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By the late 1950s, the postwar nationalist explosion had receded. Britain had narrowly saved its control over Kenya after a
7-year civil war. France was proving unable to crush a nationalist uprising in Algeria. And both had already been kicked out
of the Middle East. So, both governments finally reconciled themselves, albeit reluctantly, to the idea of granting
independence to their colonies. But they made sure that this would change very little, neither for the populations, nor, above
all, for the profits of imperialist companies.
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Most of the remaining colonies were in Africa and both governments intended to parcel out their colonial empires into smaller
countries which could be played against one another, and to select pliable politicians to run them. Of course, so-called
"advisers" would remain, to shape the institutions and the repressive forces of the new states, while the former colonial powers
would retain a permanent military presence.
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In some cases, things did not go quite according to plan. In Cameroon, for instance, the Union of the People of Cameroon (UPC),
which was close to the French Communist Party and to the local trade-unions, was a major force. In 1960, the murder of the
UPC's two main leaders by French agents sparked off a popular uprising. It took three years for the French army to crush it,
paving the way for Ahidjo's regime, which was to be one of Africa's most bloody dictatorships.
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Another case was the Belgian Congo, which involved high stakes for a host of big mining companies, due to the colossal mineral
wealth of its south-eastern Katanga region. In the 1950s, Belgium proposed a "gradual", 30-year process towards independence,
by 1986! It had made plans to break up the entity of the Congo, and retain control over mineral-rich Katanga. However, the
rise of the radical pan-Africanist movement, led by the popular figure of Patrice Lumumba, arguing for a united Congo,
controlling all of its natural resources, derailed these plans. Belgium hastily handed over power to Lumumba in June 1960,
while plotting to overthrow him by arming separatist movements in Katanga. But the US did not want Belgium to retain control
over Katanga. So it got the UN to interve, offering its assistance to the ambitious general Mobutu. Lumumba was murdered by
Katanga separatists, with the help of Belgian intelligence. A five-year war ensued. With the help of UN, US, Belgian and
French forces, Mobutu restored order and the country's unity. Thus came into being another one of Africa's bloody dictators,
set in place to defend the interests of western mining companies.
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In the other French and British colonies the radical nationalist movements of the postwar period had been either decimated by
repression or co-opted into the colonial institutions. As a result, the independence process which took place between 1957 and
1968, was more or less seamless, if only because the new handpicked leaders of these countries had been groomed by the political
and military institutions of the colonial powers.
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For instance, the new head of the French colony of Ivory Coast, Houphouet-Boigny, who achieved fame later, for using IMF loans
to build a gigantic cathedral in his native village and stashing the rest away in foreign bank accounts, had been a minister in
4 French governments. In many of the new countries, like Burkina, Benin, the Central African Republic or Togo, the new heads of
state came straight out of the French army and had fought for French imperialist interests in Indochina or Algeria, or both. In
Uganda, one of the top figures in the new army was Idi Amin Dada, an ex-lieutenant, who had won his stripes during the Kenyan
emergency. At the time he was accused of torture, but never disciplined. Less than ten years later, having syphoned off
millions of dollars from army funds, he was to institute one of Africa's most gruesome dictatorships.
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By the end of the 1960s, there were only two colonies left in Africa and each was the scene of an armed struggle by nationalist
movements to achieve independence. The two Portuguese colonies of Angola and Mozambique won independence in 1974, following the
overthrow of the Portuguese dictator. But civil war broke out immediately, with forces armed mainly by the US, South Africa,
Britain and later by China. This lasted until 1996 in Mozambique and 2002 in Angola.
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