Phases of Decolonization

• Phase one: roughly 1957-1973 (most of West and East Africa)

• Phase two: roughly 1974-1994 (mostly Southern/Central Africa)

The 1960s: Optimism and Compromise

• The first phase of decolonization was by no means without violence, but it included many examples of peaceful, smooth transfer of power

• Colonial powers maintain some control over the terms of decolonization

• Decolonization was grounded in the rhetoric of democracy and classical liberalism

• Newly independent states looked to Japan and Germany as models of a post-occupation boom

French West and Equitorial Africa

• After 1946, French West and Equitorial Africa were permitted to send ten delegates to the French National Assembly

• Many of these delegates returned to Africa and became nationalist leaders

• By 1956, internal self-government had been achieved throughout French West and Equitorial Africa

1958 “Oui” or “Non” Vote

• Instituted by Charles de Gaulle• Aimed at forestalling African demands for

independence• All colonies but Guinea voted “oui,”

agreeing to continued French sovereignty• All French ties to Guinea immediately

withdrawn• Departing French officials destroyed

government records and buildings

• Despite “oui” vote, colonies still demanded further concessions in terms of independence

• French government agreed to formal independence for many colonies in 1960, with the proviso that economic ties to France be maintained

The Belgian Congo

• Extremely limited opportunities for education and political organization

• 1956: “middle class” elections for municipal governments

• Most political organizations were regionally based

• Leopoldville/Kinshasa a key center of anti-colonial agitation

• Rapid movement towards decolonization in 1959-60—insufficient preparation?

• Patrice Lumumba’s Mouvement Nationale Congolais gained power but was unable to gain sufficient support throughout the country, lost control of both Katanga and the army

• General Joseph Mobutu backed by US • Even before Mobutu’s formal seizure of power in

a 1965 coup, the government became rife with corruption

• Mobutu’s rise to power associated with a cult of personality as well as outside backing

British Central Africa

• Southern Rhodesia: sizeable settler population (150,000 in 1950, 200,000 by 1960), Northern Rhodesia: mineral resources, Nyasaland: labor resources

• S. Rhodesian settlers began demanding federation following WWII

• Federation strongly resisted by Africans, incl. Dr. Hastings Banda

• Federation pushed through in 1953

• African protest intensified over the 1950s, leading to the declaration of a state of emergency in Nyasaland 1959

• Prime Minister Harold Macmillan’s “winds of change” speech in Cape Town, 1960

• South Africa severed all ties with Britain• Zambia and Malawi moved towards

independence in 1964• Southern Rhodesian settlers under Ian

Smith issued unilateral declaration of independence (UDI) in 1965

Ghana

• 1964: Ghana declared a one-party state with Nkrumah as Life President

• Nkrumah insisted that the development of the country as a whole (which he saw as synonymous with industrialization) must supersede individual prosperity

• One major project was the Akosombo dam, which put Ghana into serious debt

• Increased debt meant higher taxes on cocoa farmers, the basis of the economy

• While Nkrumah was on a state visit to Vietnam in 1966, he was overthrown in a military coup

Arbitrary Boundaries and Structural Legacies of Colonialism

• Katanga/Shaba province of Congo/Zaire

• Biafran War: 1967-1970

-raised the issue of self-determination

• Nationalism vs. nation-building

The Second Phase of Decolonization

• Violence was far more ubiquitous than in the first phase of decolonization

• Decolonization tended to be grounded in the rhetoric of liberation and social transformation

• Deeply enmeshed with the Cold War

Portuguese Africa

• Metropolitan government viewed colonies (Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, Angola and Mozambique) as absolutely essential, were willing to exert force to retain them

• Pattern of “liberation movements” was set by Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau

• By 1974, all Portuguese colonies in some state of open hostility

• 1974 coup in Portugal predicated on military withdrawal from Africa

• Withdrawal of Portuguese troops in 1975 left both Angola and Mozambique in a state of civil war

• MPLA in Angola and FRELIMO in Mozambique were strongly socialist in perspective, received support from USSR and Cuba (incl. 13,000 Cuban troops in Angola)

• UNITA in Angola and RENAMO in Mozambique received support from South Africa, Southern Rhodesia and the United States

• Both MPLA and FRELIMO constituted official governments, but their legitimacy and ability to govern were severely limited by opposing groups

• Despite outside intervention, opposition groups also played on dissent within the populace at large

Southern Rhodesia/Zimbabwe

• Violence against Smith government began immediately following UDI

• Following Portuguese withdrawal, Smith government found itself more isolated

• A compromise government was installed in 1978, but this was unable to stop guerilla fighting and was discredited

• Full free elections held in 1979, resulting in the 1980 creation of independent Zimbabwe

South Africa and Its Neighbors

• Botswana and Lesotho independent in 1966, Swaziland in 1968

• SW Africa (Nambia) remained under the control of South Africa

• 1976 Soweto uprising ushered in 15 years of concerted resistance to apartheid, resulting in state of emergency

• Concerns about African National Congress made Britain and US hesitant to intervene

• South Africa became increasingly isolated following Zimbabwean independence and the sanctions movement in Europe and the US

• In 1990, shift towards democracy began and Namibia was granted independence

• Full free elections held in 1994