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| b. Malawi |
| 1960, April |
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| Dr. Hastings Banda (who had returned from London in 1958), leader of the Nyasaland National Congress (which in 1966 became the Malawi Congress Party), was released from detention, and constitutional negotiations were opened in London. | 1 |
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| 1961, Aug |
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| Banda and the MCP won by a landslide in the preindependence election. | 2 |
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| 1964, July 6 |
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| Malawi became independent. Banda quickly showed that his policies would be strikingly conservative, including slow Africanization of the civil service and cooperation with the Portuguese and South Africans. | 3 |
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| 1966 |
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| Malawi became a one-party state under Pres. Banda's Malawi Congress Party (MCP). | 4 |
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| 1967, Oct |
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| Banda defeated an uprising led by a former cabinet minister and consolidated his power. | 5 |
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| 1980 |
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| Malawi joined the Southern African Development Coordination Conference (SADCC), which aimed to reduce dependence on South Africa. | 6 |
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| 1986, Oct |
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| As a result of pressure from neighboring countries after the death of Mozambique's president, Samora Machel, Malawi developed better relations with Mozambique and stationed 500 troops there to guard a railway line against RENAMO, which Malawi had previously been suspected of supporting. | 7 |
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| 1988 |
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| Malawi was plunged into economic crisis as a result of food shortages, the presence of more than 400,000 refugees from the war in Mozambique, and growing dissent against Banda's repressive government. | 8 |
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| 1994, May 17 |
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| Malawi held its first multiparty elections, electing Bakili Muluzi after a voting process thought to be handled fairly and peacefully. | 9 |
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| 1995, Jan |
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| Following an independent commission of inquiry into several deaths in 1993, former president Banda was arrested for his role in the alleged murders. | 10 |
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| 1996, Jan |
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| Banda released a statement in which he admitted that he may have unknowingly been responsible for brutalities committed under his regime and apologized to Malawians for the pain and suffering inflicted during his presidency. | 11 |
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