á ñThe decolonization of Africa was often a painful process. Mixed tribal populations in new states made it difficult to establish national cohesion.ñ
As the demand for independence in Africa grew in the 1950s, the colonial countries adopted very different approaches to handing over power. Between 1957 and 1966, Britain took part in extensive discussions with African political leaders, arranging a generally peaceful transition to independence. This enabled Britain to retain close links with its former possessions in a remodelled Commonwealth. Matters were less straightforward in the French territories. A bloody war swept through Algeria between 1954 and 1962, before independence was finally granted in the face of violent opposition from white settlers. Negotiation brought most other French colonies peacefully to independence between 1956 and 1960. Pressured by circumstances, Belgium granted the Congo its independence hastily in 1960, leading to a disastrous breakdown of order. Portugal, on the other hand, failed to reach agreement with any of the nationalist movements in its colonies, and engaged in lengthy wars that only ended in 1975 after a revolution in Portugal itself. In Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, white settlers declared unilateral independence from Britain in 1965 to avoid black majority rule. After a long guerrilla war, the country became officially independent as Zimbabwe in 1980. The last territories to gain their independence were Namibia (independent from South Africa) in 1990, and Eritrea (independent from Ethiopia) in 1993.
In most cases, the new states signed bilateral agreements with the former colonial power, which agreed to provided technical and financial assistance in return for certain privileges. The population of most of the new African states was made up of a variety of peoples who spoke different languages and had separate cultural traditions and beliefs. The stability of the new states depended on achieving national cohesion. The choice of an official language was often a delicate one, as it was important not to favour one group over another. In most cases, therefore, the language of the former colonial country was chosen. Some countries adopted two official languages: Cameroon chose English and French; in Madagascar, Malagasy and French were spoken. In North Africa, Arabic regained the primacy it had lost in the colonial period, while Swahili dominated in East Africa. Divisions within the new states often resulted in turmoil, which sometimes degenerated into civil war, as in the former Belgian Congo from 1960 to 1967; and in Nigeria from 1967 to 1970, when the east of the country tried to break away as the independent state of Biafra. On the other hand, a new nationalism could lead to excesses in periods of crisis. In some cases foreigners - either Asians or other Africans - were expelled and had their belongings confiscated. This was the case, for example, for the Asians of Kenya in the late 1960s.ñ x T
