ABSTRACT
As recently as 1955, no present African state existed as an independent nation state, with the exception of Liberia, Egypt, Ethiopia and South Africa, but by 1975, two decades later, the entire continent was independent and free from colonial domination – in theory, if not in practice. Most states in Africa gained their independence in or around 1960. It was only for the Portuguese states that the struggle for independence continued with long and bloody wars being fought in Angola, Mozambique which became independent in 1975 and in one of the continent’s tiniest states, Guinea-Bissau, which became independent in 1974 (see Figure 1.1).
