This Week On The Continent

14 August 1989: South African President Willem Botha resigned as president after a minor stroke.
15 August 1960: Congo gained its independence from France.
16 August 1990: South African President FW de Klerk and Nelson Mandela held emergency talks in Pretoria about increasing violence in Soweto.
17 August 1996: Ruth Perry was elected to lead Liberia, therefore she became the first female head of state in Africa.
18 August 1964: South Africa was banned from the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan over its refusal to condemn apartheid.
19 August 2013: South African Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka is sworn in as Executive Director of UN Women at a ceremony held at UN headquarters in New York.
20 August 1983: The South African anti-apartheid umbrella organization, United Democratic Front (UDF) was launched at Rocklands Community Centre in Cape Town, South Africa.