At 3 am on 1 Aug 1982 soldiers from the Kenya Air Force launched a coup against the gov't of Daniel arap Moi.
The airmen seized Eastleigh airbase & the Voice of Kenya in Nairobi. They called themselves the National Redemption Council.
Clip below from the morning after. 1/4
2/4 In an announcement--read by VoK's Leonard Mambo--they accused Moi of carrying out 'ruthless repression reminiscent of colonial days ... Moi's bandit gang is gone. People can now breathe'.
There was a great deal of looting in the CBD. Here's the cleanup the morning after.
3/4 Moi was in Kabarnet at the time of the coup, & much of the army leadership was in Lodwar.
A small group of officers stormed the VoK, & then the army fanned out in Nairobi, searching for Air Force men. At least 3,000 people were arrested; 100 soldiers were killed.
4/4 In the wake of the coup 12 of the plotters were sentenced to death. Oginga Odinga was accused of financing the plot; he was placed under house arrest. His son, Raila, was charged with treason and--with several university lecturers--put in prison.
Today, 20 Jan., is the anniversary of the assassination (in 1973) of Amilcar Cabral.
Cabral was the key figure in the independence struggle of Guinea-Bissau & one of the great theorists of African politics.
Below: youth in Dar es Salaam protest Cabral's assassination. 1/
2/ Cabral led the Partido Africano da Independência da Guiné e Cabo Verde. The party went to war against the Portuguese in 1956.
Here's Cabral in Dakar, May 1969. By then the PAIGC had freed 2/3 of the country. Cabral introduced civilians who'd been injured by Portuguese bombs.
3/ Cabral's PAIGC established schools in liberated zones & provided free education. They offered health care with the help of Cuban doctors; and PAIGC soldiers gave peasants training in agriculture, too.
The TAZARA railway was built btwn 1970 and 1975. It was to connect Zambia's copper mines to the port at Dar es Salaam.
The funds--over $400 million--came from Mao's China. It was China's largest aid project to date.
Here's Nyerere & Kaunda at the groundbreaking, Oct. 1970. 1/
2/ Nyerere & Kaunda hoped the railway wld help create economies freed from the control of the racist regimes of S Africa & Rhodesia.
By Aug. 1973 50,000 workers had laid 600 miles of track. Here's the ceremony when the workers reached Tunduma, at the border between TZ & Zambia.
3/ Here's Nyerere in 1970 defending his government's willingness to work with China.
When the skeptical interviewer asked about Mao--who had said that Africa was 'ripe for revolution'--Nyerere replied that 'I, too, say Africa is ripe for revolution'.
Today is the 60th anniversary of the assassination of Patrice Lumumba.
In Dec 1964 Jomo Kenyatta opened the Lumumba Institute on a 20-acre plot off Thika Road. Maurice Lumumba--brother to Patrice--was there for the opening.
2/ Building the Institute cost $140,000. Funds came in large part from the Soviets. It was headed by Bildad Kaggia, independent Kenya's most radical politician, who can be seen in the clip.
It was meant for the training of KANU party cadres. @guardian report here.
3/ There were two Russian teachers on the Lumumba Institute's teaching staff.
Here's Oginga Odinga receiving equipment from the Soviets for the Institute, Feb. 1965. There were a number of radio sets, and two Russian-made loud-hailing trucks.
In March 1909, at the end of his term as President of the US, Theodore Roosevelt departed for East Africa. He & his party traveled through Kenya, Uganda, the Congo & Sudan, arriving in Khartoum in 1910.
Below: 'Roosevelt in Africa', shot by Cherry Keaton w/ a hand-crank camera.
Roosevelt's trip was financed by the Smithsonian Institution. Altogether they killed or trapped 11,397 animals, most of which were pickled & sent back to Washington for display at the new Museum of Natural History.
The 'Zulu' dancers shown here were Masai, not Zulu.
The trip was a sensation in the American press, and even in the smallest newspapers there was a constant stream of coverage. It was the first time that most white Americans had reason to think about Africa.
From @Reuters: 'Major' Bob Astles in Nairobi as Idi Amin's spokesman, 13 Nov. 1978. He was tasked with explaining Uganda's invasion of Tanzania (which had happened a few days before).
Astles was a remarkable character. In the mid-60s he'd helped run Obote's secret service, 1/3
2/3 while also operating cameras for UTV. Under Amin's govt he headed Uganda Airways, ran the 'Heart Beat of Africa' troupe, & was head of an anti-corruption task force. He told a visiting Kenyan businessman in 1978 that 12 attempts had recently been made on his life (see below).
3/3 When the Tanzanians took Kampala in April 1979, Astles was reported to have perished. In fact he'd escaped to Kenya. He was put on trial in Kampala, when the clip below was made.
In Nov. 1981 Astles was acquitted. He spent the rest of his life in England, & died in 2012.
In Aug. 1972 Pres. Amin ordered Uganda's Asian community--80,000 people--to leave the country by 7 Nov.
This @Reuters clip shows the human dimension of the expulsion. The focus is on a Gujarati family, obliged to dispossess themselves of their possessions in 3 months. 1/
2/ Here's Amin discussing the expulsion order with the international diplomatic corps. He argued that Asians' presence in Uganda was an enduring consequence of colonial rule, diminishing Africans' social and economic power.
3/ The expulsion was a logistical mess: Africans had to be hastily appointed to take over Asians business, offices, & homes.
Here's Amin touring shops formerly owned by Asians. A new body--the Departed Asians Property Custodial Board--was meant to allocate property to Africans.