The majority Hutu population rebelled against the feudal Tutsi rule in 1959-62, leading to the massacre of thousands of Tutsis. Large numbers fled to Uganda. The first President of the republic was deposed in 1973 and was replaced by a military government under general Habyasima, who established a one-party state.

Armed Tutsi exiles repeatedly attempted to invade Rwanda in the 1960s and 70s but were always defeated by the Hutu army. Continued Hutu-Tutsi conflict left thousands dead over a period of 30 years.

In October 1990, Rwanda was invaded by the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) of exiled Tutsis and some moderate Hutus, who were against the one party system. The invaders forced the one-party Government to introduce a multi-party Constitution in 1991. When the Government refused to honour the 1992 Peace Agreement, the RPF advanced on Kigali and forced the Government to begin negotiations again. This resulted in a peace accord in August 1993, known as the Arusha accord. This accord provided for a transitional period under a broad-based government including the RPF until the 1995 elections and a presence of United Nations forces in the country during this period.

President Habyarima who had retained the presidency during this period, died on 6 April 1994 in a plane crash, probably caused by a rocket attack by extremists of the Hutu army. This army and militia then carried out a pre-planned act of genocide against the Tutsi minority and moderate Hutus. 500,000 preople were massacred in three months. The civil war began again and the RPF gradually re-established control over the country and forced the defeated government troops and 2 million Hutu refugees out of the country. Finally, on 18 July 1994, the RPF declared victory and established a government of National Unity.

Between 50,000 and 60,000 Hutu refugees died of disease in refugee camps in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) in the summer of 1994. French troops with drew from their ‘safe zone’ in the south-west of the country in September 1994 and were replaced by RPF forces that gradually returned most of the refugees in the zone to their homes. UN forces (UNAMIR II), which included British troops, were also deployed to deter revenge attacks by either side.
After November 1994, there was a gradual return of the refugees to Rwanda. It is estimated that 200,000 returnd from Uganda, but by December 1995, 500,000 refugees remained in Tanzania and over a million in Zaire. UN forces left the country in March 1996 and the killings by both sides continued and Hutu attacks in central and western Rwanda were frequent in the first half of 1998.

Rwanda has supported a rebellion in the Democratic Republic of Congo (qv) led by the Congolese Democratic Rally, a Congolese Tutsi Group. Rwandese troops have also been deployed in the Congo.

Local elections took place on 29-31 March 1999, the first for nine years and the transitional National Assembly was extended for four further years in June 1999.

In 1902 the non-military zone became Senegambia and Niger and in 1904 Upper Senegal and Niger. The capital was moved to Bamako.

In 1911 Niger became the only military district and began to separate from the main colony. It became an independent colony in 1922.

Prior to that, in 1919, the colony of Upper Volta had been created by detaching six of the southern provinces from Upper Senegal and Niger and, in 1920, the remainder returned to the original name of French Sudan. When Upper Volta was abolished in 1933, parts of the original provinces reverted to French Sudan. On 4 April 1954, French Sudan joined Senegal to make the Mali Federation.

Upper Senegal and Middle Niger did not issue stamps. Stamps of French Sudan were used until 1903 when they were replaced by the stamps of Senegambia and Niger (q.v.).

In 1920 stamps of Upper Senegal and Niger (q .v.) were overprinted for use in French Sudan when it was reconstituted.

Used stamps of French West Africa 1944-59. Then became part of the Mali Federation.

Mauritania and Morocco occupied the Western Sahara Territory in February 1976 when Spain Formally relinquished control. After a three year war against POLISARIO, Mauritania gave up her claim to the southern sector of the former Spanish Territory.

There was a military coup in 1978 and Mauritania was ruled by a Military Committeeof National Salvation. In April 1991, President ould Tagu announced a politicalamnesty, followed by multi-party elections. The constitution was approved in July 1991. Since that date the country has remained stable.

The United Nations were asked to mediate and the two parties signed a further peace agreement in 1994. A Government on National Reconstruction was formed in April 1997. But when President Mobutu of Zaire, one of UNITA’s supporters, fell from power, fighting resumed in May 1997.

On 30 October 1997, the UN Security Council ordered sanctions against UNITA for failing to fulfil its obligations under the previous protocol and UNITA was obliged to return much of the territory it had gained to government control in the following months.

In March 1998 UNITA became a legitimate political party, although fighting still continued. The UN adopted a resolution in September 1998 that urged the rejection of military force by all parties and named UNITA as the primary cause of the crisis in Angola.

During all this period, the MPLA had continued to issue stamps, partly as means of obtaining hard currency. At one stage an issue appeared from UNITA for much the same purpose. The situation of the mails is unknown and it unlikely that the recent issues have served any postal purpose.

Postal services were initially by courier and by coastal steamboat service operated by the French navy. The coastal service passed to Messageries Maritimes in 1866, and from 1862 railways slowly pushed forward (Algiers-Oran opened 1871; Constantine-Philippeville 1870).

Military handstamps were used in 1830-9; datestamps bearing town names and dates were issued to POs after 1839.

Used stamps of France from 1 January 1849.

Oblit. 16 January 1849 – 31 December 1851 by dumb grille: stamps are identifiably from Algeria only on cover. After 1852 cancellation was by lozenge of dots with small figures (3710 – 4448) and after 1863 by similar lozenge with large figures (5000 – 5171). N.B. Most of these numbers, but not all, were issued to Algeria. Datestamps were used to cancel stamps from April 1876.

Used stamps of France 22 July 1958 – 27 June 1962.

Used locally overprinted stamps c. 4 July 1962 – 31 October 1962 until independence stamps were available.

There were 862 POs in 1969.

Usually the stamps already in use in that country are overprinted with some identification to mark them as being used in the new country. Such is the case with Bangladesh. Bangladesh was formerly East Pakistan, and when they gained their independence and renamed their country, they used the stamps of East Pakistan with an overprint declaring the name of the new country.

These are provisional stamps, and usually provisionals are very costly, since they are used only in an emergency period, being replaced by stamps definitive to the country at the earliest opportunity.

woodblocks

Something of a legend among rare stamps, the so-called “Woodblock” provisional stamps of 1861 were engraved in London and were printed from stereotyped plates that were mounted on a wooden block, hence the nickname.

The stamps were created by a Cape of Good Hope surveyor and were supposedly designed in a triangular shape. The design of a female figure sitting on top of an anchor, which is resting on top of a rock, symbolizing the Cape.

The Woodblock Stamps were printed in 1861 and comes in both 1 penny and 4 penny forms. The 1 penny Woodblock Stamp comes in the color Vermillion while the 4 penny Woodblock Stamp comes in the color Blue. However, as is common during this error, the 1 penny stamp sometimes is accidentally printed with the color blue: and the 4 penny stamp is accidentally printed with the color vermillion.

Just over 24,000 of the One Penny and 20,000 of the Four pence “Woodblocks” were printed. At most, there could be but 220 errors in each case. A rarer shade of the One Penny error exists in pale blue and is valued at around £40,000 in sound used condition.

Bull's Eye

The first issue of Brazil – the Bullseye, so nicknamed from the design’s resemblance – comes fourth chronologically in order of issue of adhesive postage stamps. First, in 1840, came the Penny Black and two-pence Blue of Great Britain; in 1842 came the New York Dispatch; and, in March 1843, came the Fours and Sixes of Zurich. The Bullseyes first appeared on August 1, 1843.

In conception, however, the Bullseyes are entitled to rank second only to the British issue. It was on November 30, 1841 that the Brazilian Government was authorized by Law No. 43 to create stamps. That law came about through the efforts of J.D. Sturtz, a German who had been a Brazilian consul to Prussia. Enlisting the aid of a British charge d’affaires in Brazil, he urged the adoption of prepayment by means of stamps, following the innovation in Britain.

Eventually emerging from carefully preserved, if musty, official records were the prime fact that, in 1841, the Brazilian customs authorities seized an engraving machine from one Pedro Ludwig, confiscated it and used it in the service of the mint. On Christmas Eve 1842 a transferring machine and accessories were bought by the Mint from one Eduardo Lemerick.

Production of the plates involved engraving a flat die with figures and background – a different die for each value; 30, 60, and 90 reis. The printing of the Bullseyes ceased at the end of 1843. Continued sale of the stock on hand was authorized on August 22, 1844, but use after 1850 is scarcely known. The numbers of Bullseyes calculated to have been issued are 30 reis – 856,617; 60 reis – 1,335,865; 90 reis – 341,125. Those figures do not include the remainders on hand which were burnt at the Mint on March 30, 1846.

Of the finds of Bullseyes the most important has been a vertical strip of three; the upper two stamps are the 30 reis value and the lowest is 60 reis, with a dividing line which separated the different values on the plate. Formerly in the collection of Charles Lathrop Pack, the strip is known as the ‘Pack Strip’. In March 1963 at auction by Stanley Gibbons the pack strip realized £8,250. Auctioned again by Stanley Gibbons in February 1969, the Pack Strip realized £11,500. It was sold in the Robert Siegel auction at Ameripex ’86′ on May 25th for $275,000. Another, but defective multiple of different values se tenant is known.

A complete pane of eighteen of the 90 reis was found in Brazil about 1898. Among other finds, the most noteworthy is a unique complete sheet of sixty of the 60 reis from the plate which was ready on July 11, 1843. At Stanley Gibbons’ auction in Frankfurt on 18 May 1978, the sheet realized $82,381. A 30 reis interpane block of four realized $168,000 at the Habsburg-Feldman auction in Zurich November 18, 1989 of the Amazon Collection which had been assembled over half a century. Colonel Napier had theorized correctly about the existence of the third plate which was proven by the later discovery of this block. The collection had earned the Grand Prix of the Court of Honour at London 1980.

The extraordinary thing about the first Brazilian stamps, issued on August 1, 1843, was that, some how, the authorities acquired Perkins, Bacon-style equipment – including a transfer roller – and engraved dies from which they prepared plates of 54 stamps, each plate comprising panes of 18 of each value -30, 60, and 90 reis. The designs featured large, ornamental figures of value within oval settings; hence their nickname, ‘bullseyes’, and the arrangement of the stamps in the sheet permitted se-tenant pairs, that is, stamps of two different denominations joined together in a pair. A classic example was the ‘Pack Strip’ – it was owned by an American collector, Charles Lathrop Pack – which was a vertical strip of three containing a pair of the 30 reis se-tenant with the 60 reis, the most famous item in Brazilian stamps. The stamps bore no country name or other inscription.

These stamps were followed in 1844 by smaller, rectangular designs with italic or inclined numerals of value, the Inclinados or ‘snake’s eyes’, and in 1850 by smaller versions of the original ‘bullseyes’ which became known as the ‘goat’s eyes’ or if blue instead of the customary black color, ‘cat’s eyes’. Small high-value stamps appeared in 1861 – it was not until 1866 that Brazil honored Emperor Dom Pedro II with his portrait on stamps. There are two interesting theories as to why that honor was delayed. One was that, in 1843, there was no one in the Rio Treasury who was sufficiently skilled to engrave such a portrait in the time available; the other was that there was objection to the prospect of the Emperor’s likeness being obliterated by postmarks!

This particular stamp was to mark the opening of the British Penny Postage scheme which was advocated from the days of Sir Rowland Hill.  New Zealand, Transvaal, etc., issued a special type and Canada did likewise. The designing of this stamp also had another meaning. The Ottawa Evening Journal has it in these lines: “When Postmaster General of Canada Sir William Mulock, was in Britain he as surprised to notice that the great mass of people (of Britain) did not appreciate the vastness of the British possessions abroad. This was especially true of Canada”. When it was time to prepare a suitable design for the 1898 issue, he suggested a map of the world showing the British possessions in a striking color.  He called for designs, but none suited. Then he drew a rough sketch and submitted it to an artist to finish.  The Journal also states that “Mr. Mulock is giving the public the cheapest map of the world ever made”.

The British possessions were in red while the countries of other powers are not so noticeable.

At the top the Crown is displayed and at the bottom the legende “We hold a vaster Empire than has been” appears.

The legende is taken from the Jubilee ode of Sir Lewis Morris, entitled “Song of the Empire”.

This remarkable stamp caused no end of criticism at home and abroad, not only because of its startling design, but (quoting C.A. Howe’s “Canada”) also because of the bombastic legende which appeared.

Before the section of Philately of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, John N. Luff, on February 24th 1899, mentioned this issue in a lecture delivered in the interests of the hobby.  He observes, “The motto is a trifle bombastic and suggests the Teutonic superlative “So bigger as never was”, and “Xmas 1898″ reads like the advertisement of a department store: “Gents pants for Xmas gifts”.

So great was the public demand for this stamp that it was put on sale the sixth day of December, although the intercolonial reduced postage did not become effective until Christmas Day. The value of the stamp was two cents and the colors, originally red and lavender, but within a short time copies appeared with Neptune’s realm in light green and Prussian blue.

Perot Provisional

This is the first stamp issued by Bermudians to inaugurate their capital, Hamilton, and is signed by Bermuda postmaster William Bennet Perot. In 1848, the town of Hamilton was incorporated as the Capital of Bermuda, and these stamps were printed under Postmaster William Bennet Perot. He wrote the words “1 penny” above the year stamp and signed his name below.

Till now, only 11 copies of this stamp have been discovered. Most of them are in the possession of European royalty, such as the specimen belonging to Queen Elizabeth II. This stamp’s worth is approximately $100,000.

Hawaiian Missionaries

Mail in Hawaii used to be carried by ships with no official postal system in place. However, by 1851, traffic in Hawaii was high enough that the government set up a postal office and established official postal rates.

On 1st October, 1851 The stamps went on sale in three denominations covering three rates: the 2-cent stamp was for newspapers going to the US, the 5-cent value was for regular mail to the US, and the 13-cent value was for mail to the US East Coast, combining the 5 cents of Hawaiian postage, a 2-cent ship fee, and 6 cents to cover the transcontinental US rate. These stamps are most often used by missionaries working there at the time.

The top line read “Hawaiian / Postage” for the 2- and 5-cent values, but “H.I. & U.S. / Postage” for the 13-cent value, reflecting its unusual role of paying two different countries’ postage. And design of these stamps was very simple, having a central numeral of the denomination framed by a standard ornament and the denomination repeated in words at the bottom.

Till now there are only 200 stamps of Hawaiian Missionaries have survived, including all values.

The 2-cent is the rarest of the Hawaiian Missionaries, with only 15 copies existing. In 1921 the 2 cent Missionary stamp was sold for US$15,000 and in 1963 the same stamp sold for US$41,000. And Present estimated value of these 2 cent Hawaiian Missionaries stamp is £450,000 for unused copy and £225,000 for used copy.

An interesting story about this stamp is: in 1892, one of its earlier owners, Gaston Leroux, was murdered for it by an envious fellow philatelist, Hector Giroux.

An envelope containing a 2 cent and 5 cent Hawaiian Missionary stamp (as well as two other 3 cent stamps) survived to this day and is known as the Dawson Cover, in the 1995 Siegel auction it realized a price of US$1.9 million, and was last sold publicly for $2.09 million, making it one of the highest-priced of all philatelic items.