independent Newspaper Closed
Sunday September 14, 2003
The Daily News, the last independent newspaper in troubled Zimbabwe, has been closed down because it is "operating illegally", reports BBC World News. The newspaper had not registered with the ... Read More
This week in African history #36
Monday September 8, 2003
8 – 14 September Steve Biko, founder of the Black Consciousness movement in South Africa, dies in a Pretoria prison cell, and South African leaders Jan Christian Smuts and Balthazar ... Read More
Is it Nefertiti or Not?
Friday September 5, 2003
Doubts have been cast on whether the mummy found by British Egyptologists is that of Nefertiti as claimed, reports Aljazeera.Net. According to the report, it's more likely to be the ... Read More
Botswana Erects a Fence on its Zimbabwe Side
Thursday September 4, 2003
The Botswanan authorities has started erecting a four-metre high, electrified fence on the country's border north-eastern border with Zimbabwe, reports BBC World News. It's officially to keep out cattle to ... Read More
This week in African history #35
Monday September 1, 2003
1 – 7 SeptemberRommel withdraws towards El Alamein, Léopold Sédar Senghor, poet, is the first president Senegal, and South African Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd is assassinated. Find out more...
Mau Mau are Finally Unbanned
Monday September 1, 2003
It's taken more than 50 years, but the Mau Mau, the movement which fought for independence in Kenya, has finally been unbanned, reports the BBC News World Service. The Mau ... Read More
Botswana Elects a Woman Chief
Monday September 1, 2003
For the first time ever, a woman has been elected as a Paramount Chief in Botswana, according to a report on BBC News World Service. Mosadi Seboko was elected following ... Read More