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[Photos] Castro and Africa: Nkrumah, Sankara, Mandela, Gaddafi and others

[Photos] Castro and Africa: Nkrumah, Sankara, Mandela, Gaddafi and others

Cuba

Fidel Castro’s military footprints in Africa back in the 1970s – at the height of the Cold War – is very well documented.

From Angola to Mozambique, Ethiopia to Somalia, Guinea Bissau to Equatorial Guinea. With his persona as a leading ‘revolutionary’ of his time, other like minds met with him over time.

He is also on record to have visited African countries not exactly on military missions but more along diplomatic lines. African leaders over the years also found their way to Havana to meet with him.

Even though, Cuba passes as a small Caribbean nation, they went to war thousands of miles away on the battlefields of Angola and Ethiopia, thousands have died as a result of their intervention militarily.

It’s leader at the time, Fidel Castro, who died late Friday aged 90, was convinced that the global stage for the “world revolution” was happening in Africa – as a result, Cuba became the first Latin American nation cross the seas to engage in war.

Africanews pools together photos of the Cuban leader with African leaders over the years – Flip through our gallery or scroll down for captioned pictures.

Fidel Castro and Africa F. Castro NkrumahThe late Fidel Castro meets with Ghana’s first President Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, a champion of African Liberation from colonialism.

CUBACuban President Fidel Castro ® and Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe stand at attention during an arrival ceremony at the Palace of the Revolution in Havana September 18.

F. Castro-T. SankaraFidel Castro decorates Burkinabe revolutionary leader, Thomas Sankara. Sankara, former was killed during the coup that brought former president Compaore to power in 1987

CUBA CASTROFormer South African President Nelson Mandela (L) hugs Cuba’s President Fidel Castro during a visit to Mandela’s home in Houghton, Johannesburg in this September 2, 2001

F. Castro GaddafiThe Cuban leader Fidel Castro (L) speaks with the late Libyan leader, Colonel Muammar al Gaddafi

ALGERIA CUBACuban leader Fidel Castro (L) speaks with Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika ® and an unidentified translator during an official dinner at Palais du Peuple in Algiers May 6, 2001.

CUBA SOUTH AFRICAFormer South African President Thabo Mbeki ® is formally welcomed in the Revolution Palace by his Cuban counterpart Fidel Castro in Havana March 27, 2001.

CUBACuban President Fidel Castro ® greets Nigeria’s President-elect Olasegun Obasanjo on his arrival at the Revolution Palace in Havana April 2.

F. Castro JJ RawlingsThe Cuban leader Fidel Castro meets former military and later civilian president of Ghana, Jerry John Rawlings

CUBACuban President Fidel Castro (L) reviews the troops as he receives his counterpart from Burkina Faso, Blaise Compaore, July 21, 2001.

SUGGESTED READING The 1977 Ogaden war: Why Somalis fume at Castro but Ethiopians celebrate him

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