Commonwealth Secretariat Archives - Page 3 of 10 - Commonwealth Oral History Project

Interview with Carl Dundas

by chrismoffat | Jul 21, 2015 | Apartheid, Barbados, Civil Society, Commonwealth Secretariat, Democracy, Development, Elections, Fiji, Grenada, Guyana, India, Jamaica, Kenya, Malaysia, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Technical Assistance, Zambia, Zimbabwe (see also Rhodesia)

Download Interview Transcript. Biography: Dundas, Carl. Educated in London and called to the bar at Gray’s Inn. Appointed Legal Counsel and Director of Legal Division of the Caribbean Community, 1973. Technical Legal Advisor to Joint Selection Committee on...

Interview with Moses Anafu

by chrismoffat | Jul 16, 2015 | Apartheid, Bangladesh, Botswana, Cameroon, Cold War, Commonwealth Secretariat, Democracy, Diplomacy, Elections, Gambia, Ghana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rhodesia (see also Zimbabwe), Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, United Kingdom, Zambia, Zimbabwe (see also Rhodesia)

Download Interview Transcripts: Part One (17 June 2014); Part Two (13 July 2014); Part Three (19 November 2014). Appendices: One – Interview Inserts (6 May 2015); Two – Secretariat Analysis of 1979 Internal Settlement in Zimbabwe/Rhodesia; Three –...

Interview with Mark Robinson

by chrismoffat | Jul 15, 2015 | Apartheid, CHOGM, Civil Society, Commonwealth Secretariat, Development, Diplomacy, Education, Elections, Falklands Islands, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Grenada, Kenya, Malta, Namibia, Palestine, Papua New Guinea, Queen, Rhodesia (see also Zimbabwe), South Africa, Technical Assistance, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, United Kingdom, United Nations, Zambia, Zimbabwe (see also Rhodesia)

Download Interview Transcripts: Part One (17 July 2013); Part Two (8 August 2013); Appendix One (on Belize). Biography: Robinson, Mark. 1946- . Born in Bristol, England. Educated at the University of Oxford. Special Assistant, United Nations Emergency Relief Operation...

Interview with Madhuri Bose

by chrismoffat | Jul 13, 2015 | Bangladesh, Cameroon, CHOGM, Civil Society, Commonwealth Secretariat, Democracy, Development, Education, Elections, Human Rights, India, Kenya, Mozambique, United Nations

Download Interview Transcript. Biography: Bose, Madhuri. Educated at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva. Positions with the Centre for Human Rights, Geneva, late 1970s, and with the International Labour Organisation, United...

Interview with Kamal Hossain

by chrismoffat | Jul 13, 2015 | Bangladesh, Cameroon, CHOGM, Commonwealth Secretariat, Human Rights, India, Nigeria, Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), Pakistan, South Africa, Technical Assistance, United Kingdom

Download Interview Transcript. Biography: Hossain, Dr Kamal. 1937- . Educated at the University of Notre Dame (AB, 1955) and the University of Oxford (BA, 1957; BCL, 1958; DPhil, International Law, 1964). Member of Parliament, Bangladesh, 1972-75. Chairman of the...

Interview with Max Gaylard

by chrismoffat | Jun 29, 2015 | Apartheid, Australia, CHOGM, Commonwealth Secretariat, Diplomacy, Elections, Human Rights, Kenya, Malaysia, Mozambique, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Sierra Leone, Small States, South Africa, Technical Assistance, United Nations, Zimbabwe (see also Rhodesia)

Download Interview Transcript: Part One (7 May 2014); Part Two (6 August 2014). Biography: Gaylard, Maxwell. 1946- . Born in Nambour, Queensland, Australia. Educated at the University of Queensland and the Australian National University. Served in the Australian...

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Definitioner

Kwame Nkrumah

Kwame Nkrumah (1909-1972) was Ghanaian political figure who served as his country’s first Prime Minister (1957-60), becoming President of Ghana (1960-66) following a constitutional change that made the country a Republic. Nkrumah had previously served as Prime Minister of the Gold Coast (1952-57) and was a leading figure in the struggle against British rule. Nkrumah was a founding member of the Organisation of African Unity, which he chaired from 1965 to 1966.

CCFMSA

The Commonwealth Committee of Foreign Ministers on Southern Africa (CCFMSA) was established at the 1987 Vancouver CHOGM and tasked with facilitating international efforts to combat South Africa’s apartheid system. The Committee was comprised of the Foreign Ministers of Australia, Canada, Guyana, India, Nigeria, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Canadian Secretary of State for External Affairs Joe Clark was appointed Chairperson.

Simon Murdoch

Simon Murdoch (b.1948) is a New Zealand-born diplomat and civil servant who served as Chief Executive of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet from 1991 to 1998. He had previously been Foreign Affairs advisor to Robert Muldoon in the 1980s, and Head of the Prime Minister’s Policy Advisory Group, 1989-91.

Abidjan Peace Accord

The Abidjan Peace Accord was signed in 1996 by the Sierra Leone People’s Party government of Ahmad Tejan Kabbah and the Revolutionary United Front rebel group led by Foday Sankoh. The treaty was designed to end the Sierra Leone Civil War - which had begun in 1991 - but ultimately the Accord failed and a military coup was staged by Johnny Paul Karoma of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council in 1997.

Commercial Farmers Union of Zimbabwe

The Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) of Zimbabwe is an organisation committed to facilitating development of the country’s agricultural sector. It was founded in 1980 with the independence of Zimbabwe, though the organisation traces its history back to 1892 and the establishment of the Rhodesian Farmers and Landowners Association.

Organisation of the Islamic Conference

The Organisation of the Islamic Conference was founded in 1969 to act as the “collective voice of the Muslim World”. Based out of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, it includes 57 member states and has permanent delegations to the United Nations and European Union. In 2011, the name was changed to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

Sam Kauona

Sam Kauona Sirivi was a Bougainville secessionist leader whose organisation, the Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA), was established in 1989 to rebel against the Government of Papua New Guinea. A former soldier, Kauona led military operations for the BRA under Francis Ona as commander-in-chief.

Zelman Cowen

Sir Zelman Cowen (1919-2011) was an Australian educator, constitutional lawyer and university administrator who served as the 19^th Governor-General of Australia from 1977 to 1982. From 1982 to 1990, he was Provost of Oriel College, Oxford.

Khaleda Zia

Begum Khaleda Zia (b.1945) is a Bangladeshi politician who served as Prime Minister of Bangladesh from 1991 to 1996 and from 2001 to 2006. She is the chairperson and leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), an organisation founded by her husband Ziaur Rahman in the late 1970s.

Steve Tshwete

Steve Tshwete (1938-2002) was a South African politician and anti-apartheid activist. He was imprisoned in Robben Island from 1964 to 1983 and later lived in exile, returning to South Africa in 1990 as regional coordinator for the new United Democratic Front. He was Minister of Sport and Recreation (1994-99) and subsequently Minister of Safety and Security (1999-2002) in the post-apartheid government.

Lorna McLaren

Lorna McLaren was an administrative officer in the Commonwealth Secretariat who acted as Head of Conferences from 2005 to 2013. She had previously served as part of the Commonwealth Observer Group to the National and Provincial elections in South Africa, deployed in June 1999.

Colleen Lowe Morna

Colleen Lowe Morna is a Zimbabwe-born journalist specialising in issues of gender and development. She joined the Commonwealth Secretariat as a Senior Researcher on the Africa desk in 1991, later serving as Chief Programme Officer of the Commonwealth Observer Mission to South Africa. She has acted as an advisor on gender and institutional development to the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Assistance, and was the founding CEO of the South African Commission on Gender Equality.

Ben Nwabueze

Professor Ben Nwabueze (b.1932) is a Nigerian educator, legal scholar and administrator who was appointed Minister of Education and Youth Development in 1993. He has been a member of the Constitution Drafting Committee for Zambia (1973), the Constitution Committee for Nigeria (1986) and a Constitutional Adviser to the Government of Kenya (1992).

Rudy Collins

Dr Rudolph Collins is a Guyanese diplomat who led Guyana’s Foreign Service from 1972 to 1978. He was subsequently Ambassador to Venezuela (1978-84), Director of Administrative Services and then Assistant Secretary General responsible for Human and Social Development in the Caribbean Community Secretariat (1986-96), and Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission overseeing the 1992 elections.

Hugh Craft

Dr Nickless Hugh Craft is an Australian diplomat who served as Director of the International Affairs Division, Commonwealth Secretariat, from 1979 to 1988. He was subsequently the Senior Executive of Environment Australia (1992-99) and member of the Department of the Australian Prime Minister and Cabinet (1999-2002).

Mary Mackie

Mary Mackie served the Commonwealth Secretariat as Personal Assistant to Secretary General Emeka Anyaoku (1990-2000).

Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative

The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) is an international, non-governmental organisation established in 1987 to support the implementation of the Harare Declaration in the Commonwealth of Nations. It provides thematic human rights reports to every Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. In 1993, its headquarters moved from London to New Delhi, India.

Ronald Sanders

Sir Ronald Sanders (b.1948) is a Caribbean political figure and diplomat who has served as Public Affairs Adviser to the Prime Minister of Guyana (1973-76), Deputy Permanent Representative of Antigua and Barbuda to the United Nations (1981-82), and High Commissioner to the United Kingdom for Antigua and Barbuda (1983-87,1995-2004). He was part of the Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group (2010-11) and has held senior positions in UNESCO (1983-87) and as Ambassador to the World Trade Organisation.

Allister Sparks

Allister Sparks (b.1933) is a South African writer and journalist who edited the influential Rand Daily Mail during the 1970s, having previously worked for the paper as a columnist in the 1960s. He was also editor of the Sunday Express and acted as correspondent for the Washington Post, The Observer, and NRC Handelsblad. Sparks has written a number of books on South Africa’s transition from apartheid, including Tomorrow is Another Country (1996). He founded the Institute for the Advancement of Journalism in South Africa in 1992.

Benjamin Mkapa

Benjamin Mkapa (b.1938) is a Tanzanian politician who served as the third President of Tanzania from 1995 to 2005. He previously served under President Ali Hassan Mwinyi as Minister for Information and Broadcasting (1990-92) and Minister for Science, Technology and Higher Education (1992-95).

La Francophonie

The Organisation international de la Francophonie (OIF), also known as La Francophonie, is an international organisation linking countries and regions that share French as first or customary language or where there is some affiliation with French culture. La Francophonie includes 57 member states, as well as three associate members and twenty observers.

HIPC

The Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative is a debt reduction programme jointly coordinated by the IMF and the World Bank and launched in 1996. The initiative provides debt relief and low-interest loans to 39 countries around the world, 33 of which are located in sub-Saharan Africa.

Yahya Jammeh

Yahya Jammeh (b.1965) became President of Gambia in 1994 following a military coup. He was re-elected in 1996, 2001, 2006 and 2011. His political party is the Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction.

Jammeh (Yahya Jammeh)

Foday Sankoh

Foday Saybana Sankoh (1937-2003) was leader of the Revolutionary United Front in Sierra Leone from 1991-2000, coordinating armed rebellion against the Joseph Momoh-led All People’s Congress Government and a major protagonist in the decade-long Sierra Leonean Civil War. Sankoh died in 2013 awaiting trial for crimes against humanity in a UN-backed court.

Political Affairs Division

The Political Affairs Division (PAD) is the section of the Commonwealth Secretariat that coordinates activities between the Commonwealth, its member country governments and partner international organisations. It focuses its work on the prevention or resolution of political conflict at the invitation of a member country, and also supports the development of democratic processes and institutions.

Senate House

The Senate House, University of London, is home to the University’s Central Academic Bodies, the Vice-Chancellor’s Offices, and the various research institutes of the School of Advanced Study. The Institute of Commonwealth Studies has been based in Senate House since 2009.

Commonwealth Games

The Commonwealth Games is an international sporting event that takes place every four years and brings together athletes from across the Commonwealth of Nations. It began in 1930 as the British Empire Games, and is overseen today by the Commonwealth Games Federation.

Kamil Jaafar

Tan Sri Datuk Kamil Jaafar (b.1937) is a Malaysian diplomat who served as his country’s Ambassador to Thailand (1975), Vietnam (1978), Switzerland (1980), China (1983) and Japan (1986). He was Secretary General of the Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1989 to 1996.

Marlborough House

Marlborough House is a 17^th century mansion in the City of Westminster, central London, which has served as the headquarters of the Commonwealth Secretariat since 1953.

Neville Linton

Neville Linton, born in Guyana, is a Political Affairs consultant with an extensive background as an international civil servant, including a period of work with the Political Division of the Commonwealth Secretariat. At the Secretariat, he was involved in the Diplomatic Training Programme and initiatives around the Security Problems of Small States. Linton has also been associated with Transparency International as a Senior Adviser.

Jon Sheppard

Jon Sheppard was the Director of Political Affairs at the Commonwealth Secretariat from 1996 to 2002. He has served as Australian Ambassador to Ethiopia (1985-89), Jordan (1992-95) and Zimbabwe (2004-07).

Stuart Mole

Stuart Mole is a British political figure who joined the Commonwealth Secretariat in 1984 as Special Assistant to the Secretary-General. He was Director of the Secretary-General’s Office from 1990 to 2000, and Director-General of the Royal Commonwealth Society from 2000 to 2009.

Moses Anafu

Moses Anafu is a Ghanian diplomat who joined the Commonwealth Secretariat in 1979 as Research Officer in the International Affairs Division. He was appointed Chief Research Officer in 1987 and served as Assistant Director, Political Affairs Department from 1990 to 2000. He was the Secretary General's Special Envoy to South Africa from 1991 to 1994. Anafu has also advised the UNDP on questions of governance in Africa.

Langkawi Declaration

The Langkawi Declaration was a declaration issued at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Malaysia, 1981, which outlines several commitments to be taken by member countries on issues of environmental sustainability and climate change. Click here to read the Declaration in full.

Michael Jay

Michael Hastings Jay, Baron Jay of Ewelme (b. 1946). British diplomat. He was Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, 2002-2006.

La Francophonie

La Francophonie is an international organisation created in 1970 that represents countries whose first language is French, or that have a significant proportion of French speakers, or where there is a notable affiliation to French culture.

Kofi Annan

Kofi Atta Annan (b. 1938). Ghanaian diplomat. He was Secretary-General of the United Nations 1997-2006.

Boutros Boutros-Ghali

Boutros Boutros-Ghali (b. 1922). Egyptian politician and diplomat. He was Secretary-General of the United Nations (1992-96) and Secretary General of La Francophonie (1997-2002).

Boutros-Ghali (Boutros Boutros-Ghali)

Boutros Boutros-Ghali (b. 1922). Egyptian politician and diplomat. He was Secretary-General of the United Nations (1992-96) and Secretary General of La Francophonie (1997-2002).

Millennium Development Goals

The Millennium Development Goals are a series of eight development goals adopted in 2000 following the United Nations Millennium Summit.

Max Gaylard

Maxwell Gaylard (b. 1946). Australian diplomat. He was Director of Political/International Affairs at the Commonwealth Secretariat in London in the 1990s.

Jim Bolger

James “Jim” Bolger (b. 1935). New Zealand politician and member of the National Party. He was Prime Minister 1990-97, and leader of the opposition, 1986-90.

Joe Clark

Joe Clark (b. 1939). Canadian journalist, politician and statesman. As a member of the Progressive Conservative party, he was Prime Minister of Canada, June 1979-March 1980 and Secretary of State for External Affairs 1984-91.

Jeremy Pope

Jeremy Pope (1938-2012). New Zealand-born activist. In 1980 he was appointed director of the Commonwealth Secretariat’s Legal and Constitutional Affairs Division. In 1993 he co-founded the anti-corruption organisation Transparency International.

RENAMO

RENAMO (Mozambican National Resistance) is a Mozambican political party, founded in 1975 as an anti-Communist organisation. It fought against the Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO) in the Mozambican Civil War (1976-1992) and received military support from South Africa.

OAU

Organisation of African Unity. Founded in 1963 to act as a collective voice for African Nations, it was replaced by the African Union in 2002.

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.

World Bank

The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. An international institution, founded in 1944, that funds development projects

Harold Wilson

Harold Wilson (1916-1995). British politician and Prime Minister (1964-1970, 1974-1976).

United Nations. Major international organisation, founded in 1945.

UDI

Unilateral Declaration of Independence. Rhodesia’s 1965 declaration of independence without British agreement, intended to preserve white minority rule.

UDF

United Democratic Front. A South African anti-aparthied organisation, founded in 1983.

Kris Srinivasan

Khrishnan Srinivasan (b.1937). Indian politician and diplomat, Foreign Secretary (1994-1995), Commonwealth Deputy Secretary-General (1995-2002).

Sri Lankan Civil War

A civil war between the government of Sri Lanka and Tamil insurgents, fought intermittently from 1983 to 2009.

Arnold Smith

Arnold Smith (1915 –1994). Canadian diplomat, the first Commonwealth Secretary-General (1965–1975).

Manmohan Singh

Manmohan Singh (b. 1932). Indian politician and economist, he served as Prime Minister from 2004 to 2014.

Singapore Declaration

The Singapore Declaration of Commonwealth Principles was adopted at the 1971 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Singapore. Click here to read the Declaration in full.

Anthony Siaguru

Anthony Siaguru (1946-2004). Papua New Guinea lawyer and diplomat.

Security Council

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

Ken Saro-Wiwa

Ken Saro-Wiwa (1941-1995). Nigerian writer and political and environmental activist. An outspoken critic of the regime of General Sani Abacha, and Royal Dutch Shell’s environmental pollution in Ogoniland in the Niger Delta, Saro Wiwa was executed on 10 November 1995. Eight other MOSOP activists were hanged.

Salim Salim

Salim Ahmed Salim (b. 1942). Tanzanian diplomat and politician, Prime Minister (1984-1985), Secretary General of the Organisation of African Unity (1989-2001).

Patsy Robertson

Patsy Robertson. Jamaican journalist and diplomat. Successively Commonwealth Press Officer, Director of Information, and official Commonwealth spokesperson (1983-1994).

Sonny Ramphal (Shridath Ramphal)

Shridath Surendranath 'Sonny' Ramphal (b. 1928). Guyanese politician, second Commonwealth Secretary-General (1975-1990).

Cyril Ramaphosa

Cyril Ramaphosa (b. 1952). South African politician and trade union leader.

Sitiveni Rabuka

Sitiveni Rabuka (b. 1948). Fijian soldier, led to military coups in 1987, and later elected Prime Minister (1992-1999).

Rabuka (Sitiveni Rabuka)

Sitiveni Rabuka (b. 1948). Fijian soldier, led to military coups in 1987, and later elected Prime Minister (1992-1999).

Elizabeth II

Elizabeth II (b. 1926). Head of State of the United Kingdom and 15 other countries, and Head of the Commonwealth (from 1952).

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.

PAC (Pan-Africanist Congress)

Organisation of African Unity

An international organisation for African states founded in 1963.

Old Commonwealth

An informal term describing the countries of the pre-1945 Commonwealth: Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa.

Oginga Odinga

Oginga Odinga (1911-1994). Kenyan politician and Vice-President (1964-1966).

General Obasanjo (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).

Robert Mugabe

Robert Mugabe (b.1924). Zimbabwean resistance leader and politician. Served as Prime Minister (1980-1987) and President (1987-) of Zimbabwe.

Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)

Movement for Democratic Change. The leading Zimbabwean opposition party, founded in 1999.

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).

Don McKinnon

Sir Donald McKinnon (b. 1939) is a New Zealand politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister for the National Party (1990-96), Foreign Minister (1990-99) and Secretary General of the Commonwealth of Nations (2000-08).

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).

Ken Matiba

Ken Matiba (b. 1942). Kenyan politician, second in the 1992 presidential election.

Michael Manley

Michael Manley (1924-1997). Jamaican politician, twice served as Prime Minister (1972-1980, 1989-1992). A member of the Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group on South Africa.

Nelson Mandela

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

Dr Mahathir (Mahathir bin Mohamad)

Dr Mahathir bin Mohamad (b. 1925). Malaysian politician and Prime Minister (1981-2003).

John Major

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

Kuala Lumpur in 1989

The eleventh Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

FW de Klerk

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

Mwai Kibaki

Mwai Kibaki (b. 1931). Kenyan politician and President (2002-2013).

Kibaki (Mwai Kibaki)

Mwai Kibaki (b. 1931). Kenyan politician and President (2002-2013).

Kashmir issue

The long-running dispute between India and Pakistan over control of Kashmir, a region divided during the Partition of India in 1947.

IMF

International Monetary Fund. Created in 1944 at the Bretton Woods Conference, the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The IMF's original aim was to stabilise exchange rates and aid national reconstruction after the end of the Second World War.

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.

Derek Ingram

Derek Ingram (b. 1925). British journalist and writer with a particular interest in Commonwealth issues.

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).

Bob Hawke

Bob Hawke (b. 1929). Australian Prime Minister (1983-1991).

Harare Declaration

The Harare Commonwealth Declaration of 1991 set out the Commonwealth's principles and values, including membership criteria. Click here to read the Declaration in full.

Front Line States

A group of southern African states formed in 1970, which campaigned for democratic majority rule in South Africa.

FRELIMO

FRELIMO (Mozambique Liberation Front) was formed in 1962 as a Mozambican liberation movement. Since independence in 1975 it has been the ruling political party in Mozambique.

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.

FCO

Foreign and Commonwealth Office. British government department with responsibility for relations with other countries. Created in 1968 from the merger of the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office. Often called 'the Foreign Office'.

Gareth Evans

Gareth Evans (b. 1944). Australian politician, Foreign Minister from 1988 to 1966.

Elephant Hills

A hotel and resort in Zimbabwe.

ECOWAS

Economic Community of West African States. An international organisation founded in 1975.

Commonwealth Secretariat

The Commonwealth Secretariat is the principal inter-governmental body of the Commonwealth, responsible for promoting cooperation between members. Founded in 1965.

CMAG

Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group. Established by Commonwealth Heads of Government in 1995, the CMAG upholds the terms of the Harare Declaration.

CFTC (Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co-operation)

The Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co-operation (CFTC) is an organisation administered by the Commonwealth Secretariat that delivers technical assistance to Commonwealth member countries. A mutual and voluntary fund, it was established in 1971.

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.

Frederick Chiluba

Frederick Chiluba (1943-2011). Zambian politician and President (1991-2002).

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).

British Commonwealth

The term used to describe the Commonwealth until 1949, reflecting British pre-eminence within it.

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.

Robert Armstrong (Lord Armstrong)

Sir Robert Armstrong, Baron Armstrong of Ilminster, (b. 1927) is a British life peer and former civil servant. He served as Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister from 1970 to 1975, and Secretary of the Cabinet under Margaret Thatcher from 1979 to 1987.

Apartheid

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

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.

Sani Abacha

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

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.

Mrs Thatcher (Margaret Thatcher)

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

Interview with Carl Dundas

Interview with Moses Anafu

Interview with Mark Robinson

Interview with Madhuri Bose

Interview with Kamal Hossain

Interview with Max Gaylard

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