On This Day In Africa

17 April 1923

From the 16th century right up to the 19th, slaves from Ethiopia were sold across the world. However, the slave trade within Ethiopia was very much different from that observed in the West. The slave trade in Ethiopia was slightly more humane than the one in western countries. It was also influenced by religion; there were certain rules that applied only to Christians and others that only applied to Muslims. Emperor Haile Selassie put an end to the trade when he abolished the practice in 1923. He quickly strived to modernise Ethiopia and led the country to become a member of the League of Nations, the forerunner to the United Nations (UN).

12 April 1942
Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma was born on
the 12 April 1942, at Inkandla, in KwaZulu
Natal. At the age of 17, he joined the
African National Congress (ANC), becoming
an active member of its military wing,
uMkhonto weSizwe (MK), in 1962. In 1962,
while on his way out of South Africa, he
was arrested and charged with
conspiring to overthrow the government.
After being convicted of this charge, he
was sentenced to ten years imprisonment
on Robben Island. Upon his release he
once more became active in organising
and mobilising the ANC underground
structures in the then Province of Natal.. In
1975, he left South Africa and went into
exile in Swaziland and Mozambique.In
1987, he moved to Lusaka, Zambia, and
there assumed the position of Head of
Underground Structures and later Chief of
the Intelligence Department of the ANC in
exile. Following the unbanning of the ANC
in 1990, he was among the first ANC
leaders to return from exile. After the first
democratic elections in 1994, Zuma was
appointed as the Minister for Economic
Affairs and Tourism in The KwaZulu -
Natal.He was elected President of the ANC
in Polokwane in December 2007, and
President of the Republic of South Africa
on 6 May 2009

Niger President Ibrahim Bare Mainassara is assassinated



9 April 1999

The Niger president, Ibrahim Bare Mainassara, was assassinated by his own presidential guard while boarding a plain in Niamey, the capital city of Niger. Immediately after the incident, communication lines, radio stations and borders were closed down. The troops, well positioned around Niamey, cordoned off the international airport. He was buried two days after his death in a funeral attended by only family members and foreign diplomats. Mainassara's death was announced as a "tragic accident" by Prime Minister Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, who attempted to dissolve the National Assembly and suspend all political activity. However, Mayaki's attempt was rejected by the opposition parties on the grounds that the assembly could only be dissolved by the speaker in the event of the death of the head of state. Mayaki further announced that the military would rule until a new government of "national unity" had been decided upon. Military chiefs linked to the assassination, as well as politicians who were opposed to the former president's rule, met over the weekend and appointed Major Daouda Mallam Wanke, commander of Niger's presidential guard, as Mainassara 's successor. Niger state radio announced that Wanke would lead the National Council for Reconciliation for nine months.

8 April 1991
The peace talks between the African
National Congress (ANC) and the Inkatha
Freedom Party (IFP) were called off as a
result of the ANC's ultimatum sent to State
President F.W. de Kerk. In the ultimatum,
the ANC demanded that De Klerk stop
aiding and abetting the IFP in the ongoing
feud with the ANC and its alliance
partners, the United Democratic Front
(UDF) and the Congress of South African
Trade Unions (COSATU). IFP leader
Mangosuthu Buthelezi was again angered
by the ANC allegations that the IFP is
backed by the security forces to kill ANC
members. Buthelezi accused the ANC of
putting the country on the brink of civil
war and of aiming to wreck the
negotiation process, setting the stage for
an attempt to seize power. By the end of
1991 and well into the following these
issues remained unresolved. In June 1992
tensions between the ANC and its alliance
partners on the one hand and the IFP and
the apartheid government on the other
escalated into a crisis when the IFP
supporters attacked residents of an
informal settlement in Boipatong, south of
Johannesburg. In the attack 40 people
were murdered and scores injured. The
informal settlement, known unofficially as
Joe Slovo, was considered to be one of the
ANC’s strongholds in the Vaal.

Djibouti and Cote d’ Ivore strengthen diplomatic ties with SA

7 April 1992

Following a visit to Nigeria by the state president, F.W. de Klerk, and his foreign minister Roelof "P*k" Botha a number of other African countries announced their willingness to improve their diplomatic relations with South Africa. Djibouti lifted all trade and travel restrictions it had imposed on South Africa, whilst Cote d'Ivore announced the establishment of full diplomatic relations, making it the second African country after Malawi to exchange ambassadors.

Rwandan and Burundian presidents J Habyarimana and C Ntayamira are killed in an air crash



6 April 1994

0n 6 April 1994, an extraordinary event in the history of the African continent took place in Kigali, Rwanda when two presidents from two countries were assassinated. Juvenal Habyarimana of Rwanda and his Burundian counterpart Cyprian Ntayamira were among 10 people in an aircraft many people believe was brought down by rocket fire. Habyarimana and Ntayamira were returning from a meeting of east and central African leaders in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, at which they discussed ways to end the ethnic violence in Burundi and Rwanda. The incident worsened an already bleak political situation. From 1890 to 1962 Rwanda and Burundi were part of one nation, Ruanda-Urundi. Following the crash, the Mutsinzi Commission of enquiry was established in 2007 by the Rwandan government to investigate the incident. In its report the commissioners resolved not to reveal the identities of the perpetrators.

On 5 April 1990, at an informal meeting in
Cape Town, President F.W. de Klerk and
Nelson Mandela agreed to reschedule
formal talks between the Government and
the African National Congress (ANC). The
purpose of these talks was to negotiate
the adoption of a new democratic
constitution for South Africa. The talks
were set to take place on 11 April,
however the ANC cancelled the talks after
police shot and killed several anti-
apartheid demonstrators in Sebokeng, a
township in the southern Gauteng (then
Transvaal) area, on 26 March 1990. After
F.W de Klerk gave instructions for an in-
depth investigation into the Sebokeng
shootings, an agreement was reached
between the government and the ANC.
Therefore, the reconciliatory talks were
rescheduled to take place from 2 to 4 May
of the same year. This particular meeting
was the first time de Klerk and Mandela
had met since Mandela's release from
prison in February 1990, and therefore a
significant occasion in the negotiations
that would lead to the creation of a "New
South Africa".

April 4 2002
After 27 years of fighting, the Angolan government and UNITA signed a cease-fire agreement that ended the country's civil war.