After 27 years in prison, Nelson Mandela walked free from Victor Verster Prison, opening the way to negotiations to end apartheid.
Over about 100 days, Hutu extremist forces killed hundreds of thousands of Tutsi, as well as moderate Hutu and Twa, until the Rwandan Patriotic Front took control of the country.
South Africa held its first election with universal suffrage across all races; the ANC won and Nelson Mandela became president, marking the end of apartheid.
Drought combined with civil war and government policies caused a major famine in Ethiopia that killed several hundred thousand to a million people and prompted the Live Aid relief effort.
War in the Democratic Republic of the Congo drew in the armies of numerous African states; the fighting and associated famine and disease caused millions of deaths.
After a guerrilla war and the Lancaster House Agreement, Rhodesia became the internationally recognised independent state of Zimbabwe, with Robert Mugabe as prime minister.
The African Union was formally launched in Durban, replacing the Organisation of African Unity.