1958-64: This period of civil war in Africa's largest country, Sudan, comes to an end in the October, 1964 revolution when a student is shot and killed. A general strike and protests bring down the military junta.

1999: CBS News reports that slavery is "alive and well in Sudan." Islamic groups, taking only women and children of the Dinka tribe in raids, use them as sexual servants, housekeepers, and farmhands. Dinka slaves are sold for about $50, the price of a goat.

1962: The long, immensely expensive Ethiopian- Eritrean War (1962-1991) begins after Ethiopia cancels Eritrean autonomy within the Ethiopian- Eritrean federation, in effect since 1952.

1999: In January, Eritrean news reports that 243 Eritreans are rounded up, jailed, and deported from Ethiopia. To date 49,500 Eritreans have been deported from Ethiopia.

1962: Civil war begins in Rwanda (1962-63), as Tutsi military forces try to gain control of the new country after the...