Griqua people

The Griquas (; , often confused with !Orana, which is written as "Korana" or "Koranna") are a subgroup of heterogeneous former Khoe-speaking nations in Southern Africa with a unique origin in the early history of the Cape Colony. Under apartheid they were given a special racial classification under the broader category of "Coloured".
Similar to the Trekboers (another Afrikaans-speaking group of the time), they originally populated the frontiers of the nascent Cape Colony (founded in 1652). The men of their semi-nomadic society formed commando units of mounted gunmen. Like the Boers, they migrated inland from the Cape, in the 19th century establishing several states in what are now South Africa and Namibia.
Griqua was the name given to a mixed race culture in the Cape Colony of South Africa, around the 17th and 18th Century.(Taylor, 2020) They were also known as Hottentots before Europeans arrived into their lands where they lived as close-knit families. They are a racially and culturally mixed people who are primarily descended from the intermarriages and sexual relations between European colonist men and primarily Khoikhoi women. The Griquas could trace their forefathers to two clans, the Koks and Barendse, the first made up mainly of Khoikhoi and the second of mixed European descent. Genetic studies of the 21st century have shown these people also had Tswana, San, and Xhosa ancestry. Later the Europeans chose mixed-race women of the Khoikhoi, who were living in the Cape during the 17th and 18th centuries. As time went on, mixed-race people began to marry among themselves, establishing a distinct ethnic group that tended to be more assimilated to Dutch and European ways than tribal peoples in separated villages. During apartheid, the Griqua were called "Coloured" by Europeans.(Taylor, 2020)
The mixed-race groups that developed in the early Cape Colony adopted different names for themselves, including "Bastards", "Basters", "Korana", "Oorlam" or Oorlam Afrikaners, and "Griqua". Like the Afrikaners or "Boers" as they were known in that time, many of these groups migrated inland to escape British colonial rule. The word "Afrikaner" itself was originally (for over 350 years) used as a description for not white Boers but a mixed-race bastard child. It was only around 1876 that a group of Boer intellectuals, who named themselves "The fellowship of real Afrikaners", decided to use the term as a new means to describe the Boer peoples, as part of the project to create a new national identity for pioneer Boer people in their fight against the British and for more powerful political legitimacy. Which is why today many Afrikaans speaking white people are still known as Afrikaners as this message was powerfully conveyed as a national identity during the times of the South African Union (1910-1961) and the Apartheid years of the Republic of South Africa.
According to the 18th-century Dutch historian Isaak Tirion, the Khoi name "Griqua" (or "Grigriqua") is first recorded in 1730 in reference to a group of people living in the northeastern section of the Cape Colony. In 1813, Reverend John Campbell of the London Missionary Society (LMS) used the term Griqua to describe a mixed-race group of "Chariguriqua" (a Cape Khoikhoi group), "Bastaards", "Korana", and "Tswana" living at the site of present-day Griekwastad (then known as Klaarwater). The British found their "proud name", "Bastaards", offensive, so the LMS called them Griqua. The term Bastaards refers to a group of people of mixed origin (Jody, 2021).
The actual name was derived from the Chariaguriqua people whose princess became the wife of the first Griqua leader, Adam Kok I.(Taylor, 2020). Adam Kok was a liberated slave, who figured out how to acquire burgher rights and a ranch close to the present Piketberg, established the most incredible blended local area Because of a common ancestor named Griqua and shared links to the Chariguriqua (Grigriqua), the people officially changed their name to the Griqua.
History.
Origin and early history.
The Boers arrived in the area of Griquatown after Natal was taken over by the British. They acquired land from the Griqua, buying it in exchange for horses, liquor, firearms and ammunition. Trouble started when the Kok arrested a Boer accused of ill-treating his people, and the trekker community tried to take over his entire territory. A British force stationed at Colesberg quickly crossed the Orange River and defeated the settlers at Zwartkoppies.
The arrival of the Boers and the colonial masters to the area known as Griqualand West denied the Griquas the opportunity of following their own development paths. They lost their land and traditional resources, and were tossed into a sea of rapid social change which saw them lose the independence they had searched for in the Orange Free State area.
The Dutch East India Company (VOC) did not intend for its Cape Colony possessions at the southern tip of Africa to develop into a political entity. As the colony expanded and became more successful, its leadership did not worry about its frontiers. As a result, the frontier of the colony was indeterminate and ebbed and flowed at the whim of individuals. While the VOC undoubtedly benefited from the trading and pastoral endeavours of the Trekboers, it did little to control or support them in their quest for land. The high proportion of single Dutch men led to many taking indigenous women as wives and companions, producing mixed-race children. These multiracial offspring gradually developed as a sizable population who spoke Dutch and were instrumental in developing the colony.
These children did not attain the social or legal status accorded their fathers, mostly because colonial laws recognised only Christian forms of marriage. This group became known as Basters, derived from bastaard, the Dutch word for "bastard" (or "crossbreed"). As part of the European colonists' paramilitary response to insurgent resistance from Khoi and San peoples, they conscripted Basters men into commando units. This allowed the men to become skilled in lightly armed and mounted skirmish tactics. But many recruited to war chose to abandon Dutch society and strike out to pursue a way of life more in keeping with their maternal culture. The resulting stream of disgruntled Dutch-speaking marksmen leaving the Cape hobbled the primarily Dutch colonists' ability to crew commando units. It also created belligerent, skilled groups of opportunists who harassed indigenous populations along the Orange River. Once free of colonial rule, these groups referred to themselves as "Oorlam". In particular, the group led by Klaas Afrikaner became notorious for its exploits. They attracted enough attention from the Dutch authorities that Afrikaner was eventually rendered to the colony and banished to Robben Island in 1761.
Griqua migrations.
One of the most influential of these Oorlam groups was the Griqua. In the 19th century, the Griqua controlled several political entities which were governed by "Kapteins" (Dutch for "Captain") and their councils, with their own written constitutions. The first Griqua "Kaptein" was Adam Kok I, a former slave who had bought his own freedom. Kok led his people north from the interior of the Cape Colony, likely to escape discrimination, before moving north again. As Voortrekker moved North to Natal and finding out the Natal had been sanction by the British, they had remembered the good lands they have pasted through so the Voortrekkers moved back over the Drankensberg [O'Connel, 2013].
He eventually led them beyond the Cape Colony, near the Orange River just west and south of what would eventually become the Boer Republics of the Orange Free State and Transvaal, respectively. This area is where most of the tribe settled; although some remained nomadic. Prior to beginning their migrations, the Griqua had largely adopted what would be known as the Afrikaans language.
 Adam Kok, head of the Griquas at Nomansland, on the demand of the teacher John Campbell, they concocted the name Griqua. They set up a fundamental arrangement of government dependent on pioneers known as kaptyns and officers drawn from the main families
 had a rival known as Nicholas Waterboer, he ruled the farthest west of Kimberley. He was no threat to Kok until diamonds were discovered there. Kok's successor, Andries Waterboer, founded Griqualand West, and controlled it until the influx of European after the discovery of diamonds. In 1834, the Cape Colony recognised Waterboer's rights to his land and people. It signed a treaty with him to ensure payment by Europeans for the use of the land for mining.
Current situation.
Despite similarly mixed-race origins, those Coloured peoples identifying as Basters are considered to be a separate ethnic group and live primarily in south-central Namibia, while those who consider themselves Griqua are mostly located around Campbell and Griquatown in the historic territory of Griqualand West in the Northern Cape; around the small Le Fleur Griqua settlement at Kranshoek in the Western Cape; and at Kokstad in KwaZulu-Natal.
Due primarily to the racial policies of South Africa during the apartheid era, many Griqua people accepted classification in the larger "Coloured" group for fear that their Griqua roots might place them at a lower level than other groups. As a result, estimates of the size of the Griqua population are difficult to determine and remain largely unknown.
Genetic evidence indicates that the majority of the present-day Griqua population is descended from a combination of European, Khoikhoi and Tswana ancestors, with a small percentage of San, or Bushmen, ancestry.
In 1999, the National Khoi-San Council (NKC) was established and facilitated discussions between these indigenous people and the South African Government. They discussed and collaborated on many issues concerning the Khoi-San people. Griqua people are represented by the National Khoisan Consultative Conference (Afrikaans: "Nasionale Khoe-San Oorlegplegende Konferensie"), which was established in Oudtshoorn in 2001 to represent the interests of South Africa's Khoisanid peoples. The conference participates in cooperative research and development projects with the provincial government of the Western Cape and the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein. Members of the influential Le Fleur clan of Griqua are especially represented in this body.
The Griqua established their own church, known as the Griqua Church, which is Protestant. The Church has a strong focus on maintaining Griqua cultural and ethnic identity. They are represented mostly in South Central Namibia.
One of several disputed theories as to the origin of Bloemfontein's name connects it to the Griqua leader Jan Bloem (1775–1858). However, this may be a coincidence as "Bloemfontein" is Dutch for "fountain of flowers", or "blooming fountain", and the area could have been named for its local vegetation.
Griqualand.
Several areas of South Africa became known as 'Griqualand' when the group migrated inland from the Cape and established separate communities. The Griqua were first from the Cape to make their way to and remain in the Transorangia area, beyond the Orange River.
Griqualand East Griqualand East, officially known as New Griqualand was one of four short-lived Griqua states in Southern Africa from the early 1860s until the late 1870s and was located between the Umzimkulu and Kinira Rivers, south of the Sotho Kingdom.Is the area around Kokstad on KwaZulu-Natal's frontier with the Eastern Cape. It was a historical division in the Eastern Cape province approximately 19000 km2. This area was named after Adam Kok III. In 1861–1862, Kok III led more than 2,000 Griqua through Basutoland over the Drakensberg mountains. They settled on a piece of unclaimed territory between Pondoland and Natal which subsequently became known as Griqualand East. Before the territory was annexed Britain they enjoyed independence few short years. Griqua descendants are now largely concentrated in Kokstad, where the Griqua Church is a center of the community.
Griqualand West is the area around Kimberley, which became an important mining town in the decades following the first local discovery of diamonds in 1866. Kimberley is also known for its sports teams, including the Griquas rugby team, which competes in South Africa's annual Currie Cup tournament and contests its home matches at Griqua Park. With the arrival of the Boers to Griqualand West, the Griqua lost their land and traditional cultures and were tossed into a rapidly changing Orange Free State area [South Africa History Online, 2020].
The Griqua nation is known to have made use of flags before 1902 when they adopted a flag similar to the Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek (ZAR). Griquas living in this area were under the leadership of Anndries but they are not known to have used flags.


Simeon Laiseri

Simeon Laiseri was a Tanzanian chief of the Arusha people. He was born in 1888 in Arusha, Arusha Region, Tanzania. He died in 1983 at the age of 95. He was inaugurated on January 14, 1948, as the first leader of the United Waarusha Community by the British administration's indirect rule policy. He fought against colonialism, and is one of the founding fathers of the City of Arusha.


Johnny Lindsay

John Dixon Lindsay (8 September 1908 – 31 August 1990) was a South African cricketer who played in three Tests in 1947. His son, Denis, also played Test cricket for South Africa.
He captained North Eastern Transvaal in their initial first-class season in 1937-38.


Nigerian Enterprises Promotion Decree

The Nigerian Enterprises Promotion Decree or NEPD 1972 as amended in 1977 was meant to effect changes in the ownership structure of businesses in Nigeria and to provide opportunity for indigenous capital to have assertive control of the economy. The law also restricted economic activities of foreign firms to certain areas and obliged the firms to add Nigerians as partners. Up to 1,130 companies were affected, some companies transferred equity through private placement while others listed on the stock exchange. A total of 81 companies listed shares on the stock exchange worth a total value of 210 million naira while majority offered the shares through private placement.
The decree was repealed in 1995 with the promulgation of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Act.
Background.
Prior to the end of colonial rule in 1960, Nigerian businessmen had been agitating for protection of indigenous capital from foreign competition, while a clamour to reduce expatriate quota resulted in Nigerianisation in many institutions. Following decolonization, aspirations of economic independence and self-determination became pronounced and began to earn broad base support. An indigenisation policy championed by bureaucrats and Nigerian businessmen was pursued within the Federal Government's National Development Plan for 1970–74. In February 1972, the Nigerian Enterprises Promotion Decree was promulgated to be effective in April 1974. The new legislation was planned to give Nigerians more access to surplus income of businesses, shift foreign investment to highly technical areas and promote indigenous businesses.
The military administration was more amenable to make the changes than their previous democratic counterpart partly because of their increasing distrust of foreign capital, an aftermath of their experience in relying on foreign governments and multinational corporations during the Nigerian Civil War and the lack of prompt response of oil companies to make payments exclusively to the Federal Government.
NEPC 1972.
NEPC decree of 1972 was a legislation to effect changes in the ownership structure of light industries such as retail and small scale businesses. Industries were divided into two divisions called schedule 1 and schedule 2. Along with the decree was the establishment of the Nigerian Enterprises Promotion Board to manage the implementation of the new law. Following the spirit of the new law, the government acquired interest in major expatriate led banks within the country including First Bank of Nigeria and Union Bank of Nigeria and mandated a compulsory percentage of loans be made to Nigerians. The government also acquired interest in the insurance and oil and gas sectors. A new bank, the Nigerian bank of Commerce and Industry came into existence to facilitate loans to Nigerians for the purpose of investing in foreign owned firms.
NEPC 1977.
Prior to 1977, criticism of the existing law led to a couple of amendments but the most significant was in 1977. Critics had felt the changes created a new bourgeois that purchased majority of the shares. In addition, while 950 business were affected under the 1972 decree some had requested exemptions and not all were compliant by April 1974. Some affected enterprises were alleged to have conspired with some Nigerians who will come in as a silent partner or front as chairman of the board of directors but the firm will be managed by line personnel expatriates in the backroom. The new amendment of 1977 limited the number of companies an individual could gain majority control and empowered the enterprises promotion board with the ability to seal the offices of non compliant firms. Businesses where divided into three schedules. Under schedule one, ownership of businesses shall be 100% indigenous. Business activities under this schedule were related to the retail and service sector, advertising, bakeries, commercial transportation and estate agencies. Under schedule two, ownership will be 60% owned by Nigerian. Under the amendment additional sectors were added to schedule 2, this included banking, insurance, food processing, petrochemicals and iron and steel.


Ufuwai Bonet

Ufuwai Bonet is the monarch of Gworok (Kagoro) Chiefdom, a Nigerian traditional state in southern Kaduna State, Nigeria. He is also known by the title "Chief of Kagoro (Gworok)". As of 2016, he is the deputy chairman of the Kaduna State council of chiefs and emirs.
In 2011, he led the Kaduna State Christians to pilgrimage in Israel, Egypt, Rome and Greece, in which two absconded.
In January 2017, while addressing the Nigerian Chief of Defense Staff, General Abayomi Olonisakin on a visit to his palace after the attacks by Fulani terrorists, he assured: Later in February, in an address to the CAN, over the same issue, Bonet admonished: He also decried the security situation in the area during the 2019 edition of the Afan National Cultural Festival, which he hosted.
During the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, he urged the people, village and ward heads in his realm to abide by the lockdown orders as liquor sellers hesitated to comply.


Battle of Gabon

The Battle of Gabon (French: "Bataille du Gabon"), also called the Gabon Campaign ("Campagne du Gabon"), occurred in November 1940 during World War II. The battle resulted in forces under the orders of General de Gaulle taking the colony of Gabon and its capital, Libreville, from Vichy France, and the rallying of French Equatorial Africa to Free France.
It was the first military engagement leading to the liberation of France, and the only battle of the war fought in Equatorial Africa.
Background.
In June 1940, Germany invaded and defeated France, and subsequently occupied a portion of the country. Philippe Pétain established a collaborationist government in Vichy to administer unoccupied French territory. On 18 June French General Charles De Gaulle broadcast an appeal over the radio to his compatriots abroad, calling on them to reject the Vichy regime and join the United Kingdom in its war against Germany and Italy. The broadcast provoked division in France's African territories, where colonists were forced to choose sides.
On 26 August, the governor and military commanders in the colony of French Chad announced that they were rallying to De Gaulle's Free French Forces. A small group of Gaullists seized control of French Cameroon the following morning, and on 28 August a Free French official ousted the pro-Vichy governor of French Congo. The next day the governor of Ubangi-Shari declared that his territory would support De Gaulle. His declaration prompted a brief struggle for power with a pro-Vichy army officer, but by the end of the day all of the colonies that formed French Equatorial Africa had rallied to Free France, except for French Gabon. On the evening of 28–29 August 1940, Governor Georges Masson had pledged Gabon's allegiance to Free France. He met immediate opposition from much of Libreville's French population and from Gabon's influential, conservative Catholic bishop, Louis Tardy, who favoured Vichy France's anti-Freemason policies. Facing pressure, Masson was forced to rescind his pledge. Free French sympathizers were subsequently arrested by the colonial administration and either imprisoned on board the auxiliary cruiser or deported to Dakar, Senegal. De Gaulle was perturbed by Gabon's refusal to join his cause and described his dilemma in his memoirs: "a hostile enclave, that was hard to reduce because it gave on to the ocean, was created in the heart of our equatorial holdings." General Edgard de Larminat stated that the failure to secure the territory would threaten "the very principle of our presence in Africa."
Prelude.
Following the rallying of Cameroon on 27 August, the Gabonese authorities decided to reinforce their frontier with that province along with the Ntem river. On 3 September, Roger Gardet entered Bitam by a ruse. On the pretext of medical necessity, he received permission from Captain Gourvès at Bitam to cross the frontier. Gourvès agreed to rally his troops to Free France only if his superior, the chief administrator of Woleu-Ntem based at Oyem, a certain Besson, did the same. Besson at first refused, but on 5 September Gardet informed him that he was relieving him of his command. Besson left for Cameroon and the following day, 6 September, Free French forces arrived in Bitam and Oyem with Pierre Roger Martocq as the new administrator of Woleu-Ntem.
On 11 September, Masson held a meeting with his army and navy commanders at which it was decided to reinforce Mayumba. On 9 and 15 September, Colonel André Parant brought a dozen Free French fighters into Mayumba on a Potez 540. On 15 September, the Vichy reinforcements arrived on the "Cap des Palmes", escorted by the submarine : a troop of marines from the aviso and the defence of Port-Gentil. While the commander of the submarine, Captain Bertrand de Saussine du Pont de Gault was breakfasting with the district administrator, the Free French invaded the administrator's residence. After several hours of discussions, and with Parant's men occupying the city, Saussine was permitted to leave, taking with him whoever did not wish to join the Free French. Most of the marines opted to stay in Mayumba.
On 8 October, De Gaulle arrived in Douala, Cameroon. Four days later he authorised plans for the invasion of French Equatorial Africa. He wanted to use French Equatorial Africa as a base to launch attacks into Axis-controlled Libya. For this reason, he personally headed northward to survey the situation in Chad, located on the southern border of Libya.
Battle.
On 27 October, Free French forces crossed into French Equatorial Africa and took the town of Mitzic.
On 5 November, the Vichy garrison at Lambaréné capitulated. Meanwhile, the main Free French forces under General Philippe Leclerc and Battalion Chief (major) Marie Pierre Koenig departed from Douala, French Cameroon. Their goal was to take Libreville, French Equatorial Africa. The British expressed doubt in De Gaulle's ability to establish control over the Vichy territory, but they eventually agreed to lend naval support to the Free French. French Foreign Legion officer John Hasey reported that after the first few days of fighting, 150 prisoners were taken who joined the Free French a few weeks later - "curiously enough, no one tried to convince them. They argued it out among themselves and joined up voluntarily."
On 8 November 1940, the sloop discovered the Vichy submarine "Poncelet" shadowing the Anglo-French task force and gave chase. The sloop was too slow to intercept the submarine, so Admiral Cunningham ordered his flagship, , to launch its Supermarine Walrus biplane. The aircraft straddled the submarine with two salvos of 100 lb depth charges as it attempted to dive, damaging it. It was then scuttled off Port-Gentil, with the captain resolving to sink with his vessel. Koenig's forces landed at Pointe La Mondah on the night of 8 November. His forces included French Legionnaires (including the 13th Foreign Legion Demi-Brigade), Senegalese and Cameroonian troops.
On 9 November, Free French Westland Lysander aircraft operating out of Douala bombed Libreville aerodrome. The aerodrome was eventually captured, despite stiff resistance met by Koenig's force in its approach. Free French naval forces consisting of the minesweeper and the cargo vessel were led by Georges Thierry d'Argenlieu aboard the in conducting coastal operations. "De Brazza" attacked and sank her sister ship, the Vichy French "Bougainville". Libreville was captured on 10 November.
On 12 November, the final Vichy forces at Port Gentil surrendered without a fight. Governor Masson – despairing of his actions – committed suicide.
Aftermath.
The Free French lost four aircraft and six aircrew in the campaign. There is disagreement about the total number of human losses. De Gaulle said "some twenty" died in the campaign. Jean-Christophe Notin claimed 33 were killed. Eliane Ebako wrote that "dozens" lost their lives, while Jean-Pierre Azéma said "roughly one hundred" were killed. Another account states that 35 Vichy troops were killed to 8 Free French.
On 15 November, de Gaulle made a personal appeal that failed to persuade most of the captured Vichy soldiers—including General —to join the Free French. As a result, they were interned as prisoners of war in Brazzaville, French Congo for the duration of the war.
With their control consolidated in Equatorial Africa, the Free French began focusing on the campaign in Italian Libya. De Gaulle relieved General Leclerc of his post in Cameroon and sent him to Fort Lamy, Chad to oversee offensive preparations.
The conflict in Gabon triggered a mass migration of Gabonese to Spanish Guinea. French Equatorial Africa cut its ties with the Vichy-controlled West African territories, and rebuilt its economy around trade with nearby British possessions, namely Nigeria. Tensions between Vichy and Free French factions remained long after the invasion. The seizure of Gabon and the rest of French Equatorial Africa gave Free France new-found legitimacy; no longer was it an organization of exiles in Britain, as it now had its own sizable territory to govern.


Taita Hills Association

Taita Hills Association (THA) was a political organization established around the issue of land alienations in Taita Taveta District. It was established in 1939 as a branch of Kikuyu Central Association (KCA) and banned in 1940 with KCA and Ukamba Members Association. The association was linked to the land politics of colonial Kenya.
The main political goals of the association were:
In the time of the banning the association had 4000 supporters. After banning these supporters continued the work to 1950's but in the beginning of Mau Mau uprising the activity of the association diminished.


Battle of Porto Praya

The Battle of Porto Praya was a naval battle that took place during the American Revolutionary War on 16 April 1781 between a British squadron under Commodore George Johnstone and a French squadron under the Bailli de Suffren.
Both squadrons were en route to the Cape of Good Hope, the British to take it from the Dutch, the French aiming to help defend it and French possessions in the Indian Ocean. The British convoy and its escorting squadron had anchored at Porto Praya (now Praia) in the Cape Verde Islands to take on water, when the French squadron arrived and attacked them at anchor.
Due to the unexpected nature of the encounter, neither fleet was prepared to do battle, and in the inconclusive battle the French fleet sustained more damage than the British, though no ships were lost. Johnstone tried to pursue the French, but was forced to call it off in order to repair the damage his ships had taken.
The French gained a strategic victory, because Suffren beat Johnstone to the Cape and reinforced the Dutch garrison before continuing on his journey to the Île de France (now Mauritius).
Background.
France had entered the American Revolutionary War in 1778, and Britain declared war on the Dutch Republic in late 1780, when the Dutch refused to stop trading with the French and the Americans. Johnstone was ordered to lead an expedition to capture the Dutch colony at the Cape of Good Hope.
On 13 March 1781 Johnstone sailed from Spithead with a fleet of 37 ships, including five ships of the line, three frigates, and a large number of troop convoy ships. In early April the fleet anchored in the neutral harbour of Porto Praya in the Portuguese-controlled Cape Verde Islands to take on water and supplies.
Suffren had been dispatched on a mission to provide military assistance to French and Dutch colonies in India, leading a fleet of five ships of the line, seven transports, and a corvette to escort the transports. On 22 March he had sailed in the company of a fleet destined for North America under Admiral de Grasse, with word of Johnstone's mission and an objective to reach the Cape first.
One of Suffren's ships, "Artésien", had originally been destined for America, and was in need of water, so the French fleet paused when it approached Santiago on 16 April, and Suffren ordered the "Artésien" to the harbour.
Battle.
When the "Artésien" reached the mouth of the harbour, she spotted the British fleet at anchor, and signalled Suffren that the enemy was in sight. Suffren, assuming (correctly) that the fleet had men ashore and would be in some disarray, immediately gave orders to attack, leading the way with his flagship, the "Héros". Johnstone, who was in the process of ordering ship manoeuvres to separate ships that had drifted too close to one another when the French squadron was spotted, had to scramble to prepare the fleet for battle.
Suffren's orders were for his line to anchor before the British fleet and open fire. This he did with "Héros", taking on and , the two largest British ships. "Annibal" soon came to his aid, and eventually drew most of the fire. "Artésien", whose captain was killed early in the engagement, captured the East Indiaman in the confusion, and then a breeze blew her away from the action. The "Vengeur" passed along the anchored British fleet exchanging broadsides but never anchored herself and passed out of the action, while the "Sphinx" also failed to anchor, and only contributed minimally to the action.
Suffren, with the advantage of surprise, maintained the action with the two anchored ships for ninety minutes until damage ("Annibal" lost two of three masts) led him to signal a retreat while maintaining fire. "Annibal" lost her third mast on her way out of the harbour, and was slow to follow "Héros".
The French captured the East Indiamen "Hinchinbrook" and "Fortitude", and the victualer "Edward". The British recaptured "Fortitude" the next day.
Aftermath.
Suffren gathered his fleet together outside the harbour to assess damage and make repairs. "Terror" and "Infernal" had got out to sea and the French fired on them. Despite being set on fire, "Terror" escaped and her crew extinguished the flames. The French captured "Infernal", and took out Captain Henry Darby and some sailors and soldiers.
Johnstone got his squadron ready and came out of the harbour in pursuit about three hours later. Suffren adopted an aggressive line, and Johnstone, some of whose ships — especially — had suffered significant damage, chose not to renew the battle, and returned to the harbour to effect repairs. However, before he returned, he succeeded in recovering "Infernal". Her remaining crew had recaptured her while the prize crew were off their guard. Alternatively, her prize crew abandoned her at the approach of the British squadron. Their prize crews also abandoned and "Edward", and the British recovered the vessels a few days later.
Suffren's squadron reached the Cape of Good Hope on 21 June, with the troop convoys arriving nine days later. After spending a month there for repair and refit, he left 500 men for the defence of the Dutch colony and proceeded on to Ile de France. Johnstone, however, still headed for the Cape and arrived in July and at Saldanha Bay took five Dutch East Indies vessels as prizes. He then made his way back to England.
Order of battle.
Three frigates, the corvette "Fortune", and numerous transports did not engage.
Legacy.
The "Agosta"-class submarine "La Praya" (S 622) was named in honour of the battle.
Sources and references.
 Notes
References
 Bibliography


Kaladian Coulibaly

Kaladian Coulibaly was a West African ruler who founded one of the first large Bambara kingdoms, centered on Ségou in what is now Mali. Around 1650, Coulibaly's kingdom was one of the dominant forces in the region. Though it lacked a systematic framework and thus failed to outlast his death (c. 1680), his great-grandson Bitòn Coulibaly would found a more stable Bambara Empire fifty years later on the same spot.


Ayele Seteng

Ayele Seteng (born 11 April 1955) is an Ethiopian-born Israeli long-distance runner who specializes in the marathon.
Personal life.
He was born and raised in Ethiopia, and is of Beta Israel heritage. In 1991 he emigrated to Israel. He is also known as Haile Satayin, a variant of "Ayele Seteng". The different existing versions of his name are due to transliteration.
He stands tall and weighs about .
Career.
Ayele Seteng won national Israeli titles before competing internationally. He achieved his personal best times on the track during the mid-1990s: 14:00.49 in the 5000 metres, achieved in 1996; and 29:04.08 in the 10,000 metres, achieved in 1995. He later converted fully to road running, and to some extent cross-country running.
He competed at the World Cross Country Championships in 1997, 1999 and 2000 without any success. One of his first marathons took place at the 2002 European Championships, where he finished 32nd. In 2004 he finished 12th at the 2004 World Half Marathon Championships and 20th at the 2004 Olympic Games. In 2005 he finished 26th at the 2005 World Half Marathon Championships, and 21st at the 2005 World Championships. He finished 18th at the 2006 European Championships, 19th at the 2007 World Championships and 69th at the 2008 Olympic Games.
At 49 years and 141 days, competing on behalf of Israel at the 2004 Summer Olympics, he was the oldest track and field athlete competing at the 2004 Olympics. At 53 years and 136 days, competing on behalf of Israel at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, he was the oldest athlete competing at the 2008 Olympics. He is reported to have once said "My age is old, but my heart is young."
His personal best times on the road are 1:03:43 in the half marathon, achieved in March 1997 in Tel Aviv; and 2:14:21 in the marathon, achieved in October 2003 in the Venice Marathon. Both these results are Israeli records.
"Running Movie" (Original title in Hebrew: Seret Ratz), a documentary directed by Omer Peled and produced by Gidi Avivi in 2011, follows Ayele Seteng, the oldest marathon runner to compete in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, and reveals his efforts to participate in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.


Luxmanda

Luxmanda is an archaeological site located in the north-central Babati District of Tanzania. It was discovered in 2012. Excavations in the area have identified it as the largest and southernmost settlement site of the Savanna Pastoral Neolithic (SPN), an archaeologically-recognized pastoralist culture centered in eastern Africa during a time period known as the Pastoral Neolithic (ca. 5000–1200 BP). Radiocarbon dating of charcoal, human collagen, and organic matter in ceramic artifacts indicate that Luxmanda was occupied between 3,200 to 2,900 years ago. Ceramics (of the Narosura type), lithics, worked bone, ivory, and ostrich eggshell assemblages in addition to livestock and human bones have been recovered from the Luxmanda site. The people of Luxmanda were highly specialized pastoralists, relying on cattle, sheep, goats, and donkeys for subsistence. Their linguistic affiliation is unknown, but some historical linguists have speculated that the peoples of the SPN spoke Cushitic languages. The Pastoral Neolithic was followed by the Pastoral Iron Age and the Bantu Expansion.
Ancient DNA analysis.
Admixture clustering analysis of a 3,100 year old female infant skeleton exhumed at Luxmanda found that the individual carried approximately 38±1% of her ancestry related to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic culture of the Levant. New genetic data from Luxmanda suggest that this affinity is likely due to either migration into Africa of descendants of pre-pottery farmers from the Levant, or common descent from a non-African ancestral population that inhabited Africa or the Near East several millennia before. All the males tested for Y chromosomal DNA clustered with E1b1b subclades, with two yielding ambivalent A1b subclades due to insufficient collagen.
The African part of Luxmanda individual's ancestry was fitted as being most closely related to a hunter-gatherer population that inhabited Ethiopia ca. 4,500 BP (under a two-population admixture scenario, with inferred ancestry proportions of 62.2–62.8% for the hunter-gather component and 37.2-37.8% for the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B component) or also from a population related to the Dinka (under a three-population admixture scenario, with an inferred ancestry proportion of 39% ± 1% Levantine-related ancestry). Furthermore, haplogroup analysis indicated that the Luxmanda specimen bore the haplogroup L2a1 (mtDNA). Scientists had previously dated the arrival of Western Eurasian-related ancestry in eastern Africa, which is now pervasive in the region, to around 3000 BP on average. The new genetic data suggest that the makers of the Savanna Pastoral Neolithic were responsible for spreading ancient Levant-related ancestry in the lacustrine region, where they had established new settlements. The Luxmanda individual's population also likely introduced herding to southern Africa, since a 1,200 year old pastoralist individual from the Western Cape was found to bear affinities with the Luxmanda sample.


History of Burundi

Burundi originated in the 16th century as a small kingdom in the African Great Lakes region. After European contact, it was united with the Kingdom of Rwanda, becoming the colony of Ruanda-Urundi - first colonised by Germany and then by Belgium. The colony gained independence in 1962, and split once again into Rwanda and Burundi. It is one of the few countries in Africa (along with Rwanda, Botswana, Lesotho, and Eswatini) to be a direct territorial continuation of a pre-colonial era African state.
Kingdom of Burundi (1680–1966).
The origins of Burundi are known from a mix of oral history and archaeology. There are two main founding legends for Burundi. Both suggest that the nation was founded by a man named Cambarantama. The other version, more common in pre-colonial Burundi says that Cambarantama came from the southern state of Buha.
The first evidence of the Burundian state is from 16th century where it emerged on the eastern foothills. Over the following centuries it expanded, annexing smaller neighbours and competing with Rwanda. Its greatest growth occurred under Ntare IV Rutaganzwa Rugamba, who ruled the country from about 1796 to 1850 and saw the kingdom double in size.
The Kingdom of Burundi was characterized by a hierarchical political authority and tributary economic exchange. The king, known as the "mwami" headed a princely aristocracy ("ganwa") which owned most of the land and required a tribute, or tax, from local farmers and herders. In the mid-18th century, this Tutsi royalty consolidated authority over land, production, and distribution with the development of the "ubugabire"—a patron-client relationship in which the populace received royal protection in exchange for tribute and land tenure.
European contact (1856).
European explorers and missionaries made brief visits to the area as early as 1856, and they compared the organization of the kingdom of Burundi with that of the old Greek empire. It was not until 1899 that Burundi became a part of German East Africa. Unlike the Rwandan monarchy, which decided to accept the German advances, the Burundian king Mwezi IV Gisabo opposed all European influence, refusing to wear European clothing and resisting the advance of European missionaries or administrators.
German East Africa (1899–1916).
The Germans used armed force and succeeded in doing great damage, but did not destroy the king's power. Eventually they backed one of the king's sons-in-law Maconco in a revolt against Gisabo. Gisabo was eventually forced to concede and agreed to German suzerainty. The Germans then helped him suppress Maconco's revolt. The smaller kingdoms along the western shore of Lake Victoria were also attached to Burundi.
Even after this the foreign presence was minimal and the kings continued to rule much as before. The Europeans did, however, bring devastating diseases affecting both people and animals. Affecting the entire region, Burundi was especially hard hit. A great famine hit in 1905, with others striking the entire Great Lakes region in 1914, 1923 and 1944. Between 1905 and 1914 half the population of the western plains region died.
Belgian and United Nations governance (1916–1962).
In 1916 Belgian troops conquered the area during the First World War. In 1923, the League of Nations mandated to Belgium the territory of Ruanda-Urundi, encompassing modern-day Rwanda and Burundi, the western kingdoms being assigned to Tanganyika. The Belgians administered the territory through indirect rule, building on the Tutsi-dominated aristocratic hierarchy.
Following the Second World War, Ruanda-Urundi became a United Nations Trust Territory under Belgian administrative authority. The trust territory guidelines required that the trust territories be prepared for independence and majority rule but it wasn't until 10 November 1959 that Belgium committed itself to political reform and legalised the emergence of competing political parties.
On 20 January 1959, Burundi's ruler Mwami Mwambutsa IV requested Burundi's independence from Belgium and dissolution of the Ruanda-Urundi union. In the following months, Burundian political parties began to advocate for the end of Belgian colonial rule and the separation of Rwanda and Burundi. The first and largest of these political parties was the Union for National Progress (UPRONA). UPRONA was a multi-ethnic party led by Tutsi Prince Louis Rwagasore while the Christian Democratic Party (PDC) was supported by Belgium, which was being ruled by the Christian Social Party, whose party leader, August de Schryver,
was Minister of the Belgian Congo and Ruanda-Urundi from 1959 until 1960.
Burundi's first elections took place on 8 September 1961 and UPRONA won just over 80% of the electorate's votes. In the wake of the elections, on 13 October, the 29-year-old Prince Rwagasore was assassinated, robbing Burundi of its most popular and well-known nationalist. Historians have speculated over Belgium's role in Rwagasore's death and the two highest ranking Belgian colonial officials in Burundi (Jean-Paul Harroy and Roberto Régnier) were accused of involvement by Rwagasore's convicted murderer (Jean Kageorgis). The day after Kageorgis' execution Burundi was granted independence.
Independence (1962).
Full independence was achieved on July 1, 1962. In the context of weak democratic institutions at independence, Tutsi King Mwambutsa IV Bangiriceng established a constitutional monarchy comprising equal numbers of Hutus and Tutsis. The 15 January 1965 assassination of the Hutu prime minister Pierre Ngendandumwe set in motion a series of destabilizing Hutu revolts and subsequent governmental repression.
These were in part in reaction to Rwanda's "Social Revolution" of 1959–1961, where Rwandan Tutsi were subject to mass murder by the new government of Hutu Grégoire Kayibanda. In Burundi the Tutsi became committed to ensuring they would not meet the same fate and much of the country's military and police forces became controlled by Tutsis. Unlike Rwanda, which allied itself with the United States in the Cold War, Burundi after independence became affiliated with China.
The monarchy refused to recognize gains by Hutu candidates in the first legislative elections held by Burundi as an independent country on 10 May 1965. In response, a group of Hutu carried out a failed coup attempt against the monarchy on 18 October 1965, which in turn prompted the killing of scores of Hutu politicians and intellectuals. On 8 July 1966, King Mwambutsa IV was deposed by his son, Prince Ntare V, who himself was deposed by his prime minister Capt. Michel Micombero on 28 November 1966. Micombero abolished the monarchy and declared a republic. A de facto military regime emerged and civil unrest continued throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s. Micombero headed a clique of ruling Hima, the Tutsi subgroup located in southern Burundi. Similar to 1965, rumors of an impending Hutu coup in 1969 prompted the arrest and execution of scores of prominent political and military figures.
In June 1971, a group of Banyaruguru, the socially "higher up" subgroup of Tutsi located in the north of the country, were accused of conspiracy by the ruling Hima clique. On 14 January 1972, a military tribunal sentenced four Banyaruguru officers and five civilians to death, and seven to life imprisonment. To the Hima concerns about a Hutu uprising or Banyaruguru-led coup was added the return of Ntare V from exile, a potential rallying point for the Hutu majority.
1972 genocide.
On April 29, there was an outbreak of violence in the south of the country, also the base of the Hima, where bands of roving Hutu committed atrocities against Tutsi civilians. All civilian and military authorities in the city of Bururi were killed and the insurgents then seized the armories in the towns of Rumonge and Nyanza-Lac. They then attempted to kill every Tutsi they could, as well as some Hutu who refused to participate in the rebellion, before retreating to Vyanda, near Bururi, and proclaiming a "Republic of Martyazo." Somewhere from 800 to 1200 people were killed.
A week after the insurgent proclamation of a republic, government troops moved in. Meanwhile, President Micombero declared martial law on May 30 and asked Zairean President Mobutu Sese Seko for assistance. Congolese paratroopers were deployed to secure the airport while the Burundi army moved into the countryside. Africanist René Lemarchand notes, "What followed was not so much a repression as a hideous slaughter of Hutu civilians. The carnage went on unabated through the month of August. By then virtually every educated Hutu element, down to secondary school students, was either dead or in flight."
Because the perpetrators, composed of government troops and the Jeunesses Révolutionnaires Rwagasore (JRR), the youth wing of the Union for National Progress ruling party, targeted primarily civil servants, educated males and university students, solely because of their "Hutuness" and irrespective of whether they posed a threat, Lemarchand terms the eradication a "partial genocide." One of the first to be killed was deposed monarch Ntare V, in Gitega.
As president, Micombero became an advocate of African socialism and received support from the People's Republic of China. He imposed a staunch regime of law and order, sharply repressing Hutu militarism.
From late April to September 1972, an estimated 200,000 to 300,000 Hutu were killed. About 300,000 people became refugees, with most fleeing to Tanzania. In an effort to attract sympathy from the United States, the Tutsi-dominated government accused the Hutu rebels of having Communist leanings, although there is no credible evidence that this was actually the case. Lemarchand notes that, while crushing the rebellion was the first priority, the genocide was successful in a number of other objectives: ensuring the long-term stability of the Tutsi state by eliminating Hutu elites and potential elites; turning the army, police and gendarmerie into a Tutsi monopoly; denying the potential return of monarchy through the murder of Ntare V; and creating a new legitimacy for the Hima-dominated state as protector of the country, especially for the previously fractious Tutsi-Banyaruguru.
Post-1972 genocide developments.
In 1976, Colonel Jean-Baptiste Bagaza took power in a bloodless coup. Although Bagaza led a Tutsi-dominated military regime, he encouraged land reform, electoral reform, and national reconciliation. In 1981, a new constitution was promulgated. In 1984, Bagaza was elected head of state, as the sole candidate. After his election, Bagaza's human rights record deteriorated as he suppressed religious activities and detained political opposition members.
In 1987, Major Pierre Buyoya overthrew Col. Bagaza in a military coup d'état. He dissolved opposition parties, suspended the 1981 constitution, and instituted his ruling Military Committee for National Salvation (CSMN). During 1988, increasing tensions between the ruling Tutsis and the majority Hutus resulted in violent confrontations between the army, the Hutu opposition, and Tutsi hardliners. During this period, an estimated 150,000 people were killed, with tens of thousands of refugees fleeing to neighboring countries. Buyoya formed a commission to investigate the causes of the 1988 unrest and to develop a charter for democratic reform.
In 1991, Buyoya approved a constitution that provided for a president, non-ethnic government, and a parliament. Burundi's first Hutu president, Melchior Ndadaye, of the Hutu-dominated Front for Democracy in Burundi (FRODEBU) Party, was elected in 1993.
1993 genocide and civil war (1993–2005).
Ndadaye was assassinated three months later, in October 1993, by Tutsi army extremists. The country's situation rapidly declined as Hutu peasants began to rise up and massacre Tutsi. In acts of brutal retribution, the Tutsi army proceeded to round up thousands of Hutu and kill them. The Rwandan genocide in 1994, sparked by the killing of Ndadaye's successor Cyprien Ntaryamira, further aggravated the conflict in Burundi by sparking additional massacres of Tutsis.
A decade of civil war followed, as the Hutu formed militias in the refugee camps of northern Tanzania. An estimated 300,000 people were killed in clashes and reprisals against the local population, with 550,000 citizens (nine percent of the population) being displaced. After the assassination of Ntaryamira, the Hutu presidency and Tutsi military operated under a power-sharing political system until July 1996, when Tutsi Pierre Buyoya seized power in a military coup. Under international pressure, the warring factions negotiated a peace agreement in Arusha in 2000, which called for ethnically balanced military and government and democratic elections.
The country has been hit hard by HIV/AIDS during this period. Sample testing by SOS Children had shown that those who were HIV positive were 20 percent of the urban population and 6% of the rural population. The death toll due to the syndrome has been devastating: the UN estimated 25,000 deaths in 2001 and Oxfam estimated 45,000 deaths in 2003.
Two powerful Hutu rebel groups (the CNDD-FDD and the FNL) refused to sign the peace agreement and fighting continued in the countryside. Finally, the CNDD-FDD agreed to sign a peace deal in November 2003 and joined the transitional government. The last remaining rebel group, the FNL, continued to reject the peace process and committed sporadic acts of violence in 2003 and 2004, finally signing a cease fire agreement in 2006.
Post-war (2005–present).
Post-war elections.
In 2005, Burundi began the transition towards peace with its first elections since 1993. The CNDD-FDD won both the local and legislative elections, held in June and July respectively. An indirect presidential election took place in August 2005, and the members of the legislature and senate elected Pierre Nkurunziza, a former teacher and CNDD rebel, who had been president of the CNDD-FDD party since August 2000. He won with 151 of the 161 votes.
Nkurunziza era (2005–2020).
Peacetime ushered in an era in which the ruling CNDD-FDD party dominated the political space in Burundi. President Pierre Nkurunziza, and a small clique of military generals from the party, tightly controlled the country.
Reaching a stable compromise on post-transition power-sharing was difficult. Although a post-transition constitution was approved in September 2004, it was approved over a boycott by the Tutsi parties. In addition, the Arusha Peace Agreement mandated that local and national elections be held before the ending of the transitional period on 31 October 2004, but transitional institutions were extended. On 28 February 2005, however, Burundians approved a post-transitional constitution by national referendum with 92.4% of the vote, with elections set to take place throughout the summer of 2005. After local, parliamentary, and other elections in June and July, on 19 August 2005, the good governance minister, Pierre Nkurunziza, became the first post-transitional president. He was elected by the National Assembly and Senate through the means of indirect presidential elections.
Former President Domitien Ndayizeye and his political supporters were arrested in 2006 and accused of plotting a coup, but later he was acquitted by the Supreme Court. International human rights groups claimed that the current government was framing Domitien Ndayizeye by torturing him into false confessions of a coup plot. In December 2006 the International Crisis Group labeled Burundi's human rights status as "deteriorating". The organization reported that the government had arrested critics, muzzled the press, committed human rights abuses, and tightened its control over the economy, and that "unless it [reversed] this authoritarian course, it risk[ed] triggering violent unrest and losing the gains of peace process."
In February 2007, the United Nations officially shut down its peacekeeping operations in Burundi and turned its attention to rebuilding the nation's economy, which relies heavily on tea and coffee, but which had suffered severely during 12 years of civil war. The UN had deployed 5,600 peacekeepers since 2004, and several hundred troops remained to work with the African Union in monitoring the ceasefire. The UN Post Conflict Fund (PBF) pledged $35 million to Burundi to work on infrastructure, to promote democratic practices, to rebuild the military, and to defend human rights.
2010 elections.
Nkurunziza was re-elected in 2010 with more than 91% of the votes amidst an opposition boycott and sworn in for his second term on 26 August 2010.
2015 unrest.
In April 2015, Nkurunziza announced that he would seek a third term in office. The opposition said that Nkurunziza's bid to extend his term was in defiance of the constitution, as it bars the president from running for a third term. However, Nkurunziza's allies said his first term did not count as he was appointed by parliament and not directly by the people. On April 26 police clashed with demonstrators protesting Nkurunziza's announcement that he would seek a third term in office. At least six people were killed in the first two days of ongoing protests. The government shut down multiple radio stations and arrested a prominent civil society leader, Pierre-Claver Mbonimpa. UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon said, in a statement, that he had despatched his special envoy for the region, Said Djinnit, to Burundi for talks with Nkurunziza. African Union commission head Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said she welcomed a decision by Burundi's Senate to ask the Constitutional Court to rule whether Nkurunziza could stand for re-election. More than 24,000 people fled Burundi in April, as tensions mounted ahead of presidential elections in June, the UN refugee agency said.
On May 13, 2015, Burundi army General Godefroid Niyombareh, former head of Burundian intelligence, declared a coup via radio while Nkurunziza was abroad attending a summit in Tanzania with other African leaders. Niyombareh had been fired by the President in February. Despite reports that gunshots had been heard and people were celebrating in the streets of the capital, government officials dismissed the threat and claimed to remain in control.
Opposition groups announced on 26 June that they would boycott the election.
Speaking to a Kenyan television station on 6 July, one of the coup leaders, General Leonard Ngendakumana, called for armed rebellion against Nkurunziza. He said that his group was responsible for the grenade attacks and said that "our intent is to intensify". Fighting was reported in northern Burundi on 10–11 July. The military said on 13 July that 31 rebels had been killed and 170 had been captured in those battles; it said that six of its own soldiers had also been wounded. The Burundian government stated that the rebels had crossed into northern Burundi through the Nyungwe Forest from Rwanda but the Rwandan government denied this. Ngendakumana said that the rebels were from his group.
Shortly after the election was held on 21 July, without the participation of the opposition, main opposition leader Agathon Rwasa proposed the formation of a national unity government, while warning of the potential for more violence and armed rebellion against Nkurunziza. As conditions for participating in such a government, Rwasa said that Nkurunziza's third term would need to be greatly truncated to no more than a year and new elections would have to be held, although he admitted that he doubted Nkurunziza would accept those conditions. He also urged those hoping to oust Nkurunziza through violence to instead focus on dialogue. The government welcomed the idea of forming a national unity government, but rejected the notion of truncating Nkurunziza's new term.
The presidential election results were announced on 24 July 2015. Nkurunziza won the election with 69.41% of the vote. Agathon Rwasa was placed second and credited with 18.99% despite calling for a boycott.
On 30 September 2016, the United Nations Human Rights Council established the Commission of Inquiry on Burundi through resolution 33/24. Its mandate is to "conduct a thorough investigation into human rights violations and abuses committed in Burundi since April 2015, to identify alleged perpetrators and to formulate recommendations." The Human Rights Council extended the mandate of the Commission for another year in September 2017. On 29 September 2017 the Commission of Inquiry on Burundi called on Burundian government to put an end to serious human rights violations. It further stressed that, "The Burundian government has so far refused to cooperate with the Commission of Inquiry, despite the Commission's repeated requests and initiatives." The Commission conducted interviews with more than 500 Burundian refugees abroad and others who remained in their country and reached the conclusion that "serious human rights violations and abuses have been committed in Burundi since April 2015. The violations the Commission documented include arbitrary arrests and detentions, acts of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, rape and other forms of sexual violence."
Post-2015.
In a constitutional referendum in May 2018, Burundians voted by 79.08% to approve an amended constitution that ensured that Nkurunziza could remain in power until 2034. However, much to the surprise of most observers, Nkurunziza later announced that he did not intend to serve another term, paving the way for a new President to be elected in the 2020 General Election.
On 24 December 2018, the government moved Burundi's political capital from Bujumbura back to Gitega, where it had been until 1966.
The threat of the Covid-19 pandemic was played down officially by the regime. The Presidency issued a statement which warned its population against "hasty, extreme, unilateral measures" against the virus. Human Rights Watch reported that some nurses had been told "not to talk about suspected cases, symptom patterns, or insufficient resources".
Post-Nkurunziza (2020–present).
On 20 May 2020, Évariste Ndayishimiye, a candidate who was hand-picked as Nkurunziza's successor by the CNDD-FDD, won the election with 71.45% of the vote. Shortly after, on 9 June 2020, Nkurunziza died of a cardiac arrest, at the age of 55. There was some speculation that his death was Covid-19 related, though this is unconfirmed. As per the constitution, Pascal Nyabenda, the president of the national assembly, led the government until Ndayishimiye's inauguration on 18 June 2020.
Ndayishimiye has taken the pandemic more seriously than his predecessor - calling the virus the nation's "worst enemy" shortly after taking office. In January 2021, he closed national borders, having previously issued a statement which said that anyone bringing Covid into Burundi would be treated as "people bringing weapons to kill Burundians". In February 2021, however, Burundi joined Tanzania in being the only African nations to reject vaccines from the COVAX scheme: the health minister Thaddee Ndikumana stated that “since more than 95% of patients are recovering, we estimate that the vaccines are not yet necessary.”
See also.
General:


Olagbegi Atanneye I

Olagbegi Atanneye I was a paramount ruler of Owo Kingdom, Ondo state, southwestern Nigeria who reigned between 1913 and 1938. He was the brother of Olowo Ajike Ogunoye and son of Olowo Olagbegi Atanneye II


Colonial history of Northern Nigeria

The Colonial history of Northern Nigeria extends from the British pacification campaigns to the independence of Northern Nigeria in 1953.
Initially, the British involvement in Northern Nigeria was predominantly trade-related and revolved around the expansion of the Royal Niger Company. The Royal Niger Company's interior territories spread north from where the Niger River and Benue River joined, at Mount Patti, Lokoja. The company did not represent a direct threat to much of the Sokoto Caliphate or the numerous states of Northern Nigeria. This changed when Frederick Lugard and Taubman Goldie laid down an ambitious plan to pacify the Nigerian interior and unite it with the rest of the British Empire.
Protectorate.
Frederick Lugard proclaimed the protectorate of Northern Nigeria at Ida in Kogi on January 1, 1897. The basis of the colony was the 1885 Treaty of Berlin, which broadly granted Northern Nigeria to Britain on the basis of their protectorates in Southern Nigeria. Hostilities with the powerful Sokoto Caliphate soon followed. The Emirates of Kabba, Kotogora and Illorin were the first to be conquered by the British. In February 1903, the great fort of Kano, site of the Kano Emirate, was captured, followed by Sokoto and much of the rest of its caliphate shortly after. On March 13, 1903, the Grand Shura of the Sokoto Caliphate conceded to Lugard's demands.
Lugard became governor; with limited resources, he administered the region with the consent of local rulers. He governed through a policy of indirect rule, which he developed into a sophisticated political theory. Lugard left the protectorate after some years, serving in Hong Kong, but eventually returned to work in Nigeria, where he decided on the merger of the Northern Nigeria Protectorate with Southern Nigeria in 1914. Agitation for independence from the radically different Southern Protectorate, however, led to a formidable split during the 1940s. The Richards constitution, adopted in 1945, gave overwhelming autonomy to the North. This autonomy eventually included the legislative arenas of foreign relations and customs policy.
Independence.
Northern Nigeria was granted independence on March 15, 1953, with Sir Ahmadu Bello as its first Premier. The Northern Peoples Congress under Sir Ahmadu Bello dominated Parliament, while the Northern Elements Progressive Union became the main opposition party.


Mauritius Defence Force


Kapenguria Six

The Kapenguria Six – Bildad Kaggia, Kung'u Karumba, Jomo Kenyatta, Fred Kubai, Paul Ngei, and Achieng' Oneko – were six leading Kenyan nationalists who were arrested in 1952, tried at Kapenguria in 1952–53, and imprisoned thereafter in Northern Kenya.
Prelude.
Evelyn Baring was the new Governor, who arrived in Kenya on 30 September 1952.
After the European invasion, large amounts of Kenya's best land were alienated for exclusive white use. Black Africans were allowed to remain as tenant farmers ('squatters') on land they had previously owned or newly cultivated; their terms of service steadily worsened. At Olenguruoune in 1944, 11,000 squatters were expelled, the beginning of the last act of a land dispute that had raged since the 1920s. The first Mau Mau oaths were probably administered there and then. Kenyatta returned home from the UK in 1946. By 1947, oathing had spread all over Kikuyuland and into Nairobi. Mitchell,
the previous Governor, proscribed the new organisation – now called Mau Mau – in 1950.
On 9 October 1952, Senior Chief Waruhiu was shot and killed by Mau Mau gunmen. Baring had been on a tour of Central Province. It was cut short. At the funeral, he and Kenyatta locked eyes over the casket; days afterwards, Baring signed the arrest warrants for the Six.
Operation Jock Scott.
On the night of 20/21 October, a mass arrest was carried out of Mau Mau and KAU leaders. There is some doubt about the actual number of arrests. Baring had signed the Emergency order on the evening of the 20th, the emergency was publicly proclaimed on the morning of the 21st. Troops from the Lancashire Fusiliers, flown in on the 20th, were in place later that day, patrolling the African areas of segregated Nairobi.
The trial.
Anthony Somerhough, the Deputy Public Prosecutor, opened proceedings on 3 December 1952. The charge against the defendants was that they had jointly managed a proscribed society (and that the proscribed society, the Mau Mau, had conspired to murder all white residents of Kenya).
The defence was led by Denis Nowell Pritt, assisted by a multiracial team: HO Davies, a Nigerian; Chaman Lall, an Indian and friend of Nehru; and the Kenyans Fitz De Souza, Achhroo Ram Kapila, and Jaswant Singh. In line with the segregationist legislation then in force, they were prohibited from staying in the same hotel.
Baring offered Ransley Thacker, the presiding judge, an unusually large pension, and that from the Emergency fund rather than a more conventional source; the two also maintained secret contact during the trial. Witnesses were suborned, as Baring admitted in a letter to Lyttelton, saying that "every possible effort has been made to offer them rewards". Rawson Macharia, the key witness at the trial, was later to testify that he had been offered a university course in public administration at Exeter University College, protection for his family, and a government job on his return from the UK. Other witnesses were offered land at the Coast.
The crucial piece of evidence was Macharia's. He testified that in March 1950, he had taken one of the Mau Mau oaths at Kenyatta's hands. He further claimed that the oath had required him to strip naked and drink human blood. Macharia's submissions were the only evidence of a direct link between Kenyatta and Mau Mau produced before the court. However, Mau Mau was proscribed in August 1950, so, even had the claims been true, it is unclear that they would have proved Kenyatta's membership, let alone management, of a proscribed organisation. The defendants were all convicted, and sentenced to long terms and permanent restriction. All defendants got seven years each.
The remainder of the nationalist movement – in which Mboya and Odinga featured prominently – kept up the pressure for Uhuru and the release of the detainees: KANU's election slogan in the 1961 election was "Uhuru na Kenyatta" ("Independence with Kenyatta"). KANU won the election and then refused to form a government unless Kenyatta was released. Despite Renison's famous dismissal of Kenyatta as the leader "unto darkness and death", it was clear that he was indispensable; he was duly released in 1961. The rest of the Six were released soon thereafter.
Kenyatta went on to the presidency of Kenya; Kaggia and Ngei served as ministers; Oneko was detained by Kenyatta between 1969 and 1974, before later serving as MP for Rarieda in Kenya's 7th Parliament; Kung'u Karumba disappeared in 1975, while in Uganda on business; Fred Kubai twice served as MP for Nakuru East – from 1963 to 1974, and from 1983 to 1988 – before his death in June 1996.


Sokoto Sultanate Council

The Sultanate of Sokoto is a traditional state in Northern Nigeria with headquarters in the city of Sokoto, capital of the modern Sokoto State. Preceded by the Sokoto Caliphate, the council was formed in 1903 after the British pacification of the caliphate.
The Sultan of Sokoto serves as the supreme spiritual leader of Muslims in Nigeria and the grand Sheik of the Qadiriyya sufi order in that country. In 2006, Sa'adu Abubakar was crowned the Sultan of Sokoto.
History.
After the pacification of Northern Nigeria, The British established the Northern Nigeria Protectorate to govern the region, which included most of the Sokoto empire and its most important emirates. Under Luggard, the various emirs were provided significant local autonomy, thus retaining much of the political organization of the Sokoto Caliphate. The Sokoto area was treated as just another emirate within the Nigerian Protectorate. Because it was never connected with the railway network, it became economically and politically marginal.
The Sultan of Sokoto has continued to be regarded as an important Muslim spiritual and religious titleholder; the lineage connection to dan Fodio has continued to be recognized. One of the most significant Sultans was Siddiq Abubakar III, who held the position for 50 years, from 1938 to 1988. He was known as a stabilizing force in Nigerian politics, particularly in 1966 after the assassination of Ahmadu Bello, the Premier of Northern Nigeria.
Following the death of Siddiq Abubakar in 1988, Nigerian dictator Ibrahim Babangida interfered in the succession, naming Ibrahim Dasuki, one of his business associates, as the Sultan of Sokoto. Large parts of Northern Nigeria erupted in violent protests targeting Dasuki's businesses. In 1996, the Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha deposed him, appointing Muhammadu Maccido, who ruled until he died in a plane crash in 2006.
Government.
Under the British indirect administrative structure, the Sultan and his fellow Emirs were the sole Native Authorities, subordinate to the supervision of the British Colonial Residents. Hakimai (or titled chiefs) assisted the Sultan or Emir in the administration of his state. This system was largely retained during the Nigerian First Republic.
In 1966, the overthrow of the Government of Northern Nigeria led to a reorganisation of Nigeria's federal structure. This slowly decreased the administrative independence of Northern Nigeria and its emirates.
Commerce.
Over eighty percent (80%) of the inhabitants of Sokoto practice one form of agriculture or another. They produce such crops as millet, guinea corn, maize, rice, potatoes, cassava, groundnuts and beans for subsistence and produce wheat, cotton and vegetables for cash. Local crafts such as blacksmithing, weaving, dyeing, carving and leather work also play an important role in the economic life of the people of Sokoto; as a result different areas like Makera, Marina, Takalmawa and Majema have become important. Sokoto is also one of the fish producing areas of the country. Thus, a large number of people along the river basin engage in fishing.
Sokoto is equally endowed with natural and mineral resources. Agro-allied industries using cotton, groundnut, sorghum, gum, maize, rice, wheat, sugar cane, cassava, gum Arabic and tobacco as raw materials can be established in the area. Large scale farming can also be practiced in the state using irrigation water from Goronyo Dam, Lugu, Kalmalo, Wammakko and Kwakwazo lakes, among others.
Minerals such as kaolin, gypsum, limestone, laterite, red mills, phosphate both yellow and green, shade clay and sand are available in commercial quantities. Mineral based industries using these raw materials could be established in the state. The Sokoto cement factory, located in Wamakko, is a typical example.
The absence of the tse-tse fly on the open grassland benefits both wild and domestic animals. Sokoto ranks second in livestock production in the country's animal population of well over eight million.
The availability of this economic potential provides good investment opportunities, particularly in agro-allied industries such as flour mills, tomatoe processing, sugar refining, textiles, glue, tanning, fish canning, etc.


Provinces of Eritrea

The Provinces of Eritrea existed between Eritrea's incorporation as a colony of Italy until the conversion of the provinces into administrative regions.
Overview.
In Italian Eritrea, the Italian colonial administration had divided the colony into eight provinces (administrative regions). These administrative regions relied heavily upon the historical political boundaries in the region, including, but not exclusively, that of local nobility. These Provinces of Eritrea were also used by the Federated Eritrean Government from 1952-1962 and as districts (awrajja) in Eritrea when it was annexed by Ethiopia from 1962-1991. These eight provinces are enumerated below:
After independence, the Provisional Government of Eritrea converted the original eight Provinces of Eritrea (from the Italian colonial period) to nine provinces by splitting the Barka province in two (the north known as Barka Province and the south as Gash-Setit Province), while at the same time separating Asmara from the rest of Hamasien. On April 15, 1996, the Government of Eritrea converted the then nine Provinces of Eritrea into six administrative regions.


The Last Jews of Libya

The Last Jews of Libya is a 2007 American documentary film directed by Vivienne Roumani.
Synopsis.
The film traces Jewish life in Libya as far back as the 3rd century B.C. It focuses on the Roumani family, residents of Benghazi for centuries, beginning during the Turkish Ottoman rule. The family is transformed by advances in European culture and through its relations with Arabs, though maintaining their unique religious practices. Much of the film deals with the last decades of the family's life in Libya. At the close of World War II, there were 36,000 Jews in Libya, though due to rising Arab nationalism almost all left in the next several years. Nowadays they have all left the country. "The Last Jews in Libya" is narrated by Isabella Rosselini and features archival film and photographs. It raises questions of family, community, and identity.
Production.
Director Vivienne Roumani was inspired by her eldest son Aryeh Bourkoff's request for something about the family history that he could show to his children some day. Even though she had never directed a film before, she decided to create a film. It was aided by the discovery of her mother Elise Roumani's memoirs. Vivienne Roumani travelled around the world to interview several generations of her family in English, Hebrew, Italian and Arabic in order to make the film. She managed to film over 80 hours of material and collected 1,000 photographs, which needed to be condensed into a film. The Sundance Channel executive Larry Aidem, an acquaintance of Bourkoff, helped put him in contact with Amanda Zinoman, who edited the film.
Release and reception.
"The Last Jews of Libya" premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on May 2, 2007. It was also screened at the Jerusalem International Film Festival, the Sao Paulo International Film Festival, and several Jewish film festivals. The film was shown at the Library of Congress, followed by a discussion from the filmmaker. The Sundance Channel purchased rights to the film to air it.
The film received a positive reception. "Star magazine" wrote "Anyone who's ever wondered about their family history especially when that history involved fleeing from persecution will find The Last Jews of Libya fascinating and moving." George Robinson of "The Jewish Week" wrote that "viewers are given concrete examples of the workings of history on individuals, and history has an appealing and entirely human face." Judy Lash Balint of "Blogcritics" magazine called it "a moving documentary."


Nairobi airport fire

The Nairobi airport fire occurred when, on 7 August 2013, a fire broke out inside the main terminal building at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, Kenya, destroying two of the three units contained in the building. No one was killed, but two people were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries. Incoming flights were diverted to Uganda, Tanzania, and other airports in Kenya.
The fire.
At approximately 4:30 am local time, a fire originating in the immigration section of Unit I (used for international departures) rapidly spread to adjoining Unit II, which is used for international arrivals. The construction of the building (it was completed in 1978), a roof collapse in Unit I, and heavy traffic in the area hindered initial efforts to extinguish the blaze. Initial media reports showed some firefighters using buckets to fight the fire. Several groups, including the Kenya Army and firefighters from private companies, assisted in fighting the fire. After six hours, on-scene officials indicated that the fire had been contained.
After the fire had been extinguished, businesses affected by the fire reported that items were missing from their businesses. Various reports indicated that first responders had looted fire-damaged businesses during and after the fire, leading some to believe that the fire could have been put out sooner had all the firefighters kept their focus on extinguishing the blaze. Tourists who were displaced by the fire also reported that they were assaulted by thugs who blocked access to the main gate, where the tourists were attempting to retrieve their belongings.
Victims.
A spokesman for Kenya Airways, the primary tenant at the airport, indicated that two of its employees had been transported to a local hospital for observation. One of the individuals was treated for smoke inhalation. There were no immediate reports of injuries to firefighting personnel or other airport employees.
Investigation.
After the fire was extinguished, a preliminary investigation was started. Possible terrorism was an initial concern because the fire occurred on the fifteenth anniversary of the terrorist bombings of United States embassies in Kenya and Tanzania plus the fact that Kenya has been involved in an armed conflict with Al-Shabaab in neighboring Somalia. Investigators, however, soon ruled out terrorism as the cause of the fire.
Aftermath.
The international arrival and departure units were completely destroyed in the fire. Airport officials have elected to use Unit III (used for domestic arrivals and departures) to handle some international traffic. Operations were partly reestablished on . A new unit (Unit IV) is under construction and was scheduled to open in August 2013, but the new unit was opened on 1 July 2014 and renamed as Terminal 1A. Unit IV was not damaged in the fire.


Sekeletu

Sekeletu (c. 1835–1863) was the Makololo King of Barotseland in western Zambia from about 1851 to his death in 1863.
Biography.
Sekeletu was a son of the King Sebetwane and Queen Setlutlu. He succeeded his half-sister Mamochisane, who had decided to step down from the throne. It was she who proclaimed him new ruler, against the ambitions of Sekeletu's half-brother Mpepe, who unsuccessfully tried to block him by insinuating that he was not the lawful son of Sebetwane, since Sekeletu's mother had been previously married to another chief.
He appears to have been very young when he took power, as the explorer David Livingstone presumed on first meeting him in Linyati in 1853 that he was about 18 years old. Sekeletu's relations with the explorer appear to have been very good, as confirmed by the 27 Makololo that under their king's orders went with Livingstone with the goal of finding a road between Barotseland and the port of Luanda, capital of Portuguese West Africa.
His relations with another group of European missionaries were not so good. Like Livingstone, these were members of the London Missionary Society. When they arrived in 1860, headed by Holloway Helmore, they were treated with hostility. Eight of the twelve members of the expedition died (Helmore included) in Barotseland, almost certainly poisoned by eating Sekeletu's gift of an ox. Roger and Isabella Price survived because they were ill with malaria and had no appetite. Two of Helmore's children also survived. Ironically David Livingstone had left supplies of quinine in the vicinity, but had neglected to tell anyone. Sekeletu arranged that the survivors' party be guided into tsetse fly country and abandoned. Isabella Price died and was buried on the plain of Mababe. Roger Price later learned that the Makololo guides had dug up her body and mutilated it. Though charged by Arthur Tidman, foreign secretary of the London Missionary Society, with being partly responsible for the tragedy, David Livingstone rejected the allegation and published his own version.
Sekeletu eventually proved himself an unsuccessful ruler, generating discontent among the Lozi, the people who had formerly ruled the land. When he contracted leprosy, Sekeletu no longer trusted the Lozi whom he suspected of having bewitched him as a leper. Therefore, many Lozi were put to death. Due to this, a year after his death the Makololo's power crumbled and the Lozi regained self-rule. Sekeletu had two sons, Princes Litali and Sesane. Members of Sekeletu's tribe believed that their king has died from God's punishment.
His uncle Mbololo later took the kingship.


Wobgho

Wobogo (died 1904) was the Mogho Naba (ruler) of Ouagadougou from 1890 to 1897, at the time of the French colonial conquest of Upper Volta.
Wobogu was originally called Boukary Koutou, but dropped those names on his accession and assumed the name "Wobogu", meaning elephant.
Years of independence.
Ouagadougou was the main Mossi Kingdom in what is now Burkina Faso, with its origins in the 15th century. The Mossi were a warlike nation with formidable cavalry, who had successfully resisted all past invaders.
With the decline of the central state in the 18th century, Yatenga, with its capital at Ouahigouya, had become independent of Ouagadougou, as had other places.
During the 19th century there was sporadic warfare among the Mossi.
Boukary Koutou's father, ruler of Ouagadougou, died in 1850 when Boukary was a young man.
Boukary competed unsuccessfully with his brother Sanum to become ruler but was disallowed due to his youth.
After fomenting a civil war against his brother, he was exiled to Banema on the border of the kingdom.
There he made a living through slave trading, capturing the slaves in mounted razzias directed at the villages of the Gurunsi people.
When Sanum died in 1890, he left no male heir, and all his brothers were in competition for the throne.
The elders were reluctant to make Boukary the Mogho Naba, since his rebellion had made him ineligible, but were persuaded when he surrounded their meeting place with soldiers.
Although now the principal Mossi ruler, Wobogo was not in full control. At the time of Dr. Francois Crozat's visit in September 1890, the Yako and Yatenga people were engaged in civil war. Wobogo attempted to halt the fighting to avoid giving a poor impression to his European visitor, but was not successful.
Character.
The French explorer Louis Gustave Binger visited the Mossi in 1888. He described Boukary Koutou, whom he found in exile at Bassawarga, as a tall and handsome man in his forties, neatly dressed, with a round face decorated with tattoos and a small goatee.
He said of the future ruler "His whole appearance denotes intelligence. He seems to be a just man, but firm in his resolutions".
Binger saw a resemblance to Iamory Ouattara, ruler of the Kong state of Knniara, but said Boukary had much finer features.
However, Crozat was not impressed by Wobogo upon meeting him in 1890. He described him in his reports as "timid, shaky" and living "confined to his palace with his servants and wives, not daring to go out". Crozat reported that Wobogo "spent his time consulting holy men who had him under their control and who used up the resources of the realm to contrive the oddest and most expensive charms in order to allay the ruler's fear that he would be assassinated".
Crozat reported that Wobogo had a hundred wives, although he did not see this many when he visited since many lived in neighboring villages.
Defeat and exile.
Wobogo ruled at a time when the French and British were taking control of the region, and intensely distrusted both.
When the French explorer Parfait-Louis Monteil visited Ouagadougou in 1891, hoping Wobogo would agree to a French protectorate, Wogobo refused to receive him. Monteil was forced to make a hurried departure.
In 1894, Wobogo signed a treaty of friendship with George Ekem Ferguson, a Fante representative of the British in the Gold Coast (now Ghana).
In 1896, the French invaded Ouagadougou, and when he attempted to resist his town was burned down.
The French commander Voulet deposed Wobogo in 1897, replacing him with his brother Sighiri.
Wobogo appealed to the British without success.
After further fighting, he fled to Zongoiri just across the border in the northeast of the Gold Coast, where he died in 1904.


Mumbwa Caves

The Mumbwa Caves are an archeological site in Zambia. The site has yielded artifacts that date from the Mesolithic, Neolithic and the Iron Age. The caves are a source of stratified, in situ deposits with faunal and human remains. Mumbwa, with its interior structures, demonstrates the complexity of the behavioral abilities of the people from the Mesolithic. Selection of raw materials along with features such as hearths suggests a population which was modern in its behaviors used to inhabit the Mumbwa Caves. Study and excavation of the Mumbwa Caves is helping to fill in the gaps in the late Pleistocene prehistory of south central Africa.
Excavations.
Macrae 1926; Clark 1942; Savage 1983.
In 1931, Dart and Del Grande excavated the caves and discovered intact basal deposits which were used to date the site.
In 1993, Lawrence Barham gathered a team represented by the Zambian National Heritage Conservation Commission, the Livingstone Museum and the Universities of Bristol and Oxford to assess the extent of intact basal deposits discovered by Dart and Del Grande.
Artifacts.
A 62,614 lithics were recovered in 1994. 3,171 were from the Iron Age deposit, 16,939 from the LSA (Late Stone Age) and 40,060 from the upper MSA (Middle Stone Age) sequence. Several general patterns have been observed from these artifacts. It is evident that there are patterns within the raw materials used, the manipulation of manuports and in the production of bone tools. Hearths and windbreaks have been found at Mumbwa and are evidence of the emergence of complex Middle Stone Age behaviors being used by past people of Mumbwa. Windbreaks bend away from the tunnel and would have protected the occupants of the cave and their hearths from the east to west winds. Microfauna found at the site indicates dry conditions at the time of occupation.
Features.
There are two main classes of features that can be found at the Mumbwa Caves site. Hearths and windbreaks are two features which are distinctive of the Mumbwa Middle Stone Age. The hearths found in Areas I and II, have stone borders consisting of cave dolomite blocks and material transported from local landscape, including quartz cobbles, phyllite, sandstone and cobbles of haematite. Area I contains one of the best preserved windbreaks on the Mumbwa Caves site. It is distinguished by a semi-circular arc of ash, sediment, quartz debitage and animal bone.


Order of Menelik II

The Imperial Order of Emperor Menelik II is an Ethiopian order established in 1924 by then-Regent Tafari Makonnen, during the reign of Empress Zewditu I, in order to honor the memory of Emperor Menelik II. The Imperial Order was often referred to as the Order of the Lion, for the lion depicted in the center of the red and green cross. The honor was designed by the Parisian firm Arthus-Betrand, and is presented in five grades: Knight Grand Cross, Knight Commander, Commander, Officer and Member.


List of years in Burkina Faso

This is a list of years in Burkina Faso. For only articles about years in Burkina Faso that have been written, see .


Simon Muzenda

Simon Vengai Muzenda (28 October 1922 – 20 September 2003) was a Zimbabwean politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister from 1980 to 1987 and as Vice-President of Zimbabwe from 1987 to 2003 under President Robert Mugabe.
Life and career.
Muzenda was born in the Gutu District of the Victoria Province of Southern Rhodesia as a son of a peasant farmer, and brought up by his grandmother Mbuya Maweni, who ensured his regular attendance for his primary education at Nyamandi Primary School. A relatively bright child, he was sent for teacher training after spending his teenage years herding in Makonese Village under Chief Nyamandi, and, following the advice of his tutor, travelled to the Marianhill mission in Natal, South Africa, where he showed proficiency in carpentry.
Between completing his carpentry course and furthering his studies, Muzenda became aware of politics during contacts with fellow students, which included several men prominent in black activism South Africa and Rhodesia; after his return to Rhodesia in 1950, he worked in a furniture factory in Bulawayo and became involved with Benjamin Burombo, an activist who was among the earliest to challenge discriminatory laws.
After marrying his wife Maud, a nurse, Muzenda moved to the Midlands town of Mvuma in 1955 and started his own carpentry business; he also stayed active in political activism and eventually become administrative secretary of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), attracting the attention of Rhodesian security forces and being imprisoned in Salisbury Central Prison for two years, which he described as a "place of study" later in his life, as it gave him and his fellow inmates the opportunity to complete their educations.
In 1964, he was arrested again, this time for possession of a pistol after having been elected deputy organising secretary of ZANU; at this time, Muzenda had become convinced that the only way to overthrow white colonial dominance was an armed revolution, and began organising young blacks to receive military training in other African countries, in the Soviet Union and in China. He was soon imprisoned again and remained in jail until being released under the Anglo-Rhodesia agreement in 1971.
Following his release, Simon Muzenda went into exile in Zambia, and later in Mozambique. Failing to draw Joshua Nkomo and his ZAPU movement into a unified political front, he backed Robert Mugabe, who was then also hiding in Mozambique, as the leader of the ZANU Patriotic Front (PF).
After the ensuing guerilla war, which ended with the Lancaster House Agreement, and a brief interregnum of British government while new elections were organised, Mugabe was elected as the first prime minister of the new independent Zimbabwe and made Muzenda the deputy prime minister and foreign minister in 1980; Muzenda also retained political power over his home area. In 1987, when Mugabe became executive president, Muzenda was appointed as his vice-president.
In Zimbabwe's early years, Muzenda was generally respected by the people as a no-nonsense, plain-spoken man from the working class, but in later years, he appeared more and more crude. In 1990, his campaign for a seat in Zimbabwe's parliament suffered a blow after opposition candidate Patrick Kombayi was shot and left permanently disabled; two state agents were convicted of attempted murder, but pardoned by Mugabe shortly after the trial ended, and even though Muzenda was not publicly accused of being involved in the shooting, it affected his standing with the public.
During the years of Mugabe's rule, Muzenda always gave unreserved backing to the president, even when the regime began muzzling the independent press, curb the activities of foreign correspondents and crushing political opposition. He also participated in Mugabe's land redistribution programme, taking over the Chindito farm, south of Harare, in April 2002 and ejecting the white farm owner, Chris Nel; this incident caused a controversy with the Commercial Farmers Union.
Death.
In the two years preceding his death, Muzenda was in failing health, with problems including hypertension and diabetes; after returning from medical treatment in China in July 2003, he was admitted to the coronary care unit of Harare's main government facility, the Parirenyatwa Hospital, where, according to medical sources, he fell into a semi-conscious state. Two weeks before his death, Zimbabwe's state-owned media dismissed reports that he was in declining health, instead announcing that he was making "remarkable progress" towards a full recovery. Muzenda died on 20 September 2003; he was 80 years old. He was survived by a wife and six children. He had a State funeral, and he is buried at the National Heroes Acre.


Nuhu Bature

His Royal Highness Nuhu Bature Achi is the first and current monarch of Bajju Chiefdom, a Nigerian traditional state in southern Kaduna State, Nigeria. He is also known by the title, "A̠gwam Ba̠jju 1".
Bature became the very first monarch of the Bajju Chiefdom after its creation in 1995, following the Zangon Kataf crises of 1992 in which a resolution was reached and the creation of the long-agitated independent Chiefdom for the Atyap and Bajju from the British-imposed Zazzau Emirate was arrived at. In 2012, HRH Agwam Bature decried that 17 years after the creation of the chiefdom, "Ka̠jju" (the land of the Bajju people) was yet to have a palace.
References.


List of years in Rwanda

This is a list of years in Rwanda.