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10/05/03 – Botswana Data Sheet
General information about the Republic of Botswana, including a list of leaders since independence.

09/28/03 – This week in African history #39 (29 September – 5 October)
Botswana, Nigeria, and the Kingdom of Lesotho achieve independence from Britain, Guinea achieves independence from France, and Italy bombs Adwa, Abyssinia.

09/22/03 – This week in African history #38 (22–28 September)
Anthropologists 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.

09/15/03 – This week in African history #37 (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.

09/22/03 – This week in African history #36 (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 Johannes Vorster die of natural causes.

09/01/03 – This week in African history #35 (1–7 September)
Rommel withdraws towards El Alamein, Léopold Sédar Senghor, poet, is the first president Senegal, and South African Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd is assassinated.

08/25/03 – This week in African history #34 (25–31 August)
Death of Cleopatra VII, the last Pharaoh of Egypt, Louis Botha, the first prime minister of the Union of South Africa, and Haile Selassie, the last Emperor of Ethiopia.

08/18/03 – This week in African history #33 (18–24 August)
President Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya and conservationist George Adamson die, and British Somaliland is yielded to Italy during the World War II East African campaign.

08/11/03 – This week in African history #32 (11–17 August)
Chad, Central African Republic, Congo-Brazzaville, and Gabon achieve independence from France, and US marines open fire on 3,000 Somali demonstrators.

08/04/03 – This week in African history #31 (4–10 August)
US marines are sent into Liberia to rescue US citizens from the growing civil war, and UN Secretary-general Dag Hammarskjöld instructs Belgium to withdraw its troops from the Congo.

05/26/03 – This week in African history #29 (21–27 July)
The Aswan High Dam is completed in Egypt with Soviet aid, the passengers and crew from a hijacked El Al flight are placed in detention by Algerian authorities, Dr Christiaan Neethling Barnard carries out the first combined heart and lung transplant in Cape Town, Liberia becomes an independent republic with a constitution based on that of the US, and President Nasser of Egypt announces that he has nationalised the Suez Canal.

07/21/03 – Biography: Idi Amin Dada
Idi Amin, who became known as the 'Butcher of Uganda' for his brutal, despotic rule whilst president of country in the 1970s, is possibly the most notorious of all Africa's post-independence dictators.

07/14/03 – This week in African history #28 (14–20 July)
Birth of South African statesman and anti-Apartheid leader Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, death of Chief Albert Luthuli, Africa's first winner of the Nobel Prize for Peace, and the death in exile of Paul Kruger, former president of the South African Republic (Transvaal).

07/07/03 – Biography: Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela
Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa and world acclaimed international statesman, celebrates his 85th birthday on Friday 18 July.

07/07/03 – This week in African history #27 (7–13 July)
The German South West Africa Army surrenders to General Louis Botha at Grootfontein, 112 Peace Corps workers are detained and then expelled from Uganda by President Idi Amin Dada, and Sir Seretse Khama, nationalist leader and first president of Botswana, dies at the age of 59.

06/30/03 – This week in African history #26 (30 June – 6 July)
Hampered by sandstorms, General Erwin Rommel's PanzerArmee Afrika overrun an infantry brigade at Dier el Shein as his troops move towards El Alamein, hostages are freed at Entebbe airport by Israeli forces during Operation Thunderball (later re-named Operation Yoni), and seven African countries gain independence.

06/23/03 – This week in African history #25 (23–29 June)
General Nasser is officially elected president of Egypt, Mozambique and Djibouti gain independence, and Nelson Mandela sets up the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa.

06/16/03 – This week in African history #24 (16–22 June)
South African police responded with tear gas and live bullets when high-school students in Soweto protest against Bantu education, Egypt becomes a republic, and Rommel's Panzerarmee Afrika captures Torbruk.

06/16/03 – Biography: Chief Albert Lutuli
Chief Albert Lutuli was Africa's first winner of the Nobel Prize for Peace and president of the ANC until his death (under mysterious circumstances) in 1967.

06/09/03 – This week in African history #23 (9–15 June)
Muhammad Abdullah Hassan, the Mad Mullah, is defeated by British forces under the command of Colonel Swane, Britain gives up Suez Canal (ending 72 years of occupation), and Nelson Mandela is sentenced to life imprisonment.

06/02/03 – This week in African history #22 (2–8 June)
Fusion occurs between JMB Hertzog's National Party and Jan Smuts' South African Party, North Africa is used as a base of operations for Operation Frantic, and Zahi Hawass and fellow Egyptologists announce the discovery of a workers' cemetery near the Sphinx, Giza.

05/26/03 – This week in African history #21 (26 May - 1 June)
Egyptian premier Gamal Abdel Nasser voes to destroy Israel if war is provoked, Jomo Kenyatta is elected as Kenya's first prime minister, and the Union of South Africa is inaugurated, eight years after the declaration of peace at Vereeniging.

05/19/03 – Review: The Cape Herders
With a subtitle of A History of the Khoikhoi of Southern Africa this lightweight (and politically correct) text book, aimed at secondary school learners, describes the history and present predicament of one of South Africa's truly indigenous people.

05/19/03 – This week in African history #20 (19-25 May)
A US miscalculation results in 1 kilogram of plutonium being released into the atmosphere above Africa, and the leaders of 30 African nations form the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

05/12/03 – This week in African history #19 (12-18 May)
Colonel Muammar Kadhaffi, premier of Libya, predicts the use of oil trading restrictions as a form of Arab nationalistic protection, and the South African police close their investigation into the death of Steve Biko.

05/05/03 – Biography: Walter Sisulu
Walter Sisulu, influential anti-Apartheid activist and co-founder of the African National Congress Youth League and Umkhonto weSizwe (the armed wing of the ANC), died on Monday 5th May at his Johannesburg home, only 13 days before his 91st birthday.

05/05/03 – This week in African history #18 (5-11 May)
As part of the final Allied Offensive in Tunisia Admiral Cunninham, Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet, launches Operation 'Retribution' to prevent Axis forces evacuating North Africa.

04/27/03 – Review: Vanishing Cultures by Peter Magubane
Although at first sight 'Vanishing Cultures' looks to be a standard coffee-table book; Peter Magubane's outstanding pictorial record is a valuable insight into traditional Black South African cultures.

04/27/03 – This week in African history #17 (27 April - 4 May)
In 1939 King Farouk of Egypt is declared the spiritual leader (or Caliph) of Islam; and in 1994 the first ever multi-racial elections are held in South Africa.

04/21/03 – This week in African history #16 (21-27 April)
French army rebels seize Algiers in 1961; Kwame Nkrumah, the nationalist leader and first president of Ghana, dies in 1972; and in 1994 reports of Rwandan genocide start to appear.

04/14/03 – Pre-Colonial cultures in South Africa: San and Khoikhoi
Two thousand years ago the first of several waves colonists swept into South Africa. Each time a new wave arrived the existing populations were marginalised. In the first of these waves, the pastoralist Khoikhoi moved down into the western and southern coastal regions - pushing the hunter-gatherer San inland.

04/14/03 – This week in African history #15 (14-20 April)
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission opens in South Africa, Haile Selassie abolishes slavery in Ethiopia, and Zimbabwe is proclaimed an independent republic (with Dr Cannan Banana as president, and Robert Mugabe as prime minister).

04/07/03 – This week in African history #14 (7-13 April)
South African president Hendrik Verwoerd is wounded in an attempted assassination by a disgruntled white farmer, David Pratt, at the Rand Easter Show and Chris Hani is assassinated by Januzs Walus.

03/31/03 – This week in African history #13 (31 March - 6 April)
Egpytologist Lord Carnarvon dies from an insect bite in Egypt and Jomo Kenyatta, the supposed Mau Mau leader, is convicted and sentenced to seven years (through the use of false testimony) in Kenya.

03/31/03 – Review: The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency
The first novel of Alexander McCall Smith's No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency series is a charming peek into life in modern day Botswana and is destined to become an African classic.

03/17/03 – Biography: DF Malan
Dr DF Malan was a champion of Afrikaner nationalism and first prime minister of the Apartheid government in South Africa. During his six-and-a-half years of power Malan and his Re-united National Party laid the foundation for 46 years of Apartheid.

03/10/03 – This week in African history #10 (10-16 March)
South African Police fire at 3,000 schoolchildren protesting against the recent arrest of 26 students, and the '96 Zimbabwe general election takes place with President Robert Mugabe as the sole candidate.

03/03/03 – Review: My Eland's Heart
Marlene Sullivan Winburg and members of the !Xun and Khwe San Art and Culture Project present the work of seventeen contemporary San artists.

03/03/03 – This week in African history #9 (3-9 March)
Colonial government in Kenya begins negotiations with Mau Mau leaders, six hundred members of the opposition party, ZAPU, are arrested by Robert Mugabe's ZANU government, and Gold Coast and British Togoland achieve independence as Ghana.

02/24/03 – This week in African history #8 (24 February - 2 March)
Ras Desta Demtu, Haile Selassie's son-in-law, is executed by the Italian administration in Abyssinia, and United Arab Republic and Britain agree on a settlement following the Suez crisis.

02/10/03 – Review - How To Read Egyptian Hieroglyphs
Mark Collier and Bill Manley have created the ideal 'teach-yourself' book for Egyptian hieroglyphics. Build up your knowledge and confidence in this ancient language with this step-by-step guide.

02/10/03 – This week in African history #6 (10-16 February)
Nelson Mandela is released after 27 years in prison, Howard Carter examines Tutankhamen's remains when the lid of the sarcophagus is lifted for the first time in 3,300 years, and France tests its first atomic bomb in the Sahara.

02/03/03 – This week in African history #5 (3-9 February)
Anthropologist Raymond Dart announces the discovery of the missing link in South Africa, the 'wind of change' speech is given by Harold Macmillan in Cape Town, and FREMLO announces its plans to turn Mozambique into a Marxist state.

01/27/03 – Biography: Cetshwayo kaMpande
Cetshwayo was the last king of an independent Zulu nation. His warriors defeated the British at Isandlwana, only to be later subdued at oNdini. Cetshwayo returned to Zululand after a short exile to rule briefly before defeat by his rival Zibhebhu.

01/27/03 – Quotes: Cetshwayo
Various quotes by and about Cetshwayo kaMpande.

01/27/03 – About Cetshwayo
Links to web sites on Cetshwayo.

01/27/03 – This week in African history #4 (27 January – 2 February)
Robert Mugabe returns to Rhodesia, after a five year exile, in preparation for the first elections in a soon to be independent Zimbabwe, and a United Arab Republic declared by Egypt and Syria.

01/20/03 – This week in African history #3 (20 - 26 January)
Britain suffers its greatest military defeat in Africa when 24,000 Zulus overrun 1,700 soldiers at Isandlwana; whilst during an overnight battle at Rorke's Drift, 150 British soldiers successfully defend against a force of 3,000.

01/13/03 – This week in African history #2 (13 - 19 January)
Fighting erupts between UN troops and supporters of Patrice Lumumba in the Congo, five women are stoned to death in Somalia for adultery, and Angola achieves independence from Portugal.

01/06/03 – Biography: Joe Slovo
Joe Slovo, anti-Apartheid activist, was one of the founders of Umkhonto weSizwe (MK), the armed wing of the ANC, and was general-secretary of the South African Communist Party during the 1980s.

01/06/03 – Quotes: Joe Slovo
Various quotes by and about Joe Slovo.

01/06/03 – About Joe Slovo
Links to web sites on Joe Slovo.

01/06/03 – This week in African history #1 (6 – 12 January)
Joe Slovo, head of the South African Communist party, dies of leukemia at the age of 68, British troops capture Torbruk airport, and Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser lays the foundation stone of the Aswan High Dam, Egypt.

Articles for 2002

Articles for 2001