chrismoffat, Author at Commonwealth Oral History Project

Lee Kuan Yew as Commonwealth Statesman

by chrismoffat | Mar 25, 2015 | Blog

By Dr Ruth Craggs, Lecturer in Human Geography, King’s College London. Politicians and diplomats from around the world have begun to offer tributes this week as it was announced that Singapore’s founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew died on Monday, 23 March 2015. Lee...

Interview with Farooq Sobhan

by chrismoffat | Mar 10, 2015 | Australia, Bangladesh, CHOGM, Decolonisation, Diplomacy, India, Malaysia, New Zealand, Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), Pakistan, Rhodesia (see also Zimbabwe), Sri Lanka, Trade and Investment, United Nations, Zambia, Zimbabwe (see also Rhodesia)

Download Interview Transcript: Part One (19 November 2014); Part Two (5 January 2015). Biography: Sobhan, Farooq. 1940- . Born in Calcutta and graduate of the Universities of Dhaka and Oxford. Deputy Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations in New...

New Online Resource: The Commonwealth Day Collection

by chrismoffat | Mar 9, 2015 | Blog

Followers of the Commonwealth Oral History Project may be interested in a new online resource released for Commonwealth Day 2015 and curated by The Round Table: The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs. Working in association with Routledge, The Commonwealth...

Interview with Sandra Pepera

by chrismoffat | Feb 23, 2015 | Apartheid, Barbados, Botswana, Cameroon, Canada, Commonwealth Secretariat, Constitutional Change, Democracy, Development, Elections, Fiji, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guyana, India, Jamaica, Kenya, Law, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Queen, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, United Kingdom, Zimbabwe (see also Rhodesia)

Download Interview Transcript. Biography: Pepera, Sandra. 1959- . Lecturer in Political Science and International Relations at the University of Ghana, 1983-1994. Analyst in the Political Affairs Division, Commonwealth Secretariat, 1995-2000. Joins the British civil...

Interview with RF ‘Pik’ Botha

by chrismoffat | Feb 16, 2015 | Angola, Apartheid, Botswana, CHOGM, Cold War, Commonwealth Secretariat, Democracy, Development, Diplomacy, Elections, Mozambique, Namibia, Nuclear, Race, Reflections, Rhodesia (see also Zimbabwe), South Africa, United Kingdom, United Nations, USA, Zimbabwe (see also Rhodesia)

Download Interview Transcript; Appendix One; Appendix Two. Biography: Botha, Roelof Frederik ‘Pik’. 1932- . Born in Rustenburg, Transvaal Province, Union of South Africa. Studied at the University of Pretoria before beginning a career in the South African foreign...

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Definitioner

South African Defence Force

The South African Defence Force (SADF) was the name of the South African armed forces from 1957 until 1994, to be succeeded in 1994 by the South African National Defence Force. The SADF combined a conventional military strategy of securing the borders of the Republic with a mandate to counter internal threats to the state. During apartheid, this involved quelling violent opposition to minority rule.

Resolution 435

United Nations Security Council Resolution 435 was adopted on 29 September 1978 and set the conditions for a cease-fire and post-conflict elections in South Africa-controlled South-West Africa. The Resolution was influential in facilitating the independence of Namibia, establishing the United Nations Transition Assistance Group (UNTAG).

Seretse Khama

Sir Seretse Khama (1921-1980) was the 1^st President of Botswana and leader of the country’s independence movement from Britain. He founded the Botswana Democratic Party in 1962 and became Prime Minister in 1965. In 1966, upon independence, he became President and held this position until his death in 1980.

Bongo

Omar Bongo Ondimba (1935-2009) was President of Gabon from 1967 until his death in 2009. Bongo led the single-party state as head of the Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) until 1990, when he bowed to public and international pressure to introduce multi-party politics in the early 1990s. He was, however, re-elected as President in the 1993, 1998 and 2005 elections.

Shell House

Shell House was the official headquarters of the African National Congress (ANC) from 1990 until 1997. It was located on 1 Plein Street, Johannesburg, South Africa. On 28 March 1994, it was the site of violence following a confrontation between ANC guards and supporters of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP)

Seven Wise Men

An informal title used to describe the Eminent Persons Group (EPG) appointed by the Commonwealth in 1985 to investigate apartheid in South Africa. The South African EPG was comprised of two co-chairmen – General Olusegun Obasanjo (Nigeria) and Malcolm Fraser (Australia) - and five others: Anthony Barber (Britain); Dame Nita Barrow (Barbados); John Malecela (Tanzania); Swaran Singh (India); Archbishop Edward Scott (Canada).

Abdou Diouf

Abdou Diouf, b.1935, was the President of Senegal from 1981 to 2000. A protégé of Léopold Sédar Senghor, he served under Senghor as Prime Minister between 1970 and 1980. From 2003 to 2014 Diouf was Secretary-General of La Francophonie.

Diouf (Abdou Diouf)

Barend du Plessis

Barend du Plessis (b.1940). South African politician, was a member of the National Party and Minister of Education and Training (1983-84) and Minister of Finance (1984-1992).

ZAPU

Zimbabwe African People’s Union. A militant political organisation founded in 1961 that fought against white minority rule in Rhodesia. Merged with ZANU in 1987 to form ZANU-PF.

ZANU

Zimbabwe African National Union. A militant political organisation founded in 1963 to campaign against white minority rule in Rhodesia. It won power in 1980, and in 1987 merged with ZAPU to form ZANU-PF.

Dennis Worrall

Dennis Worrall (b. 1935). South African diplomat and academic.

WMD

Weapons of mass destruction.

Waterkloof military airbase

A South African airbase near Pretoria.

Walvis Bay

Namibian harbour town. After Namibian independence in 1990, South Africa retained Walvis Bay until 1994.

Constand Viljoen

Constand Viljoen (b.1933). South African soldier and politician.

Verwoerd (Hendrik Verwoerd)

Dr Hendrik Verwoerd (1901 –1966). Prime Minister of South Africa (1958-1966), closely associated with apartheid policies.

Verligte

(Afrikaans, literally ‘enlightened’). A liberal or reformist member of a white political party during apartheid-era South Africa.

Venda

A quasi-independent state founded within South Africa for the Venda people. Formed in 1973 by the apartheid government and abolished in 1994.

Cyrus Vance

Cyrus Vance (1917-2002). American politician and diplomat, served as Secretary of State (1977-1980) and as a United Nations envoy (1991-1993).

UNTAG

United Nations Transition Assistance Group. A United Nations force that operated in Namibia from 1989 to 1990. It monitored elections and the transition to independence.

UN Security Council Resolution 435

UN Security Council Resolution 435. The resolution called for a ceasefire and elections in South West Africa (South African occupied Namibia), and was adopted by the United Nations Security Council in 1978.

United Nations. Major international organisation, founded in 1945.

Trilateral agreement

A 1988 agreement between Angola, Cuba and South Africa that paved the way for the independence of Namibia in 1990.

TRC

Truth and Reconciliation Commission. South African body that conducted hearings from 1996 to 1998 on abuses committed by all sides under apartheid.

Eugene TerreBlanche

Eugène Terre’Blanche (1941-2010). Right-wing South African political activist, and founder of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging, a political and paramilitary organisation.

TBVC

The four Bantustans (Transkei, Bophutatswana, Venda and Ciskei) that were intended to become fully sovereign nations.

SWAPO

South West Africa People’s Organisation. A Namibian political party founded in 1960 to campaign for independence; it has governed Namibia since 1990.

Waldo Stumpf

Waldo Stumpf (b. 1942). South African scientist, an important official in the South African nuclear arms programme.

South African Reserve Bank

The central bank of South Africa, founded in 1921.

Walter Sisulu

Walter Sisulu (1912-2003). South African anti-apartheid activist who was Secretary-General of the African National Congress from 1949 to 1954. He was Deputy President of the ANC from 1991 to 1994.

Senghor (Leopold Senghor)

Leopold Senghor (1906-2001). Senegalese poet and politicial, served as President from 1960 to 1980.

Security Council

A body, part of the United Nations organisation, charged with upholding of global peace and security.

Leopold Scholtz

Leopold Scholtz (b. 1948). South African journalist and writer.

SAG

South African Government.

Rubicon speech

A speech given in 1985 by South African State President P.W. Botha that disappointed those hoping for major reforms of apartheid and led to international sanctions.

Risquet

Jorge Risquet Valdes Saldana (b. 1930). Cuban politician and diplomat, served as a member of the Politbureau (1980-1991) and led the Cuban delegation to the Four-Party meetings on Angola (1987-1988).

Robin Renwick

Lord Renwick of Clifton (b. 1937). British diplomat. Head of Chancery, British Embassy, Washington, 1981-84; Assistant Under-Secretary of State, FCO, 1984-87; British Ambassador to South Africa, 1987-91, and to the United States, 1991-95. Author of 'Unconventional Diplomacy in Southern Africa' (Palgrave, 1997).

Record of Understanding

A 1992 agreement between the South African government and the African National Congress that restarted halted negotiations.

Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan (1911-2004). President of USA (1981-1989).

Jonathan Powell

Jonathan Powell (b.1956). British diplomat and political advisor, Downing Chief of Staff (1997-2007).

Colin Powell

Colin Powell (b. 1937). American soldier and politician, served as Secretary of State (2001-2005).

Pollsmoor prison

A prison in Cape Town, established in 1964. Anti-apartheid activists including Nelson Mandela were held there.

Pretoria/Witwatersrand/Vereeniging industrial complex

The largest South African industrial and manufacturing centre.

Louis Pienaar

Louis Pienaar (1926-2012). South African diplomat. Administrator-General of South West Africa (1985-1990), and the holder of various ministerial positions (1990-1993) in the government of FW de Klerk.

PAC (Pan-Africanist Congress)

The Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC) is a left-wing Black Nationalist political movement in South Africa, founded by ex-African National Congress activist Robert Sobukwe in 1959. During the anti-apartheid struggle, the PAC represented a radical perspective focused on black power as against than the ANC’s multi-racial openness.

Our nuclear weapons

The South African government’s atomic weapons programme began in the 1960s. Six nuclear weapons are thought to have been constructed which were dismantled in the late 1980s, before the transition to majority rule.

South African nuclear programme (Our nuclear weapons)

Orange Free State

Afrikaner state, founded in 1854. It was defeated by the British and incorporated into South Africa in 1902.

Washington Okumu

Professor Washington Jalang’o Okumu (b.1936) is a Kenyan economist who played a role in the Henry Kissinger and Lord Carrington-led negotiating team during the 1994 South African elections. He is celebrated for his intervention in the South African constitutional crisis. From 1971 to 1987, Okumu worked for the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and was ambassador-at-large for Kenya’s Forum for the Restoration of Democracy political party.

Olusegun Obasanjo

Olusegun Obasanjo (b. 1937). Nigerian Head of Federal Military Government (1976-1979) and President (1999-2007). He was Co-Chairman of the Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group on South Africa (1985-1986).

General Obasanjo (Olusegun Obasanjo)

NPT

Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (or informally, Non-Proliferation Treaty) of 1968. Signatory states pledge to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons.

Nobel Peace Prize

An international award, presented since 1901, that recognises work promoting peace.

Nkomati Accord

The Nkomati Accors was a non-aggression treaty signed by the governments of Mozambique and South Africa in 1984.

Nujome (Sam Nujoma)

Sam Nujoma (b. 1929). Namibian politician and resistance leader. He was leader of SWAPO (1960-2007) and President of Namibia (1990-2005).

Negotiating Concept

The 'Negotiating Concept' document was a proposal presented by the Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group in 1986, suggesting that the South African government release political prisoners and lift bans on anti-apartheid political organisations, and that anti-apartheid groups should suspend the use of violence and enter negotiations with the government.

National Party. South African political party, founded in 1915, that governed South Africa from 1948 to 1994, instituting a policy of apartheid.

Connie Mulder

Connie Mulder (1925-1988). South African politician. Stood against PW Botha for the leadership of the National Party in 1978.

Mmabatho airport

An airport in northern South Africa.

Coetzee

Kobie Coetsee (1931-2000). South African politician who served in a number of positions including Minister of Justice (1980-1993) and President of the Senate (1994-1997)

Roelf Meyer

Roelf Meyer (b. 1947). South African politician. Served as a minister in the governments of F.W. De Klerk and Nelson Mandela (1991-1996).

Thabo Mbeki

Thabo Mbeki (b.1942). South African politician. He has served as an African National Congress negotiator in the 1980s and 1990s, and as South African Deputy President (1994-1999) and President (1999-2008).

Margaret Thatcher Foundation

An organisation that promotes the ideas of Margaret Thatcher, founded in 1991.

Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela (b. 1918). South African anti-apartheid campaigner and politician, served as South Africa’s first post-apartheid President (1994-1999).

President Mangope

Lucas Mangope (b. 1923). President of Bophuthatswana, a South African Bantustan, from 1977 to 1994.

John Malecela

John Malecela (b.1934). Tanzanian politician, served on the Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group on South Africa (1985-1986) and as Prime Minister of Tanzania (1990-1994).

John Major

John Major (b.1943). British politician, served, amongst other ministerial positions, as Foreign Secretary (1989) and Prime Minister (1990-1997).

Mac Maharaj

Mac Maharaj (b. 1935). South African politician and activist, served as Minister of Transport (1994-1999) in the government of Nelson Mandela.

Magnus Malan

Magnus Malan (1930-2011). South African soldier and Minister of Defence (1980-1991).

Madiba

The Xhosa clan name of Nelson Mandela, often used to refer to him respectfully.

Samora Machel

Samora Machel (1933-1996). Mozambican soldier and politician, served as President (1975-1986).

Paul Kruger’s Republic

The South African Republic, an Afrikaner state founded in 1852, and finally defeated by the British in 1902. Paul Kruger was President from 1883 to 1900.

Kohl

Helmut Kohl (b. 1930). German politician, served as Chancellor from 1982 to 1998.

Koevoet

A South African paramilitary police unit that was active in Namibia, formed in 1978 and disbanded in 1989.

FW de Klerk

FW de Klerk (b. 1936). South African politician and State President (1989-1994).

Henry Kissinger

Henry Kissinger (b. 1923). American diplomat and politician.

Kenneth Kaunda

Kenneth Kaunda (b.1924). Zambian politician and President (1964-1991).

IFP (Inkatha Freedom Party)

The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) is a South African political party which was founded in 1975 by Mangosuthu Buthelezi. Though originally associated with the ANC in the anti-apartheid struggle, conflicts developed over Buthelezi’s loyalties to the Zulu tribe and his political and economic ties with the South African state. Relations between the IFP and the ANC were characterised by conflict and outbreaks of violence from the late 1980s to the 1994 elections. The feud continues in post-apartheid South Africa.

ICU

Intensive care unit, a department of some hospitals.

Saddam Hussein

Saddam Hussein (1937-2006). President of Iraq from 1979 to 2003.

Douglas Hurd

Lord Hurd of Westall (b.1930), British politician prominent during the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major. Minister of State, Foreign & Commonwealth Office (1979-1983), where he acted as Minister for Europe, that office's inaugural holder; Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1984-85); Home Secretary (1985-59); and Foreign Secretary (1989-95).

Geoffrey Howe

Geoffrey Howe (b. 1926). Lord Howe of Aberavon. British politician, held various Cabinet positions in Margaret Thatcher’s government including Foreign Secretary (1983-1989).

Chris Heunis

Chris Heunis (1927-2006). South African politician who held various ministerial positions from 1978 to 1989, including Minister for Constitutional Development (1982-1989).

Neil Van Heerden

Neil Van Heerden (b.1939). South African diplomat, served as Deputy Director General (1982-1987) and Director General (1987-1992) of the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Great Trek

The migration of Afrikaner farmers away from British influence in the Cape during the 1830s and 1840s. A foundational moment in Afrikaner identity.

King Goodwill

Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu (b. 1948). King of the Zulu Nation (1968-).

Goldstone Commission

A South African government Commission appointed in 1991 to inquire into political violence.

Geneva Accord

A 1988 agreement between the governments of Angola, Cuba and South Africa about the withdrawal of foreign troops from the Angolan civil war.

Gaddafi

Muammar Gaddafi (1942-2011). Libyan revolutionary and national leader from 1969 to 2011.

Freedom Front

A South African political party founded in 1994, which seeks self-determination for Afrikaners.

Malcolm Fraser

Malcolm Fraser (b. 1930). Prime Minister of Australia (1975-1983). Fraser also served as Co-Chairman of the Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group on South Africa.

Chris Fismer

Chris Fismer (b. 1956). South African politician, served as a minister in Nelson Mandela’s government (1995-1996).

EPG

Eminent Persons Group. A group of well-known individuals chosen by the Commonwealth to research a specific issue. The 1985 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting appointed an EPG to report on apartheid in South Africa, published in 1986 as Mission to South Africa. A second EPG was appointed in 2009 and tasked to produce a report on Commonwealth reform for 2011.

Sir Denis (Denis Thatcher)

Sir Denis Thatcher (1915-2003). British businessman and husband of Margaret Thatcher.

Cuban Missile Crisis

Cold War crisis of 1962 sparked by the Soviet Union basing nuclear missiles in Cuba.

Coventry Four

Four South African men arrested in Coventry in the UK in 1984 and charged with conspiring to break the arms export ban to South Africa. The affair clouded diplomatic relations between Britain and South Africa.

Cold War

A period of ideological tension from around 1945 to 1991 between capitalist nations led by the USA and communist nations led by the USSR.

CODESA

The Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) is the name for a series of multi-party negotiations on the ending of apartheid in South Africa, hosted in 1991 and 1992. CODESA I took place in December 1991, nearly two years after the unbanning of political parties and the release of Nelson Mandela. CODESA II began in May 1992, though negotiations collapsed following the Boipatong massacre in June.

CHOGM

Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. Every two years Commonwealth heads of government meet to discuss global and Commonwealth issues, with the aim of promoting common initiatives.

Lord Carrington (Peter Carrington)

Peter Carrington, 6th Baron Carrington (b. 1919). British politician and member of the Conservative party. He was Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1979-82) and 6th Secretary General of NATO (1984-88). In 1979 he chaired the Lancaster House conference.

Cohen

Herman Cohen (b. 1932). American diplomat, served as Assistant secretary of State for African Affairs (1989-1993).

Chequers

A British country house used by the Prime Minister.

Buthelezi

Mangosuthu Buthelezi (b. 1928). South African politician, founded the Inkatha Freedom Party in 1975, and served as South African Minister of Home Affairs from 1994 to 2004.

Pik Botha

Roelof Botha (b. 1932).South African politician and Minister for Foreign Affairs (1977-1994).

Bophuthatswana

An quasi-independent state established within apartheid-era South Africa as a homeland for the Tswana people, that was a legal entity from 1977 to 1994.

Boipatong massacre

The Boipatong massacre took place on 17 June 1992, when around 40 people in the South African township of Boipatong were killed by supporters of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP). After the massacre, the African National Congress abandoned the Congress for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) negotiations, accusing the government and South African police force of being complicit in the massacre. It was alleged that the raid formed part of the South African Defence Force's Operation Marion. The ANC resumed negotiations in September 1992.

Houphouet Boigny

Houphouet Boigny (1905-1993). President of Cote D’Ivoire (1960-1993).

Hans Blix

Hans Blix (b. 1928). Swedish diplomat and politician, served as Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs (1978-1979), Director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (1981-1997), and led the United Nations weapons inspection mission in Iraq (2000-2003).

Bisho massacre

A South African massacre of 1992. Twenty-eight African National Congress supporters, and one soldier, were killed by troops of the independent Ciskei homeland.

Berlin Wall

The breaching of the Berlin Wall that divided East and West Berlin in November 1989 was a major milestone in the ending of the Cold War.

BEE

Black Economic Empowerment. A South African government policy, formulated in 2001, of affirmative action favouring black entrepreneurs.

Anthony Barber

Anthony Barber (1920-2005). British politician, who served in a variety of ministerial positions including as Chancellor of the Exchequer (1970-1974). He also served on the Commonwealth Eminenet Persons Group on South Africa (1985-1986).

AWB

The Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (Afrikaner Resistance Movement). A far right South African political party, founded in 1973.

Apartheid

A system of legally enforced racial segregation implemented and upheld by the National Party in South Africa from 1948 – 1994

Anti-Apartheid Act

The American Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986. Legislation passed by Congress against the will of President Reagan that imposed sanctions on South Africa.

Anglo-Boer War

The war between Britain and Afrikaner settlers fought in southern Africa between 1899 and 1902, culminating in a costly British victory.

ANC

African National Congress. A South African political party, founded in 1912, that opposed apartheid and has been South Africa’s governing party since 1994.

Martii Ahtisaari

Martii Ahtisaari(b. 1937). Finnish diplomat and politician. He served as United Nations Special Representative overseeing Namibian elections in 1989, and as President of Finland (1994-2000).

Abacha (Sani Abacha)

General Sani Abacha (1943-1998). Nigerian army general and politician. He was the de facto President of Nigeria from 1993 to 1998.

AAM

The Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM), originally known as the Boycott Movement, was a British activist organisation founded in 1959 to oppose white minority rule in South Africa. It continued to run until 1994, supporting economic and academic sanctions of South Africa and cooperating with other international organisations like the UN.

Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM)

Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Thatcher (1926-2013). British politician and Prime Minister (1979-1990).

Mrs Thatcher (Margaret Thatcher)

Margaret Thatcher (1926-2013). British politician and Prime Minister (1979-1990).

Lee Kuan Yew as Commonwealth Statesman

Interview with Farooq Sobhan

New Online Resource: The Commonwealth Day Collection

Interview with Sandra Pepera

Interview with RF ‘Pik’ Botha

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