Some of the key elements of this fifty-year history include strategies that the imperialists used to checkmate Independence; coups that were mounted against progressive regimes; the failure of forces that tried to derail the struggle against apartheid; the vagaries of American foreign policy visited upon Somalia and the Sudan; negotiations with Al-Qaeda; the jihadist attacks that preceded the ones on September 11th and the so-called anti-terrorist policies that they provoked. In 2002, a pan-Sahelian anti-terrorist initiative was crafted in collaboration with four Sahelian countries/ Three years later, the Trans-Sahara Counter-Terrorist Initiative (TSCTI) was expanded to cover five more countries.
Baadhi ya vipengele muhimu katika historia ya Afrika katika hizi miaka hamsini tunaokumbuka na kuadhimisha leo tarehe ishirini na tano, mwezi wa tano zinahusu mipango ya wabeberu kukwamisha hisia za kutafuta uhuru na kujitawala; mapinduzi za kijeshi dhidi serikali za kimapinduzi na kupenda maendeleo; vikwazo dhidi hatua ya kungoa utawala wa ubaguzi wa rangi nchini Afrika Kusini; sera za kigeni za kuyumba yumba ya Serikali ya Amerika ndani ya Somalia na Sudan; mazungumzo na mtandao wa kigaidi ya Al Qaeda; mashambulizi na wanamgambo wenye hisia za siasa kali za Kiislamu kabla mashambulizo New York mnamo mwezi wa tisa tarehe kumi na moja mwaka wa elfu mbili na moja na sera za kupinga ugaidi zilizoibua; mnamo mwaka wa elfu mbili na mbili kulivumbuliwa mpango wa kupambana na ugaidi katika nchi tatu za jimbo la Sahel. Miaka mitatu baadaye mpango huo wa Trans Sahara Counter Terrorist Initiative (TSCTI) ulipanuliwa kushirikisha mataifa mengine tano.