Sweet Seventeen

By Asoka Ranaweera

The writer is the founder and CEO of a company that advises investors on structuring investments and developing projects in West, East and Central Africa.

With 2010 coming to an end, I thought that if you did not already know, I should remind all of you that seventeen African countries celebrated an important birthday this year. The majority of these birthdays were celebrated courtesy of France, one from Belgium and two from Britain.

I am of course talking about the fact that these countries celebrated their 50th year of independence from colonial rule. So, let’s wish them all collectively a very happy birthday with many more happy returns to come.

For those of you who obviously did not commit the entire list to memory, here’s the list with the precise dates of independence, and please do not worry, there is no quiz at the end. Here’s to the sweet seventeen.

Cameroon , Republic of 1 January 1960, France

Senegal, Republic of 4 April 1960, France

Togo, Republic of 27 April 1960, France

Mali, Republic of 22 September 1960, France

Madagascar, Democratic Republic of 26 June 1960, France

Congo (Kinshasa), Democratic Republic of the 30 June 1960, Belgium

Somalia, Democratic Republic of 1 July 1960, Britain

Benin, Republic of 1 August 1960, France

Niger, Republic of 3 August 1960, France

Burkina Faso, Popular Democratic Republic of 5 August 1960, France

Côte d'Ivoire, Republic of (Ivory Coast) 7 August 1960, France

Chad, Republic of 11 August 1960, France

Central African Republic 13 August, 1960, France

Congo (Brazzaville), Republic of the 15 August 1960, France

Gabon, Republic of 17 August 1960, France

Nigeria 4, Federal Republic of 1 October 1960, Britain

Mauritania, Islamic Republic of 28 November 1960, France