Burundi declared its independence from Belgium as a constitutional monarchy on 1 July 1962 and became the Republic of Burundi in 1965. Over the years the country has suffered through political instability including two civil wars and two instances of genocide. The political capital is Gitega and the economic capital is Bujumbura.[2]
Comoros consists of three main islands and several smaller islands in the Indian Ocean.[a] Comoros became independent of France on 6 July 1975. The capital of the Union of Comoros is Moroni.[6]
Eritrea became independent on 24 May 1993, after a thirty-year struggle. Sporadic fighting continued over the years, resulting in the Eritrean–Ethiopian War that only ended in 2018. The capital of the State of Eritrea is Asmara.[10]
Ethiopia is one of the world's oldest countries; with a civilisation stretching back to 1000 BC. Even though, it was occupied by Italy for five years, as the Italian Ethiopia in the early 20th century, after a difficult struggle during the Second Italo-Ethiopian War, it is regained its independence after World War II. It is thus the only country in Africa to have never been fully colonised. After the downfall of the Monarchy in 1974, it became the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and the "Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia" in 1991. Ethiopia has gone through costly drought and a bloody war with Eritrea in recent years. The capital is Addis Ababa.[12]
Chief of state: PresidentSahle-Work Zewde (since 25 October 2018) Sahle-Work is the first female elected chief of state in Ethiopia; she is currently the only female president in Africa.[13]
Madagascar freed itself from the French colonial empire in 1960; its official name is the "Republic of Madagascar" and its capital is Antananarivo.[16]
Mauritius is a group of islands in the Indian Ocean that became independent within the Commonwealth on 12 March 1968. It became the "Republic of Mauritius" on 12 March 1992. The capital is Port Louis.[21][c]
Somaliland is the self-proclaimed successor to the State of Somaliland and claims independence from Somalia. Its capital is Hargeisa.[36] The Republic does not enjoy international recognition and in 1998 a region in the northeast, the Puntland, declared itself "autonomous."[36]
Ugandan climate activist Vanessa Nakate, 23, complains about racism as she is cropped out of a photo published by the Associated Press in which she originally appeared with Greta Thunberg, Isabelle Axelsson, Luisa Neubauer and Loukina Tille at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. "Africans have truly been erased from the map of climate action," Nakate tweeted. AP said they will expand their diversity training for employees.[62]
PowerChina International Group Limited (PIGL) applies for a permit to build a US$1.2 dam and power plant between Lake Kyoga and Lake Albert in Uganda.[67]
A report on wildlife censuses conducted in October 2018 and November 2018 in the Selous-Mikumi ecosystem in Tanzania indicates that populations of elephants, hippopotamuses, and zebras have increased and that poaching has been brought under control.[68]
The atoll of Aldabra in the Seychelles is designated an Important Marine Mammal Area (IMMA) because of its rare dugong breeding population.[70]
Rosemary DiCarlo, the UN Under-Secretary for Political Affairs and Peace-building Affairs, meets with Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok and Lt. Gen. Abdelfattah El Burhan of Somalia in Khartoum.[71]
At least 18 African countries, including Ethiopia, Kenya, and Sudan report cases of the novel coronavirus. Most are in single figures, and no deaths have been reported in Sub-Saharan Africa. All major public events and air travel have been restricted in Kenya.[83] Sudan stops issuing visas for, and flights to, eight countries, including Italy and Egypt, over fears of the coronavirus outbreak.[84]
13 March – Malawi's president dissolves his cabinet in an attempt to prevent a new election.[85]
15 March – In a historic first, all Peace Corps volunteers worldwide are withdrawn from their host countries.[86]
16 March – Oppah Muchinguri, Zimbabwe's defence minister, describes the coronavirus pandemic as God's way of punishing the United States and other Western nations for imposing sanctions on Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe has not yet recorded a case of COVID-19 but South Africa has more than 60 cases and 54 countries in Africa have reported cases.[87]
20 March – Zimbabwe reports its first case of COVID-19, a 38-year-old who had traveled to Great Britain on 7 March, returning home via neighboring South Africa on 15 March. Madagascar also reports its first case. Thirty-nine countries in Africa now have cases, with a total now well above 900.[88]
Police in Kenya use tear gas at a crowd of commuters trying to reach a ferry before a 7 p.m. curfew went into place; others were beaten with batons. 38 people in Kenya are infected with COVID-19[91]
Police in Rwanda deny killing two civilians for ignoring the country-wide lockdown that went into effect on 23 March; they say the men were shot because they attacked the police. A lockdown in Zimbabwe is due to go into effect on 30 March.[91]
8 April – A Spanish-Eritrean group has discovered the remains of million-year-old fossil remains of large animals and plants along with tools that will help us better understand the climate and ecology of the Engel Ela-Ramud area during the Pleistocene Epoch.[93]
14,000 cases of COVID-19 and 788 deaths have been reported across Africa. Cases by country: Comoros (0), Djibouti (214), Eritrea (34), Ethiopia (71), Kenya (197), Madagascar (106), Malawi (13), Mauritius (324), Mozambique (21), Rwanda (126), São Tomé and Príncipe (4), Somalia (25), South Sudan (4), Tanzania (32), Uganda (54), Zambia (43), and Zimbabwe (14).[95]
15 April – Finance ministers from the Group of 20 agree to put a hold on debt service by poor countries so they can concentrate their efforts on health service and ending the pandemic. 76 countries will be able to participate in the plan, including 40 from Sub-Saharan Africa. $8 billion in private loans and $12 billion in loans from other countries will be frozen for the remainder of 2020 and possibly beyond. Another $12 billion in multilateral loans from organizations such as the World Bank is also under consideration.[96]
Considerable fake news about the coronavirus is circulating in Africa.[97]
About 300 people at the Gashora emergency transit center near Kigali, Rwanda, protest against stay-at-home orders. The refugees had been relocated from overcrowded camps in Libya and many have been cleared for migration to countries such as Norway or Canada. The new orders, issued to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, prevent international travel, and they restrict the ability of interns to play football or attend religious services.[98]
24 April – One million people in Ethiopia face hunger due to crop destruction by locust swarms. 25 million people in six states are struggling to feed themselves and a further five million could be threatened by hunger if the locust invasion was not contained. Swarms have been reported in Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan, and Tanzania.[101]
28 April – Madagascar President Andry Rajoelina promotes drinking a herbal extract called ″Covid Organics″ as schools reopen despite no scientific evidence that it is effective. Madagascar has 128 recorded cases of COVID-19 but no deaths.[103]
29 April – Kenya bans movement in and out of two huge refugee camps housing 400,000 people as part of containment measures aimed at preventing the spread of the coronavirus among the vulnerable communities.[104]
30 April – Comoros confirms its first COVID-19 case. A healthcare worker who did not wish to give her name told AFP news agency the announcement came "rather late". "Only one positive case? The president is funny. The [real] number is much higher," she said.[105]
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta pushes back against criticism for sending flowers to Britain's National Health Service (NHS) by noting the importance of flower exportations to Kenya's economy.[106]
3 May – COVID-19 pandemic: Tanzanian President John Magufuli questions coronavirus tests after samples from a goat, a pawpaw, and a sheep tested positive. Tanzania reports 480 cases of COVID-19 and 17 deaths.[107]
4 May – A civilian Kenyan plane carrying medical supplies to Bay, Somalia crashes, killing six.[108]
Somalian-born U.S. Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-MN) demands that United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) explain why it has reported only four civilian deaths in the 227 declared actions the U.S. has conducted in Somalia since 2007. Other organizations report as many as 142 civilian deaths due to U.S. airstrikes.[109]
Kenyan officials say at least 194 people have been killed and 100,000 have been made in flooding over the past three weeks.[110] At least 65 people have been killed by floods and landslides in Rwanda.[111]
A hospital in Kilembe, Uganda and a small town Somalia are washed away in flooding; an unspecified number of people are killed. Hundreds of people have been killed by floodwaters in Kenya, Uganda, Somalia, Rwanda, and Ethiopia which have also displaced hundreds of thousands across the region.[113]
Hundreds protest when the government destroys 7,000 homes and a market in Kariobangi, Kenya.[114] At least six people have been killed for violating stay-at-home orders, while hundreds have been forced into quarantine.[115]
13 May – Balloons floating 12 miles over Niassa and Cabo Delgado provinces in northern Mozambique are planned to provide the region with stable internet connections, according to Google's parent company, Alphabet Inc., and local mobile telecoms provider Vodacom.[117]
The U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam says that hospitals in Tanzania are ″overwhelmed″ because of the COVID-19 pandemic.[119]
15 May – Three young, female opposition activists were reported missing following a protest in Harare, Zambia, over COVID-19 lockdown measures. They were later treated at a hospital after asserting they had been abducted and sexually abused by suspected state security agents.[120]
COVID-19 pandemic: Rwanda releases 52 young women jailed for having or aiding abortions. A total of a total of 3,596 inmates have been granted "conditional release" from prison in order to reduce the number of inmates and prevent the spread of the coronavirus.[125]
Eight ″very young″ aid workers are kidnapped and killed by an armed group near Mogadishu.[132]
COVID-19 pandemic: Denise Bucumi, First Lady of Burundi, is flown to Nairobi for treatment for coronavirus. Burundi officially has 42 cases and 17 deaths due to the virus, but it stopped counting on 17 May and the actual numbers may be much higher.[133]
The UN extends an arms embargo and travel restrictions on South Sudan for another year.[134]
President Yoweri Museveni predicts Uganda will lose US$1.6 billion in tourism revenues due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[135]
People in Nairobi protests against police brutality after a homeless man is killed for violating curfew.[136]
At least six elephants are killed by poachers outside Mago National Park, Ethiopia in the largest mass-killing of animals in the country's history.[137]
A French court hands Felicien Kabuga to the United Nations for trial in Tanzania on charges of genocide.[138]
5 June – Rijasoa Andriamanana, the Education Minister of Madagascar, is fired after spending $2million (£1.6million) on candy for children to mask the "bitter" aftertaste of an untested herbal remedy for coronavirus.[139]
7 June – COVID-19 pandemic: Tanzania President John Magufuli claims God has "removed" the coronavirus and the country has only four cases; the country last reported 509 cases six weeks ago.[140]
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed rejects the idea of forming a transitional government in anticipation of the October election.[142]
Residents of one of Nairobi's poorest areas held a peaceful protest over the police brutality and killings which have plagued their neighborhood in recent years. Kenya's Independent Police Oversight Authority said that while enforcing the curfew police have killed 15 people and are accused of 31 cases of torture and injuring people.[143]
Three young women activists who say they were abducted and sexually assaulted by government forces in Zimbabwe face up to twenty years in prison for lying and trying to destabilize the government.[147]
World Day Against Child Labor: The International Labour Organization and UNICEF warn that millions of children are likely to be pushed into forced labor because of the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.[148]
A Burundi court declares that Évariste Ndayishimiye should be sworn in as soon as possible, although no date is set.[149]
17 to 20 June – Egyptian hackers engage in cyberattacks against Ethiopia's security forces.[150][151]
Three people are killed in Lessos, Kenya after a police officer shoots into a crowd of people protesting the use of facemasks and police shakedowns.[154]
Rwanda says three of its soldiers were injured in Nyaruguru District in an attack originating in Burundi.[155]
28 June – 166 people, including 156 civilians and eleven security forces, are killed in riots in Oromia Region and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, after the murder of Hachalu Hundessa[156]
Newly elected President Lazarus Chakwera of Malawi warns "We have a situation" as cases of COVID-19 in Africa soar to 1,400, half in the last three weeks.[159]
Independence Day/Republic Day, Malawi[19] Newly elected President Lazarus Chakwera is inaugurated in a televised ceremony after the ceremony was moved to the Kamuzu Barracks after reports of the worsening of the coronavirus pandemic. Malawi has 1,742 reported cases of the virus.[20]
Heroes' Day, and Zambia International Trade Fair, Zambia[160]
19 July – 105,000 people have been arrested for violations of regulations related to the COVID-19 pandemic, including 1,000 arrests for face mask violations in the last two days in Zimbabwe. 1,500 infections have been reported.[165]
21 July – The African Development Fund (ADF) approves UA100.4 million (US$138 million) crisis budget support for Malawi, Madagascar, Mozambique and São Tomé and Príncipe.[166]
30 August – MV Wakashio oil spill: Thousands march in Port Louis, Mauritius, in protest against handling of the 25 July oil spill, which has resulted in the deaths of 30 dolphins.[184]
15 November – 25000 refugees flee from Tigray, Ethiopia, to Sudan.[194] The conflict takes on an international character as rockets are fired at the Asmara, Eritrea, airport.[195]
16 November – COVID-19 pandemic: The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warns of famines in the developing world in 2021 as economic funds dry up.[196]
Portuguese Defence Minister João Gomes Cravinho says his country will work with Mozambique security forces to fight insurgency starting January 2021 in Mozambique.[201]
Pibor County, South Sudan, is likely in a famine, and five other counties are similarly threatened, according to international food security experts.[202]
Sudan says that "Ethiopian forces and militias" ambushed Sudanese army forces near Jabal Abutiour, Sudan. Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok visited Ethiopia briefly on 13 December to discuss the security situation.[204]
16 December – The UN warns of a new wave of locusts that threatens food security in the Horn of Africa and Yemen.[205]
21 December – Tigray conflict: The African Union says the military action of the Ethiopian government in Tigray was "legitimate".[206]
^Due to irregularities in 21 May 2019 election, on 3 February 2020, a panel of five judges annulled the results and ordered new elections within 150 days.[19]
^Mauritius claims sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago (including Diego Garcia), although this claim is disputed by the UK.[21]
^Maureen Ann Covell; Jean Dresch; Aidan William Southall; Raymond K. Kent; Hubert Jules Deschamps. "Madagascar". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
