African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights enters into force

At its sixteenth ordinary session in Monrovia, OAU leaders adopted a declaration calling for national and collective self-reliance and a new international economic order. Its language challenged...

Nine majority-ruled southern African states formed SADCC to reduce economic dependence on apartheid South Africa and coordinate regional development. The project connected liberation solidarity with...

Zimbabwe became independent after a protracted liberation war and the Lancaster House settlement. Independence was a historic victory, while land redistribution and the colonial ownership structure...

African governments adopt a plan emphasizing self-reliant development, regional cooperation and reduced dependence on external economic control. The plan challenged externally imposed development...

The OAU adopted the African Charter in Nairobi, placing individual rights alongside collective rights, peoples’ self-determination and development. The treaty was an African-authored normative...

Angola, Cuba and South Africa signed agreements in New York linking Cuban troop withdrawal, South African withdrawal from Angola and implementation of Namibian independence. The accord reflected...

F. W. de Klerk announced the unbanning of the ANC, PAC and Communist Party. The change followed decades of mass resistance, labor organizing, armed struggle and international pressure; it opened...

Mandela is released after 27 years in prison. His release followed decades of struggle by the ANC and other organizations, international anti-apartheid campaigns and negotiations; it did not itself...

Namibia gains independence after a long liberation struggle against South African rule and occupation. The outcome demonstrated the importance of armed resistance, international solidarity and...

Member states signed the Abuja Treaty, setting out a staged route toward an African Economic Community. It expressed economic integration as a condition for collective agency, while the timeline and...