CHAPTER 26: THE WINNING OF INDEPENDENCE
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KEY POINTS
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Colonial development strategies
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The winning of independence in British west Africa
Ghana
Nigeria
Sierra Leone and The Gambia
 The winning of independence in French West
Africa and French Equatorial Africa
 The struggle for independence in the Maghrib
Morocco and Tunisia
Western Sahara
Libya
 Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea and Somalia
Egypt
Sudan
Eritrea
Somalia
Colonial development strategies
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British and French established funds for colonial development
Most directed to areas controlled by European colonists: mining,
settler agriculture, mechanised timber felling
Intervention in African agriculture: ill-conceived and unsuccessful
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Sudanese Djazira cotton irrigation expanded
French irrigation of cotton and rice, upper Niger (Mali) failed
British groundnut scheme, Tanganyika: failed
Colonial concept of Africa: exporter of raw materials, importer of
manufactured goods
1950s: boom period for African commodities, disguised the
shortcomings of the reliance on exports
Beginning of government expenditure on health (malaria
prevention);
and education: mostly primary schooling – 3-4% teenagers in
secondary school in 1960
New universities: Ibadan, Legon, Khartoum, Makerere
French assumed higher education in France
Colonial aim: gradual move towards internal self-government,
within the French and British empires
Rising tide of African nationalism seized the initiative from the
colonial powers
French and British conceded political control in belief they could
retain economic power
Colonies of white settlement (Algeria, Kenya, Rhodesia + South
Africa [technically no longer a colony]) determined to resist all
moves towards independence
Portugal and Belgium had no plans for reform
The winning of independence in British west Africa
Ghana
 1946 new Gold Coast constitution – African majority, but mostly
appointed by chiefs
 British hoped to continue their ‘indirect rule’ through chiefs
 African professionals and businessmen set up United Gold Coast
Convention
 Demanded elected not appointed representatives
 Nkrumah, [at Pan-African Congress of 1945], general secretary
UGCC – determined to push for independence
 1948, police fire on ex-servicemen’s protest at inflation – sparked
riots
 British blamed Nkrumah and UGCC leadership – imprisoned
 Riots proved power of mass action: on release, Nkrumah founded
Convention People’s Party (CPP) – mass membership, ‘Positive
Action’ demonstrations, Nkrumah re-arrested
 1951 constitution, partially elected Assembly, CPP won majority –
Nkrumah released to become leader of government business in
parliament
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Negotiations with governor for full internal self-government by
1954 – CPP won elections: Nkrumah Prime Minister
Independence March 1957
CPP opposed in Asante (especially by cocoa farmers who resented
continuation of marketing board and price controls)
National Liberation Movement (Asante-based) to oppose CPP
Nigeria
 35 million population (1953) – large and disunited
 1944: National Council of Nigeria and Cameroons (NCNC),
Azikiwe (editor West African Pilot) – supposedly national, but main
support from Igbo (south-east)
 Other regional parties: Yoruba Action Group and Northern People’s
Congress (Hausa/Fulani)
 Independence delay over federal or unitary government:
conservative Muslim northerners feared domination by
‘Europeanised’ southerners
 Federal constitution: independence 1960, northerner, Balewa, as
Prime Minister
Sierra Leone and The Gambia
 SL independence = victory of Mende elite over formerly dominant
Freetown Creoles
 British considered possible union of The Gambia with Senegal
 Gambian nationalists opposed, delayed independence until 1965
The winning of independence in French West Africa and
French Equatorial Africa
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French determined to keep colonies part of ‘Greater France’
1946 abolition of hated indigénat and corvée labour laws
Ten African delegates elected to French National Assembly (2.5%
of seats – equality would have given Africans 50%)
Delegates formed Rassemblement Démocratique Africain (RDA),
led by Houphouet-Boigny (Côte d’Ivoire), but regional diversity
prevented unity
1948 Senghor founded Bloc Démocratique Sénegalais (BDS)
1951 DBS won both Senegalese seats
Dispute among delegates: federation or individual territories
Senghor favoured federation – Dakar had been colonial capital of
French West Africa
Houphouet-Boigny feared Côte d’Ivoire’s wealth would subsidise
poorer parts of FWA
1956: full internal self-government in French Africa
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1958: de Gaulle’s choice: independence now, or continue links with
France
Guinea voted for independence – French cut them off completely
Guinea supported by Ghana and Soviet Union
1960: De Gaulle agreed independence for rest of French Africa (13
countries)
The struggle for independence in the Maghrib
Morocco and Tunisia
 French ‘Protectorate’ of Morocco, ruled through Sultan
 Sultan Muhammad V sided with nationalist movement demanding
independence
 French exiled Muhammad
 Public protest forced his return
 National hero, became king Muhammad V at independence 1956
 Tunisia also independent 1956 (Habib Bourguiba)
Western Sahara
 Rio d’Oro, Spanish withdrew 1976, partitioned between Mauritania
and Morocco
 Indigenous Arab-Berbers formed Polisario Front to resist this
foreign occupation of ‘Sahara Arab Democratic Republic’ (Western
Sahara)
 Guerrilla war, aid from Algeria
 Mauritania withdrew 1979, Morocco continued occupation
 Some international recognition, but Moroccans sent in settlers to
force a majority if UN ever forced a referendum
Algeria
 France’s principal colony of white settlement – 2 million colons
1945
 Muslim demonstrations fired on by police – rioting and retaliation,
100 French and 8000 Muslims killed
 French reforms of 1946-7 = too little too late
 1954: war launched by Front de Libération Nationale (FLN), French
troops in, escalation of war
 1958, 500 000 French troops, bitter war, hundreds of thousands
killed
 1962 French forced to negotiate independence – President Ahmed
Ben Bella –
 1965, Ben Bella replaced by army commander, Boumedienne
Libya
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British wartime occupation, independence 1951, King Idris (of
Sanusiyya Muslim Brotherhood)
1960s huge oil reserves in desert
1969, Idris replaced in coup by Colonel Mu’ammar Gaddafi
Gaddafi preached return to non-materialist Muslim values
Sponsored Anti-Western tendencies
Many distrusted his ambitions
Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea and Somalia
Egypt
 1944: Egypt regained independence from British wartime
occupation
 1948-9: defeat in Arab-Israeli war
 1952: coup, King Farouk and old Ottoman regime overthrown –
blamed for defeat
 1954: Colonel Gamal ’Abd al-Nasir, President of Egypt
 Aim: land reform – redistribute large estates among peasantry
 1956 nationalised Suez Canal (French owned)
 Profits to finance raising Aswan Dam
 French and British occupy canal
 Forced withdrawal: Egyptian resistance, + USA and Soviet pressure
 Nasir nationalised all remaining French and British assets in Egypt
 Ended century of European domination of economy
 Nasir: leader of ‘Arab world’ – Egypt renamed: ‘The United Arab
Republic’
Sudan
 North and south ruled separately for most of colonial period
 1954: Egypt gave up claims to authority in Sudan
 Northerners dominated negotiations for independence
 Southern politicians demanded federation
 1955: military rebellion in south
 Britain airlifted northern troops to south – start of first civil war
(1955-72) and beginning of long-term ‘occupation’ of south by
north
 Britain hastily negotiated independence (1 Jan. 1956)
 Unitary government constitution imposed by north
 Islamisation campaign in south to ‘enforce’ unity – civil war
dominated country’s history
Eritrea
 1941: occupied by British
 British favoured strong alliance with Christian Ethiopia
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1952: Muslim Eritrea handed to Ethiopia, giving them access to sea
(lost since 16th century Ottoman occupation)
Self-governing state within federation
Ethiopia incorporated Eritrea as province within empire
Muslim/Marxist liberation movements start (30-year) independence
struggle from Ethiopian imperialism
Somalia
 Somalis divided: (1) Ogaden to Ethiopia, (2) Awash estuary/port to
France (Djibouti), (3) northern coast to British Somaliland, (4)
central and southern to Italy, (5) south-west to Britain/Kenya
 Independence 1960, united (3) and (4) only
 Nationalists seeking ‘Greater Somalia’
 Somalis divided: late-1960s election: 1000 candidates, 68 parties,
for 123 parliamentary seats
 Coup by General Siad Barre, 1969, to resolve corruption and
establish unity
 Aim of ‘Greater Somalia’ brought war with Ethiopia over Ogaden
 Barre’s ‘scientific socialism’ got Soviet support
 1974: Soviets switched support to Marxist Ethiopia –
 1978 Somali troops expelled from Ogaden
 Cold War: USA supported ‘socialist’ Somalia – US military base at
Berbera
 Barre’s development projects favouring south
 Northern separatist movement: bombarded by Barre
 Increasingly oppressive regime – reversion to clan-based loyalties
 Jan. 1991: Barre fled leaving national disintegration
© Kevin Shillington, 2012