Contemporary
Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute (1988) at Wembley Stadium
The concert brought the campaign to free Nelson Mandela to a global television audience and strengthened international pressure on the apartheid government.
Region
Africa
Contemporary
Release of Nelson Mandela (1990): Apartheid Begins to End
Mandela was freed unconditionally after 27 years in prison, opening formal negotiations to end apartheid.
Contemporary
Sierra Leone Civil War 1991-2002: The RUF and Blood Diamonds
The war ended in 2002 after UN peacekeeping, British military intervention and disarmament; a UN-backed Special Court later convicted rebel leaders and Charles Taylor.
Contemporary
Battle of Mogadishu 1993: Black Hawk Down in Somalia
The US raid captured its targets, but 18 American soldiers and hundreds of Somalis were killed, and the US withdrew from Somalia by March 1994.
Contemporary
South African General Election 1994: The First Democratic Vote
The ANC won 62.65% of the vote, and Nelson Mandela became president of a Government of National Unity on 10 May 1994, formally ending apartheid.
Contemporary
Rwandan Genocide 1994: One Hundred Days of Mass Killing
An estimated 500,000-800,000 people, overwhelmingly Tutsi, were murdered before the Rwandan Patriotic Front defeated the genocidal government in July 1994.
Contemporary
Truth and Reconciliation Commission: South Africa Faces Apartheid
The commission documented gross human rights violations from 1960 to 1994, granted amnesty to a minority of applicants and became a model for truth commissions worldwide.
Contemporary
Second Congo War 1998-2003: Africa's World War Explained
A series of peace agreements led to foreign troop withdrawals and a transitional government in 2003, but fighting continued in the east and the war's death toll ran into millions.
Contemporary
War in Darfur (2003): Janjaweed Atrocities and Genocide Charges
Hundreds of thousands died and over two million were displaced; the conflict led to the first ICC arrest warrants against a sitting head of state.
Contemporary
Arab Spring (2010-2012): Uprisings Across the Middle East
Four long-ruling leaders fell, but only Tunisia made a lasting, if fragile, transition to democracy; Libya, Yemen and Syria descended into civil war.
Contemporary
South Sudan Independence (2011): Birth of the Newest Nation
South Sudan seceded peacefully from Sudan and was admitted to the United Nations as its 193rd member state.
Contemporary
Libyan Civil War (2011): Uprising, NATO Intervention and Gaddafi
Rebel forces backed by NATO airstrikes overthrew Gaddafi, who was captured and killed near Sirte on 20 October 2011; Libya then slid into prolonged instability.