Africa, international organizations and the international community (20th century)

A clash between Italian and Abyssinian troops at the Wal-Wal oasis, inside Abyssinian territory, killing over 100 Abyssinians — Mussolini used it as a pretext to invade in 1935.

To build an East African empire linking Italian Somaliland and Eritrea, avenge Italy's 1896 defeat at Adwa, and win a cheap colonial victory to boost his popularity at home.

Oil, coal and steel were left off the sanctions list, and Britain kept the Suez Canal open to Italian troop ships.

A secret Anglo-French plan to give Mussolini two-thirds of Abyssinia to keep Italy as an ally against Hitler; it leaked and both foreign ministers resigned in disgrace.

'It is us today, it will be you tomorrow' — a warning that the League's failure to protect Abyssinia would embolden aggressors against other states too.

No independent army to enforce decisions; Britain and France prioritized keeping Italy as an ally against Hitler over defending Abyssinia; the USA was never a League member so could trade freely with Italy.

25 May 1963, in Addis Ababa, by 32 founding member states.

Kwame Nkrumah wanted full political union (Pan-Africanism); other leaders preferred looser cooperation respecting new sovereignty; the OAU chose loose cooperation over full union.

That OAU members would respect the colonial-era borders they inherited at independence, to prevent border wars between new states.

Successes: gave Africa a unified diplomatic voice; supported liberation movements (e.g. in Angola, Mozambique). Failures: non-interference rule blocked action on abuses (e.g. Idi Amin); no peacekeeping force meant it could not stop the Nigerian Civil War or the Rwandan Genocide.

The African Union (AU) in 2002, created with a stronger mandate including the right to intervene in cases of genocide — a direct response to the OAU's failure over Rwanda.

Neither had an independent enforcement force; both depended on voluntary cooperation from member states, which collapsed when powerful members prioritized their own interests (League) or non-interference norms blocked action (OAU).

The UN's first major peacekeeping force in Africa, sent to the Congo in July 1960 during the crisis following independence.

ONUC's unclear mandate meant it could not immediately stop the Katanga secession; Lumumba was overthrown and murdered, and Hammarskjöld died in a plane crash before the crisis was resolved.

The 1992–1994 UN mission in Mozambique that disarmed around 90,000 combatants and ran the first multi-party elections; it succeeded because FRELIMO and RENAMO had already agreed to peace before the UN arrived.

The October 1993 Battle of Mogadishu, in which 18 US soldiers were killed trying to capture allies of warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid, leading UNOSOM II to withdraw by 1995 without restoring the Somali state.

In January 1994 he warned the UN of plans for mass killing; the Security Council did not act, and later cut UNAMIR's troop numbers instead of reinforcing them.

About 800,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutu were killed in approximately 100 days.

Vaccine and cold-chain supply for immunization campaigns, plus promotion of oral rehydration therapy, which sharply reduced child mortality from the 1970s–1980s onward.

The Smallpox Eradication Programme (1967–1980) achieved total worldwide eradication of smallpox; the last natural case was recorded in Somalia in 1977.

Mozambique succeeded because both sides had already agreed to peace and the mandate was realistic. Congo, Somalia and Rwanda failed for different reasons: Cold War interference, mission overreach into nation-building, and ignored warnings/lack of political will.

The MPLA was backed by the Soviet Union and Cuba; UNITA (led by Jonas Savimbi) was backed by the United States and apartheid South Africa.

The US, Belgium and France gave Mobutu covert support from 1965 and continued backing his corrupt regime throughout the Cold War because he was seen as anti-communist; support evaporated after 1991 and he was overthrown in 1997.

The Cold War usually intensified and prolonged conflicts that already had local causes (ethnic rivalry, colonial legacy) rather than creating them outright — avoid overclaiming that the Cold War alone caused a war.