A+-+African+Nations+Gain+Independence+-+Struggles+in+Africa

=__ African Nations Gain Independence __= //Zoe Norris, Baylee Nichols, Kenzie Casement, Brooklyn Arnold//

Thousands of African people started to demand freedom from the European leaders.
Kwame Nkrumah, Jomo Kenyatta, and Leopold Senghor led independence movements in their countries. In some countries, political pressure was enough to get independence, this method worked well for British colonies that became Nigeria and Ghana and in most of France's West African colonies. Unfortunately not all countries were that lucky. In countries such as Algeria and Kenya,  the battle for liberation became violent.

//Jomo Kenyatta: (1894-1974) Born in a small Kikuyu village, and// //educated at a Christian mission. As an adult he quickly became// //a very strong nationalist. He became an anticolonial organizer// //and fought long and hard for the independence of Kenya.//

__**Checkpoint Question:**__ **Why did European powers resist independence for** resources like rich deposits of minerals, cash crops, and petroleum.
 * their African colonies?** The European powers wanted the African colonies

=__ Africans Build New Nations __=
 * Some new African nations has peace but others broke out in civil war, **
 * military rule, or corrupt dictators. **

__**Confronting Ethnic Divisons**__
The European powers had drawn colony lines without regard of the thousands  of ethnic groups. Many nations gained independence with people that had different religions and languages and were more focused on putting forth their loyalty to their ethnic groups, not a national government. Because of this, there was a lot of ethnic and regional conflict.

__Dictators Seize Power__
Many countries had one-party political systems rather than multiparty systems. It was believed that multiparty systems encouraged disunity. Although, many of the one-party systems turned into dictatorships. The down side of these particular dictatorships <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;">was that the dictators used their power to enrich themselves, and a certain batch of <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;">lucky people. Because of this, military's often took control. More than half of <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;"> African nations faced a __coup d'etat__. Some of these military leaders wished to improve <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;">awful conditions and restore civilian rule, but that wish was never granted <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;">to the people. Other military leaders became brutal tyrants.

//coup d'etat(n.): forcible overthrow of a government//

__Moving Toward Democracy__
<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">As military's often ruled many of the colonies, a democratic government was <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">desired. In the mean time, Western governments and the World bank required <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">reforms as a condition for loans. Because of this, some governments made <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">changes. Many legalized opposition parties and allowed the freedom of speech. <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">In nations such as Tanzania, Nigeria, and Benin, multiparty elections took place, <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">removing long-ruling leaders from office.

__Foreigners Jostle for Influence__
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;">Unfortunately, although many African nations gained political freedom, colonial powers <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;">still maintained control of local business. Because of this, many nations remained <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;">dependent economically on their former colonies. <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;">During the Cold War, the United States and Soviet Union often competed for military <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;">and strategic advantages through alliances with many African countries. The United States <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;">supported __Mobutu Sese Seko__, a dictator of Zaire (Democratic Republic of the Congo), and they also <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;">supported Somalia. On the other hand, the Soviet Union supported Ethiopia. Many of the African <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;">countries struck the interest of the superpowers, mostly because they wanted to gain <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;">control of the __Red Sea__. <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;"> //Mobutu Seso Seko(n.): 1930-1997, Dictator of Zaire 1965-1997// //Red Sea(n.): Vital shipping route connecting Asia, Europe, and Africa//

They did not like their political polocies and didn't think they were fair. Also, United States alliances let African countries see what a democracy is like.
 * __Checkpoint Question:__ Why have African countries moved toward democracy in recent years?**

=__ The Stories of Five African Nations __= The new African nations all faced many of the same challenges, although each nation has a unique history behind how they gained their independence.

__Ghana__
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Ghana was the first African nation south of the Sahara to gain freedom from the British. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">In the 1940's Kwame Nkrumah rised to power of an independence movement <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">by organizing rallies and political speeches against the British. In 1957, Ghana had finally <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">won their battle. Nkrumah was elected the first president of Ghana and did many things <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">to change the system they were used to. Nkrumah advocated socialism and nationalized <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">many businesses. As time went on, the once democracy slowly turned into a dictatorship. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">In 1966, Nkrumah overthrown by the first of several military coups in Ghana. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">In 1981, a young military officer named Jerry Rawlings stepped forward. He slowly <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">started to strengthen Ghana's economy, which is largely based on sales of cocoa and gold. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">He also restored democracy in Ghana. He then won a free election in 1992 and then lost <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">to an opponent in 2001.

__Stuggle for Independen____ce in Kenya__
<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">For thousands of Kenyans, freedom was only granted after a long, agonizing, armed struggle. African <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">farmers had lost many of their land and jobs to white settlers. The settlers took over much of the <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">fertile highlands making it difficult for the village of Kikuyu to prosper. The settlers claimed it as their <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">land but the people of Kikuyu begged to differ. Jomo Kenyatta, the leadingspokesman of the Kikuyu <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">said "The land is ours. When Europeans came,they kept us back and took our land." Kenyatta <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">was a nonviolent activist and used nonviolent methods to fight oppressive laws. Although, in the 1950's <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">more radical leaders stepped forward and turned to guerrilla warfare.These rebels burned farms <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> and attacked settlers and Africans who were known to have helped or work with the settlers. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">The British called theseguerrillas the 'Mau Mau'. To end the violence, British has Kenyatta arrested <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">and killed thousands of Kikuyu. The rebels were crushed with no leader,but the movement lived on. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> Kenyatta became a national hero and in 1963, the year of his release, he was made the <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">first leader of an independent Kenya. As president, Kenyatta jailed those who opposed him and outlawed <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">opposition parties.

__Algeria__
<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Throughout the 1800's, France had conquered much of Alergia. Millions of French <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">people had settled there over time. They were very much determined to keep <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">the Algerian people from winning independence. Because of this, Algerian nationalists <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">set up the National Liberation Front. In 1954, this group turned to guerrilla warfare. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The French though, had just recently lost one of their asian colony in Vietnam so they <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">were very reluctant to lose their Algerian colony. The French sent 500,000 troops to <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">maintain their possession. The main reason though as to why they wanted to control <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Algeria still though was because in the 1950's oil and natural gases had been discovered <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">there. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">As the war for <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> freedom lived on, hundreds of thousands of Algerians lost their lives. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Eventually, the public opinions of the French people spoke out and rediculed <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">the war causing it to end. In the year 1962, Algeria had won its freedom. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">In 1965, a coupe had taken over and a long period of military ruled had begun. In the 1960's <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">and 1970's, Algerians had started a __comma____nd economy__ based on oil and gas exports. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">In the 1980's the country had then returned to a __market economy__ and in 1992, the <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">government had allowed free elections and an __Islamist__ party had won most of the votes. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Due to this, the military had rejected the election results and seven long years of civil war <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">had broke out. Since 1999, the government has stopped the fighting but tense <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">feelings remain. Critics have accused the government of rigging elections.

//command economy(n.): system in which government officials make all basic economic decisions// //market economy(n.): an economy that relies on market forces to allocate goods and resources to// //determine prices// //Islamist Party(n.): People who want government polocies to be based on the teachings of Islam//

**__Democratic Republic of the Congo__**
<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">The DRC was formerly a Belgian colony that covered a vast region of Central Africa. <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">At least 1,000,000sq.mi. consist of rain forests and savannas located near the Congo River <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">basin. The region contains many valuble natural resouces such as diamonds and copper of <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">__Katanga__ province. In 1960, the Congo urged to declare the colony independent even though <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">the Congolese were not ready for a self-government system which allowed Belgian people <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">to maintain control over mining companies and working with poloticians in Katanga. Patrice <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Lumumba, the first prime minister of the independent Congo, asked for Soviet help <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">to fight back agaisnt the Belgian-backed rebels. The United States on the other hand <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">supported Lumumba's rival, Colonel Joseph Mobutu. Mobutu captured Lumumba <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">and she was executed shortly after. In 1963, the United Nations ended <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">the Katanga and in 1965 Mobutu overthrew Congo's government and ruled as a <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">military dictator. Mobutu's harsh and corrupt rule let poverty and instabilities in <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">the Congo get worse over time. In 1997, he was exiled and a civil war broke out <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">for six years. In 2003, ceasefire brought uneasy peace but the country remains <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">divided between the east and the west, and between many ethinic groups.

//Katanga(n.): copper-mining region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo//

__**Mobutu Seso Seko:**__
 * President of the Congofrom 1965 to 1997. He served in the country's army and later became a journalist. Through press contacts, he met several influential politicians and eventually was appointed to high positions. He reigned during the Rwandan genocide and formed an authoritarian regime. He died in exile in 1997.**

**__Nigeria__**
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Nigeria has the highest population count in all of Africa. Its people being to <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">thousands of ethnic groups, but three of them dominate. The Christian Ibo and <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Yoruba people live in the south, and the Muslim Hausa dominate the north. After <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">WWll, the British gave into the idea of Nigerian independence and the country of <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Nigera won independence peacefully in 1960. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">In 1961, a discovery of oil in the southeast and raised high hopes for the new nations <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">economic future. Unfortunately though, due to regional, ethnic, and religious differences <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">led to many conflicts. In 1966, Nigeria suffered the first of several military coups. The <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">second coup help 1966 was led by northern Muslim officers which led to a rebellion <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">in the southeast by the Ibo people, who then declared independence as the Republic <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">of __Biafra__. Following the rebellion was a 3 year war. In the end of it all though, Nigeria's <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">military defeated the Biafran rebels and ended all hoped of Biafra independence. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Throughout the 1970's and 80's, a series of military rulers suppressed opposition and <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> diverted much of the country's oil earnings for their own good. Opposition to military rule <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> increased during the 1990's. Finally in 1999, a military government eventually <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">allowed free elections. After the return to democracy, Nigera's people faced and increase <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">in crimes. Meanwhile, ethnic and religious divisions gave rise to renewed violence. **__Checkpoint Question:__ How did Biafra and Katanga** rule or colony. Most often, it was a struggle for independence and took many years of war to win their freedom.
 * reflect the challenges to unity that the new African nations**
 * faced?** They were often out powered by a bigger military

=**__Struggles In Africa__**= //(pg. 686-690)//

During the 50's and the 60's, many African nations were gaining independence. However, due to many ethnic diversities, religious beliefs, and languages, their freedom was hard to maintain under the governments control.

__ South Africa Struggles for Freedom __
The win for freedom in South Africa is very different from any other independence gain in Africa. They won self-rule from Britain in 1910, however freedom was limited to white settlers. Although whites only made up 20% of the population, they still controlled the government. They eventually passed laws that strictly limited the black minority.

__Apartheid Divides South Africa__
<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">In 1948, the government expanded the existing system of racial segregation, which <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">created an __apartheid__. Under apartheid, all South Africans were registered by race. <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">Black, White, Colored (people of mixed ancestry), and Asian. Apartheid's supporters <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">claimed that it would allow each race to develop its own culture. It was mainly designed <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">to control over South Africa. Under apartheid, nonwhites faced many restrictions. <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">Blacks were treated like foreigners in their own land. <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">Under the passed laws, they had to get permission to travel. Other laws <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">banned marriages between races, and required segregated restaurants, beaches, and schools. <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">Black workers were paid less than whites for the same jobs. Blacks could not own land in <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">most areas even. <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;"> Low wages and inferior schooling condemned most blacks to poverty.

//apartheid(n.): separation of the races//

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**Apartheid**: was a system of racial segregation enforced through legislation by <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> the National Party governments, who were the ruling party from 1948 to 1994, <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">of South Africa, under which the rights of the majority black inhabitants of South Africa <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">were curtailed and white supremecy and Afrikaner minority rule as maintained. Apartheid <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">was developed after WWll by the Afrikaner dominated National Party and Broederbond <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">organizations and was practiced also in South West Africa which was administered by South <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Africa under a Leauge of Nationsmandate (revoked in 1966), until it gained independence as Namibia <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">in 1990. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apartheid_in_South_Africa)

__Fighting For Majority Rule__
The __African National Congress (ANC)__ was the main organization that opposed to the apartheid and led the struggle for majority rule. In the 50's, the ANC organized marches, boycotts, and strikes. In 1960, police gunned down 69 men, women, and children during a peaceful demonstration in __Sharpeville__. The Sharpeville massacre and crackdown pushed the ANC to shift from nonviolent to armed struggle. Some people like __Nelson Mandela__ went underground. As an ANC leader, Mandela had first mobilized young South Africans to peacefully resist apartheid laws. As the government violence grew, Mandela joined ANC militants who called for armed struggle against the white minority government. In the early 60's, Mandela was arrested, tried, and condemned to life in prision for treason against the apartheid. While Mandela was in prison he remained a popular leader and powerful symbol of the struggle for freedom. In the 80's, demands for and end to apartheid and for Mandelas release increased. Many countries, including the United States, imposed economic sanctions on South Africa. In 1984, black South African bishop __Desmond Tutu__ won the Nobel Peace Prize for his nonviolent opposition to apartheid.

//ANC(n.): Head leaders to oppose to the apartheid// //Sharpeville(n.): Black township// //Nelson Mandela(n.): Arrested for treason, encouraged to rebel against apartheid// //served as president 1994-1999// //Desmond Tutu(n.): Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for nonviolence//

__**Checkpoint Question:**__ **What factors finally brought an end to apartheid** Outside pressures and protests at home convinced president **F.W. Klerk** to end the apartheid. He freed Mandela and lifted the ban on the ANC.
 * in South Africa?**

=__ South Africa's Neighbors Face Long Conflicts __= <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">In Southern Africa, the road to freedom was longer and more violent than <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">what other nations had to overcome. For many years the apartheid <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">government of South Africa supported white minority rule in neighboring <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Namibia and Zimbabwe. Britain and France gave up their African possessions, <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Portugal clung fiercely to its colonies in Angola and Mozambique. In response, <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">nationalist movements turned to guerrilla warfare. Fighting raged on for 15 years, <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">until Portugal agreed to withdraw from Africa. In 1975, Angola and Mozambique <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">celebrated independence. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Independence did not end the fighting, however. Civil wars, fueled by Cold War <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">rivalries went on for years. South Africa and the United States saw the new nations as <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">threats because some liberation leaders had ties to Soviet Union or the ANC. The US <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">and South Africa aided a rebel group fighting the new government of Angola. South <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Africa alone aided Mozambique. The fighting didn't stop until 1992, in Mozambqiue <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">and 2002 in Angola. Although, tensions remained afterwords. Slowly, they have <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">both begun to rebuild.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">**and Mozambique achieved independence?** <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Because of the tensions that remained in the air caused by the Cold War <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">alliances and ties.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">__Checkpoint Question:__ Why did fighting continue after Agnola **

=__<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Ethnic Conflicts Kill Millions __= <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">After independence, ethnic conflicts plagued several African nations. The causes were <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">complex. Historic resentments divided ethnically diverse nations. Unjust governments <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">and regional rivalries fed ethnic violence.

__<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Rwanda and Burundi Face Deadly Divisions __
<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">The small nations of Rwanda, in Central Africa, faced one of Africa's deadliest civil wars. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">The Rwandan people included two main groups. __Hutus__ were the majority group, but the <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">minority __Tutsis__ had long dominated Rwanda. Both groups spoke the same language, but <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">they had different traditions. After independence, tensions between the two groups simmered. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Conditions worsened in the early 1990's. In 1994, extremist Hutu officials urged civilians <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">to kill their Tutsi and moderate Hutu neighbors. Around 800,000 Tutsis and Hutus were <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">slaughtered. Another 3,000,000 of Rwanda's 8,000,000 people lost their homes to <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">destructive mobs. As the death rate rised, the international community failed to act. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">After several months of this, France finally sent in troops to stop the madness. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">With United Nations assistance, Rwanda set about rebuilding and recovering from the <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">horrors of __genocide__.Those accused of genocide faced trials in an international court. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Hutus and Tutsis had to find ways to live peacefully. World leaders pledged to stop any future <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">genocide wherever it might occur. Their readiness, however, was limited. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">The neighboring nation of Burundi had a similar population and history. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">As in Rwanda, tensions between Tutsis and Hutus led to civil war during the 90's. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">While the fighting did not lead to genocide such as in Rwanda, guerrilla <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">groups fought for much longer in Burundi. Although several guerrilla groups <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">signed a peace treaty in 2000, fighting continued in the years followed.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Hutus(n.):group that forms the majority in Rwanda and Burundi <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Tutsis(n.): main minority group in Rwanda and Burundi <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Genocide(n.): deliberate attempt to destroy an entire religious <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">or ethnic group through mid-July, over 500,000 people were killed, according to a Human Rights Watch estimate. Estimates of the death toll have ranged between 500,000 and 1,000,000, or as much as 20% of the country's total population. It was the culmination of longstanding ethnic competition and tensions between the minority Tutsi, who had controlled power for centuries, and the majority Hutu peoples, who had come to power in the rebellion of 1959–62 and overthrown the Tutsi monarchy. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rwandan_Genocide)
 * Rwandan Genocide:** Over the course of approximately 100 days

__Sudan's Ethnic Strife__
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;">After independence, Sudan's Arab Muslim north dominated the non-Muslim, non-Arab south. <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;">Arab-led governments enacted laws and policies that discriminated against non-Muslims <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;">and against other ethnic groups. For example, the government tried to impose Islamic law <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;">even in non-Muslim areas. For decades, rebel groups in the south battled northern domination. <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;">War, famine, and droughts caused millions of deaths and forced many more to flee their homes. <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;">However, in 2004, southern rebels signed a peace agreement with Sudan's government. <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;">The southern rebels agreed to stop fighting, and the government agreed to give the south <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;">limited self-government, power in Sudan's national government, and freedom from Islamic Law. <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;">Also in 2004, ethnic conflict had also spread to Sudan's western region of __Darfur__. This conflict <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;">raised fears of a new genocide. Arab militias, backed by the government, unleashed terror on the <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;">non-Arab Muslim people of Darfur. They burned villages and drove hundreds of thousands of <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;">farmers off the land that fed them and into refugee camps, where they faced the threat of <span style="font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;">starvation. The UN, the US, and other nations organized a huge aid effort to help refugees.

//Darfur(n.):a region in western Sudan where ethnic conflict threatened to lead to genocide.//