Timeline Ghana

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Accra, located on the Gulf of Guinea, is the capital of Ghana.
    (AHD, 1971, p.9)

Africanet: http://www.africanet.com/africanet/country/ghana/home.htm#History
Home: http://www.tanzania-web.com/www.africanet.com/africanet/country/ghana/home.htm
CIA Factbook: http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/gh.html
Excite Ghana: http://www.excite.com/travel/countries/ghana/
Library of Congress: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/ghtoc.html
Lonely Planet: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/dest/afr/gha.htm#hist
USDS: http://www.state.gov/www/background_notes/ghana_0298_bgn.html

992        Ghana captured its chief trading rival, the Berber town of Audoghast.
    (Enc. of Africa, 1976, p.172)

c1000-1100    Tenkaminen reigned as Caliph of Ghana. He exported gold, ivory and salt and kept his wealth in gold. He put glass windows into his palace in Kumbi and kept a menagerie of elephants and giraffes.
    (WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R6)

1068AD    Historian al-Bakri wrote his "Book of the Roads and Kingdoms." He described Ghana in the Western Sudan from information given him by merchants and others.
    (ATC, p.113) (Enc. of Africa, 1976, p.171)

1076AD    The Al Moravids, a group of Muslim warriors who lived in the Sahara, set out to conquer Ghana. They captured Koumbi in this year but gave it back up to the Soninke in 1087. The Muslim religious reform Almoravid movement under Abu Bakr recaptured Audoghast and then all of Ghana.
    (ATC, p.117) (Enc. of Africa, 1976, p.172)

1087        The Soninke of Ghana recapture their capital, Koumbi, from the Al Moravids. They try to re-establish their empire but a number of their states had adopted Islam and others broke away to form separate kingdoms.
    (ATC, p.117)

1203        King Sumanguru, ruler of a break-away Ghanaian kingdom, overthrew the Soninke king and took over Koumbi. At about the same time a new kingdom to the east called Mali and ruled by Mandinke, was gaining power.
    (ATC, p.113)

1471        The Portuguese arrived in Ghana as intermediaries, bringing slaves and other goods from Senegal and Benin in order to sell them to the Asante and other local people.
    (Econ, 2/24/07, p.73)

1482        Elmina Castle in Ghana was built by Portuguese traders. It later became a slave holding castle.
    (SFEC, 11/22/98, p.T10)

1637        The Dutch attacked and captured Elmina (Ghana), which up to that point was the centre of Portuguese activity in West Africa.
    (www.moxon.net/ghana/cape_coast.html)

1650        The King of the Fetu (Ghana) granted permission to an English sea-captain to build on the cape, and in the same year he also granted the same permission to Henry Caerlof, a Swiss man who had previously worked for the Dutch and who sailed under the Swedish flag.
    (www.moxon.net/ghana/cape_coast.html)

1655        By this time a house had been built on Ghana’s cape, and over the coming years it was enlarged using slave labor into Carolusburg Fort, named after the then Swedish king. This fort was captured and enlarged by the Danish in 1657, and after a few more shuffles of power the English got their hands on it 1664. In 2006 William St. Clair authored “The Grand Slave Emporium: Cape Coast Castle and the British Slave Trade.
    (www.moxon.net/ghana/cape_coast.html)

1670        Ashanti, a West African chiefdom (later part of Ghana), prospered from trade of cola nuts, gold and slaves.
    (WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R49)

1670-1712    Osei Tutu, ruler of the Ashanti Empire in what later became Ghana. He amassed a fortune by supplying slaves to British and Dutch traders in exchange for firearms.
    (WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R8)

1833        The slave trade in Ghana ended.
    (AP, 7/11/09)

1836        A Dutch regiment entered the kingdom of the Ashanti tribe. Holland had taken this land as a colony to mine gold and sell slaves. Slavery was outlawed but African men were enlisted as troops in a form of indentured servitude. The Ashanti king sent his son and nephew, Kwasi and Kwame Boachi, to Holland for a European education in exchange for providing troops. In 2001 Arthur Japin authored the novel “The Two Hearts of Kwasi Boachi.”
    (SSFC, 1/21/01, BR p.5)

1838        In Ghana Asante King Nana Badu Bonsu II had his head cut off by Maj. Gen. Jan Verveer in retaliation for Bonsu's killing of two Dutch emissaries, whose heads were then displayed as trophies. In 2008 Dutch author Arthur Japin discovered Bonsu’s head in a jar of formaldehyde at Leiden Univ. Medical Center. In 2009 the Dutch government returned the head of Bonsu’s descendants.
    (SFC, 3/21/09, p.A2)(SFC, 7/24/09, p.A2)

1872        Zey, king of the Asante (Ghana), wrote to the British monarch asking for the slave trade to be renewed.
    (Econ, 2/24/07, p.73)

1909        Sep 9, Kwame Nkrumah, communist and premier of the Gold Coast and president of Ghana (1960-66), was born.
    (MC, 9/9/01)

1947        Jun 22, Jerry Rawlings was born.
    (WP, 6/29/96, p.A20)

1951        Feb 11, Kwame Nkrumah won the 1st parliamentary election on Gold coast (Ghana).
    (MC, 2/11/02)

1954        Jun 15, The Convention People’s Party, led by Kwame Nkrumah, won the Gold Coast elections (later part of Ghana).
    (HT, 6/15/00)

1954        Elizabeth Dewey Johns Drake (1915-1996) and her husband St. Clair Drake received a Ford Foundation grant to study the impact of western media in the Gold Coast now called Ghana.
    (SFC, 8/10/96, p.A20)

1957        Mar 6, The former British African colonies of the Gold Coast and Togoland became the independent state of Ghana. Ghana, led by Kwame Nkrumah, gained independence from Britain. US VP Nixon and Martin Luther King attended the independence ceremony.
    (SFC, 12/6/96, p.B1)(SFEM, 2/2/97, p.15)(SSFC, 2/11/07, p.C1)

1957        Oct 10, President Dwight D. Eisenhower apologized to Komla Agbeli Gbdemah, the finance minister of Ghana, after the official had been refused service in a Dover, Del., restaurant.
    (AP, 10/10/97)

1958        Kwame Nkrumah, head of Ghana, had a law passed allowing him to jail anyone suspected of subversive intentions.
    (WSJ, 8/31/05, p.D10)

1960        Jul 1, Ghana became an independent republic within the British Commonwealth and Kwama N. Nkrumah became the 1st president.
    (PC, 1992, p.973)

1961        Mar 1, President Kennedy established the Peace Corps. The first volunteers were sent to Ghana.
    (TMC, 1994, p.1961)(SFC, 8/7/96, p.A15)(AP, Internet, 3/1/98) (SFC, 3/21/98, p.A13)

1961        John Wilson (d.1999 at 80) published "Ghana's Handicapped Citizens." Wilson, himself blind, and his wife Jean lived in Ghana in 1950 and began treating people who were blinded from an infection, ocular onchocerciasis, caused by a buffalo gnat.
    (SFC, 12/7/99, p.B4)

1961        W.E.B. Du Bois, Black American writer and reformer, renounced his American citizenship and spent his last remaining years in the West African country of Ghana. Born in Massachusetts on February 23, 1868, Du Bois earned three degrees at Harvard, including a Ph.D., and taught history at Atlanta University from 1896-1910. He took a militant position on race relations, founded the Niagara Movement, edited the Crises magazine, was a longtime official in the NAACP and author of numerous important works. Du Bois died in Accra, Ghana, August 27, 1963.
    (HNQ, 5/11/99)

1964        In Ghana the Akosombo Dam was built on the Volta River. By 1966 extensive forests and the homes of 80,000 people were flooded to create Lake Volta. In 2006 Wayne Dunn negotiated a 2-year pilot agreement the government to explore the lake and a 15-year follow-up to harvest timber across 875,000 underwater acres.
    (SFEC, 11/22/98, p.T10)(WSJ, 1/21/07, p.A1)

1966        Feb 24, A military coup overthrew Ghana’s Pres. Kwame Nkrumah. He fled to Guinea.
    (http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/09/19/150104.php)

1970        Jul 27, Otumfuo Nana Opoku Ware II, the king of the Ashanti people and born as Matthew John Kwaku Adusei-Poku, ascended to the Golden Stool to become the 18th King of Ashanti.
    (SFC, 3/1/99, p.A19)

1970      The population of Accra, capital of Ghana, was about 338,000.
    (AHD, 1971, p.9)

1972        Apr 27, Kwame Nkrumah (62), former president of Ghana, died in Romania of cancer.
    (http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/09/19/150104.php)

1972        Jul 9, The body Kwame Nkrumah (1909-1972), former head of Ghana (1952-1966), was returned to Nkroful, Ghana, for burial.
    (http://tinyurl.com/5e95hx)

1974        Shirley Temple was appointed US ambassador to Ghana. She served to 1976.
    (SFC, 1/26/06, p.E3)

1975        May 25, ECOWAS Treaty1 was signed. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) was formed in Nigeria with 15 members that included: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo.
    (www.sec.ecowas.int/sitecedeao/english/achievements.htm)

1978        Jul 5, In Ghana Gen’l. Acheampong resigned as head of state. He was succeeded by Lt.-Col. Fred W.K. Akuffo.
    (WUD, 1994, p.1691)

1979        May 15, In Ghana J.J. Rawlings (b.1947) led an unsuccessful coup d'état that resulted in his arrest, imprisonment, and a death sentence.
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Rawlings)

1979        Jun 4, In Ghana friends of J.J. Rawlings (b.1947), led by Major Boakye Djan, overthrew the military government of General Fred Akuffo in a bloody coup.
    (SFC, 12/6/96, p.B1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Rawlings)

1979        Sep 24, Hilla Limann 1934-1998) was elected president of Ghana. She served until 1981.
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilla_Limann)

1981        Dec 31, Lt. Jerry Rawlings, a young fighter pilot toppled Pres. Hilla Limann.
    (SFEC, 1/25/98, p.A22)

1982        The Rawlings Marxist regime imposed stringent economic controls and market women who violated price controls were stripped, whipped, their heads shaven and wares confiscated.
    (WSJ, 1/04/00, p.A18)

1985        American CIA clerk in Ghana Sharon Scranage pleaded guilty to disclosing the names of US agents to her Ghanaian boyfriend. She was prosecuted under a 1982 federal law called the Intelligence Identities Protection Act.
    (SFC, 11/19/96, p.A17)(LAT, 7/15/05)

1992        A ban on political parties was lifted and former president Hilla Limann formed the People’s National Convention Party. Limann ran for the presidency but finished a distant 3rd.
    (SFEC, 1/25/98, p.A22)

1992        J.J. Rawlings was elected with 59% of the vote in disputed elections.
    (SFC, 12/6/96, p.B1)(SFC, 12/9/96, p.A18)

1993        The World Bank pumped $4 billion into Ghana and called it an “African economic star.”
    (WSJ, 1/04/00, p.A18)

1995        May 5, Over 100,000 Ghanaians demonstrated in the streets of Accra for the repeal of an 18% value-added tax. 4 people were killed from gunfire by government hired thugs.
    (WSJ, 1/04/00, p.A18)

1995        George B.N. Ayittey is a native of Ghana and an associate professor of economics at the American Univ. in Washington. He is also the president of the Free Africa Foundation.
    (WSJ, 12/15/95, p.A-16)
 
1996        Jul, The per capita income was $410.
    (WSJ, 7/18/96, p.A10)

1996        Dec 8, Jerry Rawlings defeated John Kufuor and his Great Alliance Party in elections 57% to 40%.
    (WSJ, 12/12/96, p.A13)

1996        Dec 13, The UN Security Council chose Kofi Annan of Ghana as the next Secretary-General.
    (SFC, 12/14/96, p.A1)

1996        Dec 17, Kofi Annan of Ghana was elected by acclamation as the 7th Secretary-General of the UN. His 5-year term will start Jan 1.
    (SFC, 12/18/96, p.C2)(AP, 12/17/97)

1996        President Jerry Rawlings brokered a string of cease-fires in Liberia only to see all 13 fall apart.
    (SFC, 5/8/96, p.A-18)

1997        Nov, It was reported that the Pioneer Food Cannery Ltd., in Tema canned 40,000 tons of raw skipjack and yellowtail tuna a year. The operation was owned by Star-Kist Foods Inc., a unit of H.J. Heinz. This provided Ghana with $60 million in exports.
    (WSJ, 11/10/97, p.A17)

1998        Jan 23, Former Pres. Hilla Limann (64) died in Accra.
    (SFEC, 1/25/98, p.A22)

1998        Mar 23, Pres. Clinton was scheduled to visit Ghana, the first nation where Peace Corps volunteers were sent.
    (SFC, 3/21/98, p.A13)

1998        Nov 11, It was reported that Pfizer and the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation initiated a $66 million effort to attack trachoma, a disease of the eye caused by chlamydia. A one-gram dose of zithromax given once a year would treat the disease. Focus was to be on Ghana, Mali, Morocco, Tanzania and Vietnam.
    (SFC, 11/11/98, p.D6)

1998        Ghana outlawed the Trokosi (wife of the gods) practice, but failed to enforce the ban. The system allowed young women to be given up to priests at shrines for good luck.
    (SFC, 7/10/99, p.A12)

1998        Juliana Dogbadzi (24) escaped from Trokosi, servitude under a fetish priest, in which she had served for 17 years. She began a speaking campaign against the system.
    (SFEC, 9/24/00, Par p.7)

1998        Divine Chocolate was founded in Britain. The chocolate was made in Germany and in 2007 45% of shares were owned by Kuapa Kokoo, Ghana’s largest cocoa bean cooperative.
    (Econ, 4/7/07, p.65)

1999        Feb 25, Otumfuo Nana Opoku Ware II, the king of the Ashanti people, died at the palace in Kumasi. The Asantehene was born Matthew John Kwaku Adusei-Poku and ascended to the Golden Stool to become the 18th King of Ashanti in 1970.
    (SFC, 3/1/99, p.A19)

2000        Sep 12, It was reported that Waldron’s red colobus, a loud-mouthed, red-cheeked monkey from Ghana and the Ivory Coast, was last seen in the 1970s and was believed extinct.
    (SFC, 9/11/00, p.A10)

2000        Dec 7, Presidential elections were held and 10 people died in violence. Representatives for the 200-seat parliament were also chosen. Opposition candidate John Agyekum Kuffuor led Vice Pres. John Atta Mills 48-44% in the 1st round of elections. A runoff vote was planned within 3 weeks.
    (SFC, 12/7/00, p.C18)(SFC, 12/11/00, p.F8)(WSJ, 12/11/00, p.A1)(WSJ, 1/04/00, p.A18)

2000        Dec 28, Runoff elections were held with sporadic violence. John Agyekum Kuffour won with 56.7% of the vote over John Atta Mills.
    (SFC, 12/29/00, p.B3)(SFC, 12/31/00, p.B9)

2000        The pilot TV show of “Things We Do for Love” premiered and mirrored real-life situations among young people in Ghana.
    (SFC, 5/20/02, p.A3)

2001        Jan 4, It was alleged that some 40% of World Bank loans and Western aid was squandered or stolen under the 19-year Marxist regime of Jerry Rawlings.
    (WSJ, 1/04/00, p.A18)

2001        Jan 7, John Kufuor (b.1938) became president of Ghana.
    (Econ, 11/29/08, p.51)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kufuor)

2001        May 9, In Ghana a stampede at a soccer match in Accra killed 126 people. Police had use of tear gas to quell fans which caused panic and the stampede.
    (WSJ, 5/10/01, p.A1)(SFC, 5/10/01, p.A16)(AP, 5/9/02)

2001        Manu Herbstein (b.1936), a South African resident of Ghana, authored “Ama: A Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade”
    (www.nathanielturner.com/amastoryofatlanticslavetrade.htm)

2002        Aug 1, In Ghana the government raised the cost of electricity by 60%.
    (SSFC, 12/8/02, p.D6)

2003        Apr 9, A large shipment of African rodents, including Gambian rats, dormice and sun squirrels, arrived in Dallas aboard a commercial flight from Ghana. An "unusually large number of sick and dead animals." Some of the larger animals had consumed the smaller ones. African rodents imported as pets caused a monkeypox outbreak in the Midwest that sickened dozens of adults and children with a virus related to smallpox.
    (AP, 11/29/06)

2003        Aug 18, In Accra, Ghana, Liberia's government and rebels signed a peace accord to end 14 years of vicious war with plans for elections in 2 years.
    (AP, 8/19/03)

2004        Jan 10, In Ghana the United Nations launched a yearlong commemoration of the anti-slavery movement. The International Year for the Commemoration of the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition coincides with the 200-year anniversary of Haiti, the first independent black state in the Western Hemisphere.
    (AP, 1/11/04)

2004        Apr 19, The annual environmental Goldman Prizes were awarded in SF. Winners included Rudolf N. Amenga-Etego of Ghana for his work in suspending a water privatization project.
    (SFC, 4/19/04, p.B5)

2005        Mar 25, In Ghana sparks from a welder's torch ignited a raging fire on MV Polaris, a Greek tanker moored in Tema, killing three people and leaving 12 others feared dead.
    (AP, 3/25/05)

2005        Nov 12, Africa Union leaders from Algeria, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa and Senegal met in Abuja for a 2-day summit titled: "Africa and the challenges of the global order: Desirability of union government," with the leaders discussing the broad principles of integration.
    (AFP, 11/12/05)

2005        Mark Davies, a British dotcom tycoon, went to Ghana and started TradeNet, a software company that later developed a simple sort of eBay for agricultural products.
    (Econ, 1/27/07, p.48)

2006        Jan 17, In Ghana first lady Laura Bush announced a US-backed program to provide 15 million textbooks for students in sub-Saharan Africa where more than one-third of primary school aged children are not enrolled in school.
    (AP, 1/17/06)

2006        Mar 29, The first total eclipse in years plunged Ghana into daytime darkness, a solar show sweeping northeast from Brazil to Mongolia.
    (AP, 3/29/06)

2006        Apr 8, In Ghana an overloaded motorboat carrying about 150 passengers on Lake Volta, and 110 people are missing and feared dead. Only 40 people are known to have survived the sinking.
    (AP, 4/10/06)

2006        Jun 18, China's PM Wen Jiabao went to Ghana, where he signed an agreement to lend the small West African nation about $66 million to fund a number of projects. China has leapfrogged Ghana's traditional trading partners India and Britain to become the West African nation's biggest foreign investor.
    (AFP, 6/17/06)(AP, 6/19/06)

2006        Jun 22, The US was eliminated from soccer’s World Cup by Ghana 2-1.
    (WSJ, 6/23/06, p.A1)

2006        Jul 12, The US government announced a five-year, 547-million-dollar aid package to Ghana to help the African nation develop agriculture and alleviate poverty.
    (AFP, 7/12/06)

2006        Sep 29, The World Diamond Council suggested that all Ghanaian rough-diamond exports be suspended to ensure that Ivorian diamonds were not being illegally exported. Rebel-controlled mines in Ivory Coast produced diamonds worth up to $23 million that were being smuggled to Mali and Ghana, violating UN sanctions and funding the rebel war effort.
    (Econ, 11/11/06, p.53)

2006        Dec, Ghana floated a 5-year bond issue for the first time. It was oversubscribed.
    (Econ, 10/11/08, p.36)

2006         The population of Ghana was about 22 million.
    (Econ, 6/24/06, p.52)

2007        Jan 29, The African Union chose Ghana to head the 53-member bloc, turning aside Sudan's bid for the second year in a row because of the worsening bloodshed in Darfur.
    (AP, 1/29/07)

2007        Feb, Ghana’s health budget per person was about $31 per year as calculated by the World Health Organization (WHO). Some 45% of the people lived on less than $1 per day, 79% on less than $2 per day, yet funerals tended to cost between $2,000 and $3,500.
    (Econ, 2/24/07, p.22)(Econ, 5/26/07, p.49)

2007        Mar 6, In Ghana singer Stevie Wonder introduced pianist Kofi Vordzorgbe (13) to dignitaries celebrating 50 years of independence from British rule. Kofi was later brought to San Francisco, Ca., to continue his music studies.
    (SFC, 6/6/09, p.E1)

2007        Apr 14, In Sudan unidentified gunmen killed a Ghanaian military officer in the African Union's peacekeeping force in the Darfur region and hijacked his car within yards of the AU mission's headquarters. The dead officer was the ninth peacekeeper slain this month, raising to 18 the number of AU soldiers killed since the mission deployed in 2004.
    (AP, 4/15/07)

2007        Jun 19, Ghanaians reacted with a blend of excitement and foreboding to the news of a major oil find off the coast of their west African nation, some viewing it as a boon and others fearing it could turn out to be a curse.
    (AFP, 6/19/07)

2007        Jun 28, African Union foreign ministers met in Accra, Ghana, to prepare a summit of heads of state next week, the focus of which will be the creation of the United States of Africa.
    (AP, 6/29/07)

2007        Jul 1, A 3-day African Union summit focused on forging a closer federation among the 53 member states began in the Ghanaian capital Accra.
    (AFP, 7/1/07)

2007        Jul 2, In Ghana African Union leaders gathered behind closed doors for a debate on how to beef up its continental system of government with Libya's Moamer Kadhafi leading a push to create a confederation of states.
    (AP, 7/2/07)
2007        Jul 2, In Ghana 2 British girls were stopped with 300,000 pounds (443,000 euros, 610,000 dollars) worth of cocaine during a joint Ghanaian-British narcotics operation. They were found guilty on November 21 and were released on July 17, 2008.
    (AFP, 7/17/08)

2007        Jul 3, In Ghana African leaders vowed to speed up the economic and political integration of their continent to pursue the goal of a United States of Africa, but they also agreed to study more closely how to achieve it.
    (Reuters, 7/4/07)

2007        Jul 4, In Ghana a drive towards forging a United States of Africa ran out of steam as leaders filed away from a summit without agreeing on a timeline for creating a new government for the continent.
    (AFP, 7/5/07)

2007        Sep 21, The Red Cross warned that a massive aid effort is needed to cope with floods in 18 countries across Africa that have already affected at least 1.5 million people and killed at least 270 in Ghana, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, Togo, Uganda and other countries.
    (AFP, 9/21/07)

2007        Nov 21, Two British teenagers (16) faced up to three years in jail after a Ghanaian court found them guilty of smuggling 6 kg (13 lbs) of cocaine. The teenagers, who pleaded not guilty, had told British TV they were tricked into carrying the bags by male acquaintances in Ghana and Britain and did not know their content. In 2008 the 2 girls were sentenced to one year in jail to include time already served. They were released on July 17, 2008.
    (Reuters, 11/21/07)(AP, 1/23/08)(AFP, 7/17/08)

2007        Dec 22, Ghana's Pres. John Kufuor said that offshore oil reserves discovered in the West African country's waters total 3 billion barrels.
    (AP, 12/22/07)

2008        Jan 1, In Ghana 2 US Navy sailors, Patrick Mack (22) of Warren, Mich., and Lonnie Davis Jr. (35) of Riverdale, Ga., were found dead in a hotel room in Accra. They were stationed aboard the USS Fort McHenry, which is on a 7-month voyage in the Gulf of Guinea.
    (AP, 1/1/08)(AP, 1/3/08)

2008        Feb 10, The Africa Cup of Nations, a biennial soccer tournament held this year in Ghana, ended with Egypt’s defeat of Cameroon 1-0.
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_African_Cup_of_Nations)

2008        Feb 20, In Ghana President Bush sought to soothe African fears about American interests on the continent. He said the US isn’t aiming to make Africa into a base for greater military power or a proxy battleground with China.
    (AP, 2/20/08)

2008        Feb 29, In Ghana 9 Nigerians were sentenced to 5 years each for faking e-mails and letters, including one from the Ghanaian president, to dupe a Frenchman out of $185,000.
    (AFP, 3/10/08)

2008        Jul 3, Vodafone Group PLC said it planned to acquire a 70% stake in Ghana Telecom Co. for $900 million.
    (WSJ, 7/5/08, p.B6)

2008        Sep 2, The Third High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness ppened in Accra, Ghana, for a 3-day meeting. It aimed to record how much progress had been maderelative to the Paris 2005 declaration for making aid work better and targets set for 2010.
    (Econ, 9/6/08, p.69)(www.climate-l.org/2008/09/third-high-leve.html)

2008        Oct 19, An Israeli businessman was kidnapped in Ghana. The kidnappers initially demanded $500,000 ransom, then lowered it to $300,000.
    (AP, 10/24/08)

2008        Nov 17, The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) said a ton of ivory items and 57 suspects were netted in a four-month operation billed Africa's largest-ever crackdown on wildlife crime. Operation Baba also seized cheetah, leopard, serval cat and python skins as well as hippo teeth at several markets, airports and border crossings in Congo Brazzaville, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda and Zambia.
    (AFP, 11/17/08)

2008        Dec 7, Ghanaians voted for a new president in a tight race between two foreign-educated lawyers hoping to lead the West African nation into an era of greater prosperity thanks to offshore oil. Two technocrats were expected to get the most votes in a filed of 8 seeking to replace incumbent Pres. John Kufuor. No candidate managed to win a majority and Nana Akufo-Addo and John Atta Mills were scheduled for a runoff on Dec 28.
    (Reuters, 12/7/08)(WSJ, 12/8/08, p.A12)(WSJ, 12/11/08, p.A12)

2008        Dec 28, Ghanaians turned out to choose a successor to outgoing president John Kufuor in the second round of an election seen as a test of just how stable the west African nation is. Opposition leader John Atta Mills narrowly led Ghana's presidential ballot.
    (AP, 12/28/08)(AP, 12/29/08)

2009        Jan 2, Ghana's leader appealed for calm and urged his people to accept the results of a tight presidential election as voters in a single district cast ballots that could decide the West African nation's next president. Election results from all other districts showed opposition leader John Atta Mills ahead of his ruling party rival Nana Akufo-Addo by only around 23,000 votes out of more than 9 million cast.
    (AP, 1/2/09)

2009        Jan 3, In Ghana opposition leader John Atta Mills was declared the next president in the closest electoral race this West African nation has ever seen. The peaceful ballot secured Ghana's place as a beacon of democracy on a volatile continent.
    (AP, 1/3/09)

2009        Jul 11, In Ghana US Pres. Obama met with Ghanaian President John Atta Mills. Obama praised and scolded the continent of his ancestors, asserting forces of tyranny and corruption must yield if Africa is to achieve its promise.
    (AP, 7/11/09)

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