Portal:Military history of Africa

The Military history of Africa Portal

War memorial square in Massawa, Eritrea

The military history of Africa is one of the oldest and most diverse military histories. Africa is a continent of diverse regions with diverse people speaking hundreds of different languages with many different cultures and religions. These differences have also been the source of much conflict since a millennia.

Like the history of Africa, African military history is often divided by region. North Africa was part of the Mediterranean cultures and was integral to the military history of antiquity. The military history of modern Africa may be divided into three broad time periods: pre-colonial, colonial, and post-colonial.

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The Algerian Civil War was an armed conflict between the Algerian government and various Islamist rebel groups which began in 1991. It is estimated to have cost between 150,000 and 200,000 lives. More than 70 journalists were assassinated, either by security forces or by Islamists^[1] The conflict effectively ended with a government victory, following the surrender of the Islamic Salvation Army and the 2002 defeat of the Armed Islamic Group. However, low-level fighting still continues in some areas.

The conflict began in December 1991, when the government cancelled elections after the first round results had shown that the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) party would win, citing fears that the FIS would end democracy. After the FIS was banned and thousands of its members arrested, Islamist guerrillas rapidly emerged and began an armed campaign against the government and its supporters. They formed themselves into several armed groups, principally the Islamic Armed Movement (MIA), based in the mountains, and the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), based in the towns. The guerrillas initially targeted the army and police, but some groups soon started attacking civilians. In 1994, as negotiations between the government and the FIS's imprisoned leadership reached their height, the GIA declared war on the FIS and its supporters, while the MIA and various smaller groups regrouped, becoming the FIS-loyalist Islamic Salvation Army (AIS).

References

Selected biography

AbdelKader

`Abd al-Qādir al-Jazā'irī (6 September 1808 - 26 May 1883, in Arabic عبد القادر الجزائري) was an Algerian Islamic scholar, Sufi, political and military leader who led a struggle against the French invasion in the mid-nineteenth century, for which he is seen by the Algerians as their national hero.

In 1830, Algeria was invaded by France; French colonial domination over Algeria supplanted what had been domination in name only by the Ottoman Empire. Within two years, `Abd al-Qādir was made an amir and with the loyalty of a number of tribes began a rebellion against the French. He was effective at using guerrilla warfare and for a decade, up until 1842, scored many victories. He often signed tactical truces with the French, but these did not last. His power base was in the western part of Algeria, where he was successful in uniting the tribes against the French. He was noted for his chivalry; at one occasion released his French captives simply because he had insufficient food to feed them.

To the beginning of 1842 the contest went in favour of the amir; thereafter he found in Marshal Bugeaud an opponent who proved, in the end, his master. Bugeaud used violent methods, including scorched earth policy. Throughout this period Abd-el-Kader showed himself a born leader of men, a great soldier, a capable administrator, a persuasive orator, a chivalrous opponent. His fervent faith in the doctrines of Islam was unquestioned, and his ultimate failure was due in considerable measure to the refusal of the Kabyles, Berber mountain tribes whose Islam is somewhat loosely held, to make common cause with the Arabs against the French.

Quotes

"I have nothing but scorn for the notion of an Islamic bomb. There is no such thing as an Islamic bomb or a Christian bomb. Any such weapon is a means of terrorizing humanity, and we are against the manufacture and acquisition of nuclear weapons. This is in line with our definition of—and opposition to—terrorism." — Muammar al-Gaddafi (Source: Time Magazine (June 8, 1981))

Equipment

Soviet P-15 Termit (SS-N-2 Styx) anti-ship missile

The P-15 Termit (Russian: П-15 "Термит"; English: termite) was a type of missile developed by the Soviet Union's Raduga design bureau in the 1950s. Its GRAU designation was "4K40", and its NATO reporting name was Styx or SS-N-2.

Soviet-made P-15 missiles were used by Egypt against Israel in 1967 where Egyptian Komar class fast-attack craft (FAC) sank the Israeli destroyer Eilat. It is also used by Algeria, Angola, Libya and Somalia.

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On this day...

6 July

• 1964 - Malawi declares its independence from the United Kingdom.
• 1966 - Malawi becomes a republic, with Hastings Banda as the first President.
• 1967 - Biafran War: Nigerian forces invade Biafra, beginning the war.
• 1975 - The Comoros declare independence from France.

Did you know...

• ......that the British colonial Administrator Sir Robert Codrington was influential in establishing British colonial government in Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland and making them different in character from white-settler-led Southern Rhodesia?
• ...that on March 23, 2007 a TransAVIAexport Airlines Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft delivering humanitarian aid was shot down in Somalia?
• ...that Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka came to power in Ghana through a military coup d'état in 1966, only to be deposed and killed in a further coup fourteen months later?
• ...that the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum recorded over 1,200 violations of human rights in Zimbabwe by the law enforcement agencies from 2001 to September 2006?
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