Monday, March 19, 2012

BURUNDI: Burundi profile

Chronology of key events:

1300s - Hutu people settle in the region.

1400s - Tutsi settlers establish themselves as feudal rulers.

1858 - British explorers Richard Burton and John Speke visit Burundi.

1890 - The Tutsi kingdom of Urundi and neighbouring Ruanda (Rwanda) incorporated into German East Africa.

1916 - Belgians occupy the area.

1923 - Belgium granted League of Nations mandate to administer Ruanda-Urundi.

1959 - Influx of Tutsi refugees from Rwanda following ethnic violence there.
Independence
1962 - Urundi is separated from Ruanda-Urundi, becomes Burundi and is given independence as a monarchy under King Mwambutsa IV.

1963 - Thousands of Hutus flee to Rwanda following ethnic violence.

1965 - King Mwambutsa refuses to appoint a Hutu prime minister even though Hutus win a majority in parliamentary elections; attempted coup by Hutu police led by Michel Micombero brutally suppressed.

1966 July - Mwambutsa deposed by his son, Ntare V.

1966 November - Micombero stages a second coup, this time successfully, and declares himself president.
Overthrow of monarchy
1972 - Some 150,000 Hutus are massacred after Ntare V is killed, supposedly by Hutus.

1976 - Micombero is deposed in a military coup and is replaced by Jean-Baptiste Bagaza as president.

1981 - A new constitution makes Burundi a one-party state.

1987 - President Bagaza is deposed in a coup led by Pierre Buyoya.

1988 - Thousands of Hutus are massacred by Tutsis and thousands more flee to Rwanda.
Dashed hopes
1992 - New constitution providing for a multiparty system is adopted in a referendum.

1993 June - Melchior Ndadaye's Frodebu wins multi-party polls, ending military rule and leading to the installation of a pro-Hutu government.

1993 October - Tutsi soldiers assassinate Ndadaye. In revenge, some Frodebu members massacre Tutsis and the army begins reprisals. Burundi is plunged into an ethnic conflict which claims some 300,000 lives.

1994 January - Parliament appoints Cyprien Ntaryamira - a Hutu - as president.

1994 April - Plane carrying Ntaryamira and his Rwandan counterpart is shot down over the Rwandan capital Kigali, killing both and triggering genocide in Rwanda in which 800,000 are killed.

1994 October - Parliament speaker Sylvestre Ntibantunganya appointed president.

1995 - Massacre of Hutu refugees leads to renewed ethnic violence in the capital, Bujumbura.

1996 - Pierre Buyoya, a Hutu, seizes power in a coup.
Buyoya sworn in
1998 - Buyoya and parliament agree on a transitional constitution under which Buyoya is formally sworn in as president.

2000 - Government and three Tutsi groups sign a ceasefire accord, but two main Hutu groups refuse to join in.

2001 January - President Buyoya agrees to ceasefire talks with leader of main ethnic Hutu rebel group, Forces for Defence of Democracy (FDD).

2001 April - Coup attempt fails.

2001 July - Defence minister says authorities have put down an attempted coup.
Transitional government
2001 October - Talks brokered by Nelson Mandela lead to installation of transitional government under which Hutu and Tutsi leaders will share power. Main Hutu rebel groups refuse to sign ceasefire and fighting intensifies.

2001 December - Army says it killed more than 500 rebels in operation against opposition stronghold near Bujumbura.

2002 January - Jean Minani, leader of main Hutu party Frodebu, elected president of transitional national assembly set up to bridge ethnic divide.

2002 July - Upsurge in fighting delays planned peace talks; army says more than Hutu 200 rebels have been killed in clashes.

2002 December - Government and main Hutu rebel group FDD sign a ceasefire at talks in Tanzania, but fighting breaks out a month later.

2003 April - Domitien Ndayizeye - a Hutu - succeeds Pierre Buyoya as president, under terms of three-year, power-sharing transitional government inaugurated in 2001.

2003 July - Major rebel assault on Bujumbura. Some 300 rebels and 15 government soldiers are killed. Thousands flee their homes.

2003 November - President Ndayizeye and FDD leader Pierre Nkurunziza sign agreement to end civil war at summit of African leaders in Tanzania.

Nkurunziza and other FDD members given ministerial posts. Smaller Hutu rebel group, Forces for National Liberation (FNL), remains active.

2004 June - UN force takes over peacekeeping duties from African Union troops.

Hutu rebels kill 160 Congolese Tutsi refugees at a camp near the DR Congo border. Burundian Hutu rebel group, the FNL, claims responsibility.

2004 December - UN and government begin to disarm and demobilise thousands of soldiers and former rebels.

2005 January - President signs law to set up new national army, incorporating government forces and all but one Hutu rebel group, the FNL.

2005 March - Voters back power-sharing constitution.
Nkurunziza becomes president
2005 August - Pierre Nkurunziza, from the Hutu FDD group, is elected as president by the two houses of parliament. The FDD won parliamentary elections in June.

2005 September - Remaining active rebel group, the FNL, rejects government offer of peace talks.

2006 April - A curfew, imposed during ethnic violence in the early 1970s, is lifted.

2006 August - Former President Domitien Ndayizeye is accused of involvement in an alleged coup plot. Along with four of his co-accused, he is acquitted by the Supreme Court in January 2007.

2006 September - The last active rebel group, the Forces for National Liberation (FNL), and the government sign a ceasefire at talks in Tanzania.

2006 December - The increasingly authoritarian government risks triggering unrest and eroding the gains of peace, warns the International Crisis Group think tank.

2007 February - UN shuts down its peacekeeping mission and refocuses its operations on helping with reconstruction.

2007 April - DRCongo, Rwanda and Burundi relaunch the regional economic bloc - Great Lakes Countries Economic Community - known under its French acronym CEPGL.
Peace process stalls
2007 July - Senior FNL figures quit the truce monitoring team for the second time in a few months, sparking fears of renewed bloodshed.

2007 September - Rival FNL factions clash in Bujumbura, killing 20 fighters and sending residents fleeing. Rebel raids are also reported in the north-west of the country.

2007 December - Burundian soldiers join African Union peacekeepers in Somalia.

2008 April - Former head of governing party, Hussein Radjabu, is sentenced to 13 years in prison for undermining state security. Radjabu was accused of plotting armed rebellion and insulting President Nkurunziza.
Peace agreement
2008 April-May - Renewed fighting between government forces and FNL rebels leaves at least 100 people dead.

2008 May - Government and FNL rebels sign ceasefire. FNL leader Agathon Rwasa returns home from exile in Tanzania.

2009 March - The Paris club of creditor nations cancels all of the $134.3m debt Burundi owed to its members.

2009 April - Ex-rebel Godefroid Niyombare becomes first ever Hutu chief of general staff of the army.

2009 April - Burundi's last rebel group, the Forces for National Liberation (FNL), lays down arms and officially transforms into a political party in a ceremony supervised by the African Union.

2009 September - Several Burundian troops are killed in a suicide blast while on a peacekeeping mission in Somalia.

2009 November - Agathon Rwasa to stand as ex-rebel FNL candidate in the June 2010 presidential election.

National Liberation Forces (FNL)

Burundian politician Agathon Rwasa
This former rebel group group, led by Agathon Rwasa, officially disarmed in 2008 and transformed into a political party
  • Formed in 1985 as a militant group to protect Hutu population
  • Fought in 1993-2005 civil war
  • Continued to fight until ceasefire deal in 2006
  • Fighters began disarming in 2008
  • Leader Agathon Rwasa was to run for president in 2010 but withdrew and fled
  • Several attacks in 2010 and 2011 have been blamed on FNL fighters

2010 January - Thirteen soldiers are arrested for allegedly plotting a coup to overthrow President Nkurunziza.
Election tension
2010 June - Presidential election - Nkurunziza re-elected. Violence before and after polling day. Opposition dismisses vote as masquerade, EU regrets absence of multi-party competition.

FNL president Agathon Rwasa goes into hiding.

2010 September - Post-election tension raises fears of renewed civil war.

2010 October - Police deny executing 22 members of former rebel group, National Liberation Forces.

2010 November - Government repression stepped up since elections, Human Rights Watch alleges.

2010 December - Government fury as anti-graft watchdog alleges corruption in purchase of military equipment from Ukraine.

2011 May - Four people die when gunmen open fire on restaurant in Bujumbura next to local branch of ruling party.

2011 September - Dozens of gunmen attack bar in Gatumba, killing 36.

2011 October - Fighting in Somalia kills six Burundian peacekeeping troops. Somali rebels put figure at more than 70.

2011 November - Rights group says more than 300 people killed in past five months, including opposition party members or members of former rebel FNL.

Source: BBC News, 25 November 2011 Last updated at 17:01 GMT
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ISRAEL-THE CHOSEN LAND

Israel Overview


Map of Israel

Israel and the Palestinians


A densely-populated country on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea, Israel is the only majority-Jewish state in the world.

It has been locked in conflict with the Palestinians and its Arab neighbours over ownership of land considered holy by Jews, Christians and Muslims since its creation in 1948.

The division of the former British mandate of Palestine and the creation of the state of Israel in the years after the end of World War II was the culmination of the Zionist movement, whose aim was a homeland for Jews scattered all over the world. After the Nazi Holocaust pressure grew for the international recognition of a Jewish state, and in 1948 Israel declared its independence following a UN vote to partition Palestine.

At a glance

A Jewish man takes part in a religious ceremony in Jerusalem
  • Politics: Palestinian resistance to Israeli control has been a key feature since Israel's establishment in 1948
  • Economy: Israel has a diverse and sophisticated economy
  • Foreign relations: Israel faces hostility from much of the Arab world. The US provides crucial diplomatic and military support. Some borders are in dispute.
Country profiles compiled by BBC Monitoring

Much of the history of the area since that time has been one of conflict between Israel on one side and Palestinians - represented by the Palestine Liberation Organisation - and Israel's Arab neighbours, on the other. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were displaced in the fighting in 1948, during which Israel's Arab neighbours came to the aid of the Palestinian Higher Council. Israel lost one percent of its population in the fighting, which ended in a series of uneasy armistices.

Israel has developed from an agrarian state run along collectivist lines into a hi-tech economy in the past 60 years. It has absorbed Jewish immigrants from Europe, the rest of the Middle East, North America and, most recently, the former Soviet Union and Ethiopia along the way.

Its political life has nonetheless been dominated by the conflict with its Arab neighbours, including full-scale regional wars in 1948, 1967 and 1973, and many smaller-scale conflicts including the 1956 invasion of Egypt and the Lebanon wars of 1982 and 2006.

Relations with the Palestinians have been the key factor in foreign and security policy. The Palestinians in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem have lived under Israeli occupation since 1967. The settlements that Israel has built in the West Bank are home to nearly 500,000 people and are deemed to be illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this.
Gaza conflict
Israel evacuated its settlers from the Gaza Strip in 2005 and withdrew its forces, ending almost four decades of military occupation. However, after the militant Islamic group Hamas seized control of Gaza in June 2007, Israel intensified its economic blockade of the Strip. At the end of 2008 it launched a major military assault on Gaza to halt cross-border rocket attacks.

In 1979 Egypt and Israel signed a peace agreement, but it wasn't until the early 1990s, after years of an uprising known as the intifada, that a peace process began with the Palestinians. Despite the handover of Gaza and parts of the West Bank to Palestinian control, a final agreement has yet to be reached.

The main stumbling blocks include the status of Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees and Jewish settlements.

Source: BBC News, 31 August 2011 Last updated at 09:57 GMT
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Israel Facts


Israeli soldier confronts a Palestinian protester Israelis and Palestinians have been at loggerheads for decades

  • Full name: State of Israel
  • Population: 7.3 million (UN, 2010)
  • Seat of government: Jerusalem, though most foreign embassies are in Tel Aviv
  • Area: Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics cites 22,072 sq km (8,522 sq miles), including Jerusalem and Golan
  • Major languages: Hebrew, Arabic
  • Major religions: Judaism, Islam, Christianity
  • Life expectancy: 80 years (men), 84 years (women) (UN)
  • Monetary unit: 1 new Israeli shekel (NIS) = 100 new agorot
  • Main exports: Computer software, military equipment, chemicals, agricultural products
  • GNI per capita: US $27,170 (World Bank, 2010)
  • Internet domain: .il
  • International dialling code: +972
Source: BBC News, 14 December 2011 Last updated at 11:18 GMT
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Israel Leaders


Prime minister: Binyamin Netanyahu

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu Mr Netanyahu campaigned on a policy of toughness towards Palestinian militancy

Binyamin Netanyahu, the leader of the right-wing Likud party, became prime minister after an inconclusive early election in February 2009, a decade after holding the office once before.

The vote was called when his predecessor, Ehud Olmert, of the centrist Kadima party, resigned amid corruption allegations, and Mr Olmert's designated successor, Tzipi Livni, failed to put together a new centre-left coalition.

Mrs Livni and Kadima actually won one more seat in the Knesset (parliament) than Likud, but right-wing parties emerged stronger than the left overall.

Mr Netanyahu, widely seen as one of Likud's most right-wing leaders, formed a coalition with the nationalist Yisrael Beiteinu party, various religious parties, as well as the centre-left Labour party.

Despite Labour's inclusion, the coalition's composition sparked fears that it would be too hard-line on the peace process with the Palestinians.

During the election campaign, Mr Netanyahu stressed his longstanding opposition to handing back land occupied by Israel in return for peace.

But several months after coming to power, Mr Netanyahu said he would accept the creation of Palestinian state, but only on the condition that it is completely demilitarised. Palestinian leaders said the conditions were unjust and the policy change insincere.

The prime minister continued to resist pressure from US President Barack Obama's administration for a complete suspension of Israeli settlement activity - a key Palestinian condition for a return to stalled peace talks.

However, the PM in December 2009 announced a 10-month lull in permits for new settlements, sparking angry protests by settlers.

Mr Netanyahu promised to make the perceived threat of Iran's nuclear programme a priority in security policy.

During his previous term as prime minister, from 1996, Mr Netanyahu was hostile towards the Palestinian Authority created by the peace process, but also showed flexibility: In 1997, he agreed to cede most of the West Bank town of Hebron.

Defeated by Labour leader Ehud Barak in 1999, he later served as finance minister under Likud PM Ariel Sharon, pushing through a series of market-oriented reforms before resigning in 2005 in protest at Mr Sharon's decision to pull out from Gaza.

Mr Netanyahu was born in 1949 in Tel Aviv, spending part of his childhood in the United States. During his five years in Israel's army, he served as captain of an elite commando unit.

A fluent English-speaker, Mr Netanyahu has been a prominent advocate for Israel in the international media.

President: Shimon Peres

Israeli President Shimon Peres Israel's elder statesman, Shimon Peres

The Israeli president has a mainly ceremonial role; executive power is vested in the cabinet, headed by the prime minister.

On 13 June 2007, the Israeli parliament chose the veteran politician Shimon Peres to succeed Moshe Katsav, who had taken leave of absence from the presidency earlier in the year after being accused of various sexual offences.

Though the post is largely ceremonial, the president has in the past been seen by many Israelis as the nation's moral compass, and many hoped that Mr Peres would restore dignity to what they saw as a tarnished office.

Mr Peres was a leading member of the Labour party for decades, but left in 2005 and later joined the centrist Kadima party.

He has twice been prime minister, and in 1994 was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of his role in bringing about the signing of Israel's first interim peace accord with the Palestine Liberation Organisation in Oslo the previous year.

Source: BBC News, 31 August 2011 Last updated at 09:58 GMT
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Israel Media



Newspaper reader in Israel Israel has a variety of newspapers, many of which are available on the internet

Israel's press and broadcasters are many and varied, and account for differences in language, political viewpoint and religious outlook.

The Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA), set up along the lines of the BBC, operates public radio and TV services and is funded mainly by licence fees on TV sets.

Channel 2 and Israel 10 are the main commercial TV networks. Most Israeli households subscribe to cable or satellite packages. HOT cable and YES satellite TV are the main multichannel providers.

Commercial radio arrived in 1995, but faces competition from unlicensed radio stations, some of which carry ultra-Orthodox programming.

Israel has 13 daily newspapers and at least 90 weeklies. All titles are privately-owned; many are available on the internet.

In the view of watchdog Reporters Without Borders, "the Israeli authorities are capable of both best and worst practice when it comes to respect for press freedom. Despite military censorship, its press still enjoys latitude that is unequalled in the region."

Israel has a large IT industry and one of the world's most technologically-literate populations. Around 5.3 million people - around 71% of the population - had internet access by May 2008 (InternetWorldStats).

The press


Yediot Aharonot - Tel Aviv-based, most widely-read daily

Ha'aretz - Tel Aviv-based daily

Jerusalem Post - English-language daily

Ma'ariv - Tel Aviv-based daily

Globes - business daily

Television


Israel Broadcasting Authority - public TV, operates Channel 1

Channel 2 - national, commercial

Israel 10 - national, commercial

Radio


Israel Broadcasting Authority - operates public radios, including speech-based Reshet Aleph, news-based Reshet Bet, music-based Reshet Gimmel, Arabic-language Reshet Dalet

Galei Zahal - Israel Defence Forces (IDF) Radio, broadcasts news and music to mostly-civilian audience; also operates music and traffic news network Galgalatz

Source: BBC News, 31 August 2011 Last updated at 10:00 GMT
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TANZANIA: Tanzania profile


A chronology of key events:

1498 - Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama visits Tanzanian coast.

Father of the nation

Julius Nyerere
First president Julius Nyerere was influential in Africa's independence movement

1506 - Portuguese succeed in controlling most of the East African coast.

1699 - Portuguese ousted from Zanzibar by Omani Arabs.

1884 - German Colonisation Society begins to acquire territory on the mainland.

1886 - Britain and Germany sign an agreement allowing Germany to set up a sphere of influence over mainland Tanzania, except for a narrow piece of territory along the coast which stays under the authority of the sultan of Zanzibar, while Britain enjoys a protectorate over Zanzibar.

1905-06 - Indigenous Maji Maji revolt suppressed by German troops.
British rule
1916 - British, Belgian and South African troops occupy most of German East Africa.

1919 - League of Nations gives Britain a mandate over Tanganyika - today's mainland Tanzania.

1929 - Tanganyika African Association founded.

Tanzanian treasures

Tanzanian toad
Tanzania has many natural wonders, some of which are under threat

1946 - United Nations converts British mandate over Tanganyika into a trusteeship.

1954 - Julius Nyerere and Oscar Kambona transform the Tanganyika African Association into the Tanganyika African National Union.
Independence
1961 - Tanganyika becomes independent with Julius Nyerere as prime minister.

1962 - Tanganyika becomes a republic with Nyerere as president.

1999: State funeral for Nyerere 1963 - Zanzibar becomes independent.

1964 - Sultanate of Zanzibar overthrown by Afro-Shirazi Party in a violent, left-wing revolution; Tanganyika and Zanzibar merge to become Tanzania, with Nyerere as president and the head of the Zanzibar government and leader of the Afro-Shirazi Party, Abeid Amani Karume, as vice-president.

1967 - Nyerere issues the Arusha Declaration, which calls for egalitarianism, socialism and self-reliance.

1977 - The Tanganyika African National Union and Zanzibar's Afro-Shirazi Party merge to become the Party of the Revolution, which is proclaimed as the only legal party.

1978 - Ugandans temporarily occupy a piece of Tanzanian territory.

1979 - Tanzanian forces invade Uganda, occupying the capital, Kampala, and help to oust President Idi Amin.
Multi-party politics
1985 - Nyerere retires and is replaced by the president of Zanzibar, Ali Mwinyi.

1992 - Constitution amended to allow multi-party politics.

1995 - Benjamin Mkapa chosen as president in Tanzania's first multi-party election.

Embassy attack

Aftermath of terror attack on Dar es Salaam
US embassies were hit in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam by the al-Qaeda terror group

1998 August - Bomb attacks on US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya.

1999 October - Julius Nyerere dies.

2000 - Mkapa elected for a second term, winning 72% of the vote.

2001 26 January - Tanzanian police shoot dead two people in Zanzibar while raiding the offices in Zanzibar town of the Civic United Front (CUF) party.

CUF chairman Ibrahim Lipumba charged with unlawful assembly and disturbing the peace.
Zanzibar violence
2001 27-28 January - At least 31 people are killed and another 100 arrested in Zanzibar in protests against the government's banning of opposition rallies calling for fresh elections; Tanzanian government sends in troop reinforcements.

2001 March - Governing Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), and main opposition in Zanzibar, CUF, agree to form joint committee to restore calm and to encourage return of refugees from Kenya.

2001 April - Tens of thousands of opposition supporters march through the commercial capital, Dar es Salaam, in the first major joint demonstration by opposition parties in decades.

2001 July - Huge new gold mine, Bulyanhulu, opens near northern town of Mwanza, making Tanzania Africa's third largest producer of gold.

Port of Dar es Salaam

Dar es Salaam
  • Founded in 1862 by sultan of Zanzibar
  • Capital of German East Africa, 1891-1916
  • Capital of Tanzania 1964-74
  • Population: 2.3 million

2001 November - Presidents of Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya launch regional parliament and court of justice in Arusha to legislate on matters of common interest such as trade and immigration.

2001 December - Britain approves controversial deal to sell military air traffic control system to Tanzania. Critics say it is a waste of money.

2002 June - Nearly 300 killed in Tanzania's worst train disaster after passenger train loses power and rolls into freight train at high speed.

2002 August - Opposition criticises president for ordering presidential jet costing $21m (£14m).

2005 March-April - Political violence in semi-autonomous Zanzibar ahead of voter registration for October poll.

2005 October - Governing CCM wins Zanzibar elections. Opposition CUF claims vote-rigging and announces an indefinite boycott of Zanzibar's parliament.
Kikwete elected
2005 December - Jakaya Kikwete, foreign minister and ruling CCM candidate, wins presidential elections. He replaces Benjamin Mkapa, who retires after a decade at the helm.

2006 April - High Court outlaws traditional practice of entertaining candidates during elections. Critics of "Takrima" - the giving of tips - said it encouraged corruption.

2006 June - Visiting Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, on his seven-nation African tour to secure energy deals and strengthen economic ties, signs agreements to help Tanzania's health, transport and communications sectors.

2006 August - The African Development Bank announces the cancellation of more than $640m of debt owed by Tanzania, saying it was impressed with Tanzania's economic record and the level of accountability of public finance.

2007 January - Britain's Serious Fraud Office visits Tanzania to probe the controversial purchase of an air traffic control system in 2001. A British paper reports that the British defence company, BAE Systems, allegedly paid a Tanzanian middleman a commission of $12m to win the order.

2007 July - Former US president Bill Clinton launches a programme aimed at making subsidised malaria drugs available in a pilot scheme that could spread to the rest of Africa.

2008 January - Central Bank Governor Daudi Ballali is sacked after an international audit finds the bank made improper payments of more than $120m (£60m) to local companies.
Scandal
2008 February - President dissolves his cabinet following a corruption scandal which forced the premier and two ministers to resign.

2009 November - Opposition party in Zanzibar, the CUF, ends boycott of the island's parliament ahead of upcoming elections.

2010 July - Tanzania joins its neighbours in forming a new East African Common Market, intended to integrate the region's economy.

2010 September - President Kikwete says construction of highway through Serengeti game reserve will go ahead, despite criticism from environmental experts.

2010 October - Kikwete wins re-election.

2010 December - Britain's largest arms manufacturer, BAE Systems, is fined over a controversial contract to supply Tanzania with a radar system.

2011 January - Two killed as police try disperse demonstrators demanding release of opposition leader, detained ahead of a rally against government corruption.

Source: BBC News, 9 July 2011 Last updated at 18:49 GMT
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KENYA: Kenya profile

A chronology of key events:
Evidence of some of the earliest human settlements has been found in Kenya, suggesting that it was the cradle of humanity from which descendents moved out to populate the world.

600 - Arabs begin settling coastal areas, over the centuries developing trading stations which facilitated contact with the Arab world, Persia and India.

16th century - Portuguese try to establish foothold on Kenyan coast but are driven off by Swahili states and Omani Arabs by late 17th century.

1830s - Omani Arabs consolidate control of coast.

1895 - Formation of British East African Protectorate.

Early 1900s - White settlers move into highlands, railway built from Mombasa to Lake Victoria.

1920 - East African Protectorate becomes crown colony of Kenya - administered by a British governor.
Mau Mau
1944 - Kenyan African Union (KAU) formed to campaign for African independence. First African appointment to legislative council.

1947 - Jomo Kenyatta becomes KAU leader.

1952 - Secret Kikuyu guerrilla group known as Mau Mau begins violent campaign against white settlers. State of emergency declared. Kenyatta arrested.

1953 - Kenyatta charged with management of Mau Mau and jailed. KAU banned.

1956 - Mau Mau rebellion put down after thousands killed - mainly Africans.

1959 - Kenyatta released from jail but under house arrest.

1960 - State of emergency ends. Britain announces plans to prepare Kenya for majority African rule. Kenya African national Union (Kanu) formed by Tom Mboya and Oginga Odinga.
Independence
1961 - Kenyatta freed and assumes presidency of Kanu.

1963 - Kenya gains independence, with Kenyatta as prime minister.

1964 - Republic of Kenya formed. Kenyatta becomes president and Odinga vice-president.

1966 - Odinga, a Luo, leaves Kanu after ideological split, forms rival Kenya People's Union (KPU).

1969 - Assassination of government minister Tom Mboya sparks ethnic unrest. KPU banned and Odinga arrested. Kanu only party to contest elections.

1974 - Kenyatta re-elected.
Moi era begins
1978 - Kenyatta dies in office, succeeded by Vice-President Daniel arap Moi.

1982 June - Kenya officially declared a one-party state by National Assembly.

1982 August - Army suppresses air force coup attempt. Private Hezekiah Ochuka rules for about six hours.

1987 - Opposition groups suppressed. International criticism of political arrests and human rights abuses.

1989 - Political prisoners freed.

1990 - Death of the foreign minister, Robert Ouko, in suspicious circumstances leads to increased dissent against government.
Multi-party elections
1991 August - Forum for the Restoration of Democracy (Ford) formed by six opposition leaders, including Oginga Odinga. Party outlawed and members arrested. Creditors suspend aid to Kenya amid fierce international condemnation.

1991 December - Special conference of Kanu agrees to introduce a multi-party political system.

1992 - Approximately 2,000 people killed in tribal conflict in the west of the country.

1992 August - Ford splits into two factions - Ford-Asili (led by ex-government minister Kenneth Matiba) and Ford-Kenya (led by Odinga).

1992 December - Moi re-elected in multi-party elections. Kanu wins strong majority.

1994 - Odinga dies. Opposition groups form coalition - the United National Democratic Alliance - but it is plagued by disagreements.

1995 - New opposition party - Safina - launched by palaeontologist Richard Leakey. Party refused official registration until November 1997.

1997 - Demonstrations calling for democratic reform. World Bank withholds disbursement of $5bn in structural adjustment credit.

1997 December - Moi wins further term in widely-criticised elections. His main opponents are former vice-president Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga, son of Oginga Odinga.
Embassy bomb
1998 August - Bomb explodes at US embassy in Nairobi, killing 224 people and injuring thousands.

1999 - Moi appoints Richard Leakey to head government drive against corruption.

2001 April - Leakey appears in court to face charges of abuse of power and perverting the course of justice.

2001 June - Parliament passes a law allowing the import and manufacture of cheap copies of anti-Aids drugs.

2001 - Ethnic tensions culminate in several violent clashes. In December thousands flee and several people are killed in rent battles involving Nubian and Luo communities in Nairobi's Kibera slum district.

2002 July - Some 200 Maasai and Samburu tribespeople accept more than $7m in compensation from the British Ministry of Defence. The tribespeople had been bereaved or maimed by British Army explosives left on their land over the last 50 years.

2002 November - Terror attack on Israeli-owned hotel near Mombasa kills 10 Kenyans and injures three Israelis. A simultaneous rocket attack on an Israeli airliner fails. A statement - purportedly from al-Qaeda - claims responsibility.
Kibaki victory
2002 December - Elections. Mwai Kibaki wins a landslide victory, ending Daniel arap Moi's 24-year rule and Kanu's four decades in power.

2003 January - Government bill proposes anti-corruption commission. Moi critic John Githongo appointed anti-graft czar.

2003 November - International Monetary Fund (IMF) resumes lending after three-year gap, citing anti-corruption measures.

2003 December - Government decides to grant former president Daniel arap Moi immunity from prosecution on corruption charges.

2004 March-July - Long-awaited draft of new constitution completed. Document requires parliament's approval and proposes curbing president's powers and creating post of prime minister. But deadline for enactment is missed.

2004 July-August - Food crisis, caused by crop failures and drought, dubbed "national disaster" by President Kibaki. UN launches aid appeal for vulnerable rural Kenyans.

2004 October - Kenyan ecologist Wangari Maathai wins the Nobel Peace Prize.

Controversy over jail conditions amid intense media coverage of inmate deaths at Meru jail in the east.

2005 January - Clashes over land and water rights leave more than 40 people dead.

2005 February - Corruption takes centre stage when it is claimed that graft has cost Kenya $1bn under Kibaki. Leading anti-graft official John Githongo resigns. International donors voice unease.

2005 July - Parliament approves a draft constitution after days of violent protests in Nairobi over aspects of the draft which demonstrators say give too much power to in the president's hands.
Constitution spurned
2005 November-December - Voters reject a proposed new constitution in what is seen as a protest against President Kibaki. The president replaces his cabinet; some nominees reject their appointments.

2006 January - Government says four million people in the north need food aid because of a drought which the president calls a "national disaster".

2006 January-February - Government ministers are linked to a corruption scandal involving contracts for a phantom company, Anglo Leasing. One of them, Finance Minister David Mwiraria, resigns and says allegations against him are false.

2006 March - Armed police, acting on government orders, raid the offices and presses of the Standard group, one of Kenya's leading media companies.

2006 April - Three days of national mourning are declared after an aircraft carrying several prominent politicians crashes in the north.

2006 April - Visiting Chinese President Hu Jintao signs a contract allowing China to prospect for oil off the Kenyan coast. His African tour has focused on trying to satisfy China's hunger for energy and raw materials.
Somali refugees
2006 October - UN says some 35,000 Somalis escaping drought, Islamist rule and looming conflict have arrived in Kenyan camps since early 2006.

2006 November - December - Regional flooding renders thousands homeless. Some 100,000 Somali refugees cut off by floodwaters in the north-east are supplied by air drops.

Election violence

Kenyans flee election violence
Hundreds were killed in unrest that followed the disputed 2007 polls

2007 May - A Kenya Airways plane crashes in Cameroon, killing all 114 on board. An official investigation finds pilot error was to blame.

2007 December - Disputed presidential elections lead to violence in which more than 1,500 die.

The government and opposition come to a power-sharing agreement in February and a cabinet is agreed in April.

2008 October - Report into post-election clashes calls for international tribunal to try those implicated in violence. Many political leaders are reluctant to implement the commission of inquiry's recommendations, with some arguing that prosecutions could trigger further clashes between communities.

2008 December - Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC) accuses seven current and former MPs of taking illegal allowances worth $250,000.

2009 August - Visiting US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton criticises Kenya for failing to investigate the deadly violence after the 2007 election.

Kenya says that at least 10 million people, or one third of the population, are in need of food aid. The government mobilises the military to distribute food, water and medicines to areas hit hardest by drought.

2009 October - The government says it will co-operate with the International Criminal Court (ICC) to try key suspects in post-election violence.
Constitution approved
2010 January - The US suspends $7m of funding for free primary schools in Kenya until fraud allegations are investigated.

Wangari Maathai

Wangari Maathai
Campaigner fought to promote conservation, women's rights and transparent government
  • First African woman to win Nobel Peace Prize
  • Given a state funeral

2010 February - President Kibaki overturns a decision by Prime Minister Odinga to suspend the country's agriculture and education ministers over alleged corruption. The row threatens the coalition government.

2010 July - Kenya joins its neighbours in forming a new East African Common Market, intended to integrate the region's economy.

2010 August - New constitution designed to limit the powers of the president and devolve power to the regions approved in referendum.

Controversy over release of national census figures that include tribal affiliations.

2010 December - A grenade explosion kills three people on a Kampala-bound bus in Nairobi.

2011 March - Governments of Kenya, DR Congo agree to investigate illegal gold trade, in which Kenyan allegedly plays a key role.

2011 April - Truth commission begins public probe into 3,000 killings at Wagalla airstrip during a 1984 crackdown on ethnic Somalis, a hushed-up chapter in Kenya's history.

Somalia campaign

Kenyan soldier in Somalia
Kenya launched a military operation inside Somalia to curb al-Shabab Islamist militants

Six politicians appear before the International Criminal Court in The Hague, accused of links to 2007-8 post-election violence.

2011 June-September - East Africa hit by worst drought in 60 years.

2011 August-September - Suspected Somali militants raid Kenyan coastal resorts and a refugee camp, targetting foreigners.

2011 October - Kenyan troops enter Somalia to attack rebels they accuse of being behind several kidnappings of foreigners on Kenyan soil.

Kenya suffers several apparently reprisal attacks.

2011 November - High court orders arrest of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir if ever he visits. Sudan orders Kenya's ambassador to leave.

2012 January - International Criminal Court rules that several prominent Kenyans must stand trial over the 2007 post-election violence.

Source: BBc News, January 2012 Last updated at 16:35 GMT
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UGANDA: Uganda profile


A chronology of key events:

1500 - Bito dynasties of Buganda, Bunyoro and Ankole founded by Nilotic-speaking immigrants from present-day southeastern Sudan.

Kampala, the capital, is spread over a series of hills

Capital: Kampala

  • City is spread over a series of hills
  • 1890: HQ of British colonial administration
  • 1962: Capital of independent Uganda
  • Population: 1.2m

1700 - Buganda begins to expand at the expense of Bunyoro.

1800 - Buganda controls territory bordering Lake Victoria from the Victoria Nile to the Kagera river.

1840s - Muslim traders from the Indian Ocean coast exchange firearms, cloth and beads for the ivory and slaves of Buganda.

1862 - British explorer John Hanning Speke becomes the first European to visit Buganda.

1875 - Bugandan King Mutesa I allows Christian missionaries to enter his realm.
British influence
1877 - Members of the British Missionary Society arrive in Buganda.

1879 - Members of the French Roman Catholic White Fathers arrive.

1890 - Britain and Germany sign treaty giving Britain rights to what was to become Uganda.

1892 - Imperial British East Africa Company agent Frederick Lugard extends the company's control to southern Uganda and helps the Protestant missionaries defeat their Catholic counterparts, who had been competing with them, in Buganda.

1894 - Uganda becomes a British protectorate.

1900 - Britain signs agreement with Buganda giving it autonomy and turning it into a constitutional monarchy controlled mainly by Protestant chiefs.

1902 - The Eastern province of Uganda transferred to the Kenya.

1904 - Commercial cultivation of cotton begins.

1921 - Uganda given a legislative council, but its first African member not admitted till 1945.

Former leader Milton Obote

Former Ugandan leader Milton Obote
  • Leader at independence in 1963
  • Toppled by Idi Amin in 1971
  • Returned as president in 1980
  • Ousted in 1985 coup

1958 - Uganda given internal self-government.

1962 - Uganda becomes independent with Milton Obote as prime minister and with Buganda enjoying considerable autonomy.

1963 - Uganda becomes a republic with Mutesa as president.

1966 - Milton Obote ends Buganda's autonomy.

1967 - New constitution vests considerable power in the president and divides Buganda into four districts.
Idi Amin years
1971 - Milton Obote toppled in coup led by Idi Amin.

1972 - Amin orders Asians who were not Ugandan citizens - around 60,000 people - to leave the country.

1972-73 - Uganda engages in border clashes with Tanzania.

1976 - Idi Amin declares himself president for life and claims parts of Kenya.

1978 - Uganda invades Tanzania with a view to annexing Kagera region.

1979 - Tanzania invades Uganda, unifying the various anti-Amin forces under the Uganda National Liberation Front and forcing Amin to flee the country; Yusufu Lule installed as president, but is quickly replaced by Godfrey Binaisa.

1980 - Binaisa overthrown by the army.

Milton Obote becomes president after elections.

1985 - Obote deposed in military coup and is replaced by Tito Okello.

1986 - National Resistance Army rebels take Kampala and install Yoweri Museveni as president.
Beginnings of recovery
1993 - Museveni restores the traditional kings, including the king of Buganda, but without giving them political power.

1995 - New constitution legalises political parties but maintains the ban on political activity.

1996 - Museveni returned to office in Uganda's first direct presidential election.

1997 - Ugandan troops help depose Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire, who is replaced by Laurent Kabila.

1998 - Ugandan troops intervene in the Democratic republic of Congo on the side of rebels seeking to overthrow Kabila.

2000 - Ugandans vote to reject multi-party politics in favour of continuing Museveni's "no-party" system.

2001 January - East African Community (EAC) inaugurated in Arusha, Tanzania, laying groundwork for common East African passport, flag, economic and monetary integration. Members are Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya.

2001 March - Uganda classifies Rwanda, its former ally in the civil war in DR Congo, as a hostile nation because of fighting in 2000 between the two countries' armies in DR Congo.

Museveni wins another term in office, beating his rival Kizza Besigye by 69% to 28%.
Campaign against rebels
2002 March - Sudan, Uganda sign agreement aimed at containing Ugandan rebel group, Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), active along common border. LRA wants to run Uganda along lines of biblical Ten Commandments. Led by "prophet" Joseph Kony they have kidnapped thousands of children and displaced many civilians.

2002 October - Army evacuates more than 400,000 civilians caught up in fight against LRA which continues its brutal attacks on villages.

2002 December - Peace deal signed with Uganda National Rescue Front (UNRF) rebels after more than five years of negotiations.

2003 May - Uganda pulls out last of its troops from eastern DR Congo. Tens of thousands of DR Congo civilians seek asylum in Uganda.

2003 August - Former dictator Idi Amin dies in hospital in Saudi Arabia.

2004 February - LRA rebels slaughter more than 200 people at a camp for displaced people in the north.

2004 December - Government and LRA rebels hold their first face-to-face talks, but there is no breakthrough in ending the insurgency.

2005 April - Uganda rejects accusations made by DR Congo at the International Court in The Hague. DR Congo says Uganda invaded its territory in 1999, killing citizens and looting.
Multi-party politics
2005 July - Parliament approves a constitutional amendment which scraps presidential term limits.

Voters in a referendum overwhelmingly back a return to multi-party politics.

Rebel leader Joseph Kony Lord's Resistance Army leader Joseph Kony

2005 October - International Criminal Court issues arrest warrants for five LRA commanders, including LRA leader Joseph Kony.

2005 November - Main opposition leader Kizza Besigye is imprisoned shortly after returning from exile. He is charged in a military court with terrorism and illegal possession of firearms. He is released on bail in January 2006.

2005 December - International Court in The Hague rules that Uganda must compensate DR Congo for rights abuses and the plundering of resources in the five years leading to 2003.

2006 February - President Museveni wins multi-party elections, taking 59% of the vote against the 37% share of his rival, Kizza Besigye.

2006 July - Peace talks between the government and the LRA begin in southern Sudan.

2006 26 August - The government and the LRA sign a truce aimed at ending their long-running conflict. A ceasefire comes into force on 29 August. Subsequent peace talks are marred by regular walk-outs.

2006 November - Government rejects a United Nations report accusing the army of using indiscriminate and excessive force in its campaign to disarm tribal warriors in the lawless northeastern region of Karamoja.
Somalia role
2007 March - Ugandan peacekeepers deploy in Somalia as part of an African Union mission to help stabilise the country.

The UN World Food Programme says it will have to halve food handouts to more than 1 million people displaced by war in the north.

2007 April - Protests over a prized rain forest explode into racial violence in Kampala, forcing police to protect Asian businesses and a Hindu temple. An Asian man and two other people are killed.

2007 July - Lord's Resistance Army says lack of funds for foreign travel and to reach commanders in remote hideouts will delay peace talks.

2007 August - Uganda and DRCongo agree to try defuse a border dispute.

2007 September - State of emergency imposed after severe floods cause widespread devastation.

2008 February - Government and the Lord's Resistance Army sign a permanent ceasefire at talks in Juba, Sudan.

2008 November - The leader of the rebel Lord's Resistance Army, Joseph Kony, again fails to turn up for the signing of a peace agreement. Ugandan, South Sudanese and DR Congo armies launch offensive against LRA bases.

2009 January - Lord's Resistance Army appeals for ceasefire in face of continuing offensive by regional countries.

The UK oil explorer Heritage Oil says it has made a major oil find in Uganda.

2009 March - Ugandan army begins to withdraw from DR Congo, where it had pursued Lord's Resistance Army rebels.

2009 September - Rioting erupts in Kampala over a planned visit by ruler of traditional Buganda kingdom to visit an area trying to break away from his rule.

2009 October - Somali Islamists threaten to target Uganda and Burundi after action by African peacekeepers in Somalia kills several civilians.

2009 November - Rights activists condemn proposed anti-homosexuality Bill, which would prescribe execution for some gay people. The bill is condemned by the European Union and the United States.

2009 December - Parliament votes to ban female circumcision. Anyone convicted of the practice will face 10 years in jail or a life sentence if a victim dies.

2010 January - President Museveni distances himself from the anti-homosexuality Bill, saying the ruling party MP who proposed the bill did so as an individual.

The Ugandan army says it killed Bok Abudema, a senior commander of the Lord's Resistance Army militant group, in the Central African Republic.

2010 February - Heritage Oil sells its assets in Uganda to the UK firm Tullow Oil after Italian energy company Eni dropped out of the bidding.

2010 March - Uganda's main opposition party has accused President Museveni of preparing his son Lt Col Kainerugaba Muhoozi to succeed him. Mr Muhoozi commands a special forces unit and has now been given control of the elite presidential guard.

A fire caused by an arsonist destroys historic burial site of four rulers of traditional Buganda kingdom, sparking riots. The tombs are a UN world heritage site.

2010 June - Public prosecutor opens corruption investigation against Vice-President Gilbert Bukenya, Foreign Minister Sam Kutesa and several other ministers and officials over the alleged theft of $25m.

Troops step up border security following apparent resurgence in DR Congo of ADF-NALU rebels striving for an Islamic state in Uganda.

2010 June-August - Operation Rwenzori against Ugandan ADF-NALU rebels prompts 90,000 to flee in North Kivu province of neighbouring DR Congo.
Blasts
2010 July - Two bomb attacks on people watching World Cup final at a restaurant and a rugby club in Kampala kill at least 74 people. The Somali Islamist group Al-Shabab says it was behind the blasts.

2010 August - National Resistance Movement primary elections for parliamentary and local candidates suspended amid irregularities, violence.

Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye Opposition leader Kizza Besigye

2010 October - UN report into killing of Hutus in DR Congo between 1993 and 2003 says they may constitute "crimes of genocide". It implicates Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, Zimbabwe and Angola.

2010 October - Constitutional Court quashes treason charges against opposition leader Kizza Besigye.

Outcry as The Rolling Stone newspaper publishes names and pictures of men identified as gay. Homosexuality is illegal.

2010 December - Security tightened after a grenade explosion kills three people on a Kampala-bound bus in Nairobi, Kenya.

2011 January - Leading gay rights activist David Kato is murdered.

2011 February - Museveni wins his fourth presidential election. Challenger Kizza Besigye alleges vote-rigging and dismisses the result as a sham.

2011 April - Kizza Besigye arrested several times over ''walk-to-work'' protests against rising prices.

2011 July - US deploys 100 special forces personnel to help Uganda combat LRA rebels.

2011 September - Court orders release of LRA commander Thomas Kwoyelo, saying he should be given the amnesty on offer from the government.


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