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.

A continuation of political instability led the Defence Minister, General Sanni Abacha, to launch a further military coup on 17 November 1993. A Military Provisional Ruling Council and a civilian Federal Executive Council were formed to govern the country, but pro-democracy demonstrations continued.

The National Constitutional Conference (NCC) was convened by the President in June 1994 and it was announced, in the following January, that General Abacha should have an unlimited term of office. An attempted coup was defeated in March 1995 and political activity was restored in June, when the NCC presented a draft constitution to the President. In June 1998, General Abacha died of a heart attack and was replecaed by General Abubakar. A continuation of the return to civilian rule was promised and the release of political prisoners began.

It was expected that Chief Abiola would be released, but in July 1998, he died of a heart attack while still in prison. News of his death led to widespread rioting throughout the country and the President announced that all elections held under General Abacha’s rule were considered to be null and void. A general election was held on 20 February 1999 and the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) won a majority in both houses of parliament. A presidential election followed and the PDP candidate, General Obasanjo, was elected. The civilian administration assumed power on 29 May 1999.

During the period of General Abacha’s rule, Nigeria was suspended from the Commonwealth on 11 November 1995, following the execution of nine Human Rights activists. It was readmitted to membership on 29 May 1999 when the democratically elected government took over the control of the country.

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.

In 1842 Goree was given the first postal service in French West Africa; it was not an integral part of Senegal until 1859. The first mainland PO was at St Louis (c.1856). By 19.15, there were 55 POs in operation.

Senegal issues were also used in the region known as Rivieres du Sud (after 1892, part of French Guinea) where known POs include Conakry, Benty, Boffa, Boke, Dubreka and Victoria; also at Kaedi and Rosso (after 1906 part of Mauritania), and at Kita and Kayes (later in French Sudan). Used stamps of French West Africa from 1944-59.

President Diouf was re-elected in the first round of Presidential elections in February 1993. In August 1998, the National Assembly voted to remove the restriction that limited the President to only two 7 year terms and Diouf who was originally installed in 1981 has remained President ever since.

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.

Carl Einar Pelander was noted for his expertise on Scandinavian stamps and received a Fieandt Memorial medal in 1960 from the Finnish Philatelic Society for doing an original research on the stamps of Finland and for promoting Finnish philately.

Philip Ward Jr. was a world famous stamp dealer, known for buying and selling collectors stamps, including the rarest stamps which are classic issues of the world. He had an exceptional collection of match and medicine stamps and his widely known collection was the U.S. Revenues, which had the only complete set of inverted centers. He was the first person to recognize the importance of first day covers and then created the many of the rarest and earliest.

William Woodbury Hicks was a renowned specialist and founder of the Three cent 1851-1857 Unit of the American Philatelic Society. He built the largest and most complete collection of U.S railroad cancels from the 1830s to 1861.

Harry Weiss was an editor of the Weekly Philatelic Gossip in the 1930s and the most prominent philatelic columnist of his time. His column comprised stories on hobbies, new stamps, and hot tips. He organized the Midwest Philatelic Laboratory in 1946, which had technical equipments and offered a wide range of services for stamp collectors. Services include, stamp appraisals, expertization, mounting and even suggested ways for the successful outlook of collections.

George Ward Linn is a known stamp collector, journalist, dealer who own the George W. Linn Company and famous for his “Linn’s Weekly Stamp News”. Some of his stamp specimens have been among the rarest and most valuable among the philatelists. He traveled the world in search for old, rare and obsolete issues of stamps, even the ones with much historic interest.

Louise Boyd Dale is considered to be the most distinguished stamp collector in America. She was the first woman to be appointed as judge for an international philatelic exhibition. She became the first American woman to sign the Roll of Distinguished Philatelist and was also appointed to the jury of the London International Stamp exhibition.

Ad Indusophon, a known lady philatelist from Siam; was the wife of the late Prakaipet Indhusophon, a popular international philatelist of the 1970s to 1980s. Her greatest achievements in the field of philately include; the building of a foundation in Thailand to promote philately among youth; her “Cape of Good Hope Triangulars” stamps collection, won the International Grand Prix at Toronto in 1996; when her work was recognized and was invited to sign the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists in Hereford last July 2001.

Anatoly Karpov was a former world chess champion, who is known for his stamp collection on chess and Olympic Games dated from the first modern Olympic Games in Athens, Greece in 1896 to the Olympic Games in Amsterdam of 1928.

Cyril Harmer was the chairman and managing director of the “Hamers Auction House” from 1967 to 1976. He assembled what was without a doubt the finest collection of the Airmails of Newfoundland, “the Newfoundland overprinted stamps”. This collection was sold last February 26, 2002 for a total of £803,000.00.

Dr. Arthur Woo was known for his unique postage stamp collections of Classic Birds. Some of which are, the Western Australia Swan, the Guatemala Quetzel, the Colombia Andean Condor, and the USA 1869 Eagle.

Hiroyuki Kanai was postage stamp collector known for possessing 6 of the Greatest Mauritius stamp collection out of the 27 and it is the greatest number ever to be owned by one person in the world. The highly valuable Mauritius collection was printed in September 1847, under the instructions of the Governor of Mauritius’ wife, Lady Gomm, who wanted stamps for the invitations to her fancy dress ball. He received numerous awards in the field of philately but he is most proud of the award received in the National Grand Prix for his Finland Collection in Helsinki 1988.

Pichai Buranasombati was a top Great Britain postage stamp collector who formed great stamp collections such as “Straits Settlements” which won the National Grand Prix in Singapore 1995, “Burma” winner of the National Grand Prix in Indepex 1997, “Classic Siam”, which won a large gold medal at Bangkok 1993, and “Siam: middle period”, which won a large gold in Singapore 1995.

Hinges were used traditionally and many stamps have their value affected - up or down - by the size and nature of the ‘hinge marks’ on them. Mounts have come into common use over the last 30 years.

For decades hinges were used to place stamps into display notebooks or individual papers. Hinges are small, bent pieces of gummed paper that can attach to a page and to a stamp. That secures the stamp with a minimal amount of adhesive, while keeping it safely attached to the page.

Now a days, Mounts were developed much better.  Early versions exist from as far back as the 1930s though they are now used much more often.A mount may have a gummed edge in order to attach to a paper, but will provide a sleeve for the stamp.

Using a hinge is simple. You wet a narrow strip of the hinge and apply it to the display page. Then wet a narrow strip of the stamp and apply to the hinge. It narrows the area of adhesion. The hinge also allows the stamp to be secured while enabling the collector to view the back in order to see marks made there.

Older stamps will almost always have hinge marks or ‘remnants’, and sometimes this will actually increase their value. There’s no way to explain the evaluations of collectors, sometimes. A mount doesn’t suffer from the problem of adhering the stamp to the hinge, but they nonetheless need to be used with care. Mounts can produce marks or other types of damage.

Glassine, a special paper often used for mount material, isn’t an entirely acid-free paper and can damage the surface of the stamp. Trace amounts of sulfuric acid found in most paper can chemically destroy the cellulose.

For that reason, special archival paper is sometimes used to store and display stamps - not just for the mount sleeve, but the display page as well. Japanese rice paper is one of the more common alternatives, but there are specially made materials, as well.

Once mounted or hinged, most collectors will place stamps on one side of the page only. Though this requires using more pages and binders to display a large collection, the cost is generally justified. The risk of damage, from tearing or surface scratching, is greater with two-sided displays.

Ideally, glass or special sealed plastic envelopes will maintain a stamp in best condition over many decades. But, their cost is prohibitive for all except very valuable, unique items in the collection.

Following the tips below is guaranteeing your success in collecting your postage stamps.

• Look in your recycling bin for envelopes with postage stamps attached. Rip a section of the envelope with the stamp attached. Do not attempt to remove the postage stamps at this point; you might damage your postage stamps permanently.

• Soak the stamps. Prepare a cup of warm water. Be sure that it is not hot; hot water can damage your postage stamps. Submerge the envelope sections with the postage stamps attached for 30 minutes or more.

• After a period of time, the postage stamps should separate from the envelope with ease. If the postage stamps refuse to come off, soak for a little longer. Some postage stamps are sometimes harder to remove. Be careful in separating your stamps, you might tear your postage stamps, you hard work will turn into nothing.

• Dry your postage stamps. Carefully remove superficial water by drying the postage stamps with a paper towel. When doing this, do not wipe the postage stamps; press the towel to the postage stamps instead. Allowing the excess water to separate from your postage stamps.

• Press your postage stamps. Arrange the postage stamps on a sheet of paper. File additional layers of paper above and below this original layer. Place a heavy book on top of this arrangement. Let the postage stamps dry completely for a couple of hours.

• Collecting your postage stamps: Separate the postage stamps by the amount of money the postage stamp is worth, by country, by topics or whatever category you like. Purchase a stamp album to hold your postage stamps to protect your collections.

Buying and selling stamps online is all about modernizing the age-old craft of stamp collection to keep up with the times. Thus, based on the aforementioned fact, EBay proves to be an excellent hub for finding stamps that are worth including in anyone’s well-loved collection.

Stamps on eBay fulfill every stamp collectors’ ultimate dream, which is to find unique and valuable stamps to keep, display, and compare with other stamp collectors’. They come in various designs, while some originated from Japan, Austria, and New Zealand and are considered vintage stamps.

Shopping for Stamps on eBay has never been this enjoyable through the internet. Since Ebay.com started this thing going on, collectors as well as non-collectors are attracted to take a peak at its vast collection because the site also contain hard-to-find collections like covers, errors, oddities, and more.

Stamps on eBay are always included in auction events. They are always given to the highest bidder and their price continuously increases as time go by. However, some of these stamps go on sale, but that is a very rare case since Stamps on eBay become the collectors’ investments as they accumulate in the album. This only proves that such stamps are valuable and are worth every collector’s money.