<P> In 1945, Africa had four independent countries - Egypt, Ethiopia, Liberia, and South Africa . </P> <P> After Italy's defeat in World War II, France and the UK occupied the former Italian colonies . Libya became an independent kingdom in 1951 . Eritrea was merged with Ethiopia in 1952 . Italian Somaliland was governed by the UK, and by Italy after 1954, until its independence in 1960 . </P> <P> Although France was ultimately a victor of World War II, Nazi Germany's occupation of France and its North African colonies during the war had disrupted colonial rule . On October 27, 1946 France adopted a new constitution creating the Fourth Republic, and substituted the French Union for the colonial empire . However power over the colonies remained concentrated in France, and the power of local assemblies outside France was extremely limited . On the night of March 29, 1947, a nationalist uprising in Madagascar led the French government headed by Paul Ramadier (Socialist) to violent repression: one year of bitter fighting, 11,000 - 40,000 Malagasy died . </P> <P> In 1956, Morocco and Tunisia gained their independence from France . In 1960 eight independent countries emerged from French West Africa, and five from French Equatorial Africa . The Algerian War of Independence raged from 1954 to 1962 . To this day, the Algerian war--officially called a "public order operation" until the 1990s--remains a trauma for both France and Algeria . Philosopher Paul Ricœur has spoken of the necessity of a "decolonization of memory", starting with the recognition of the 1961 Paris massacre during the Algerian war, and the decisive role of African and especially North African immigrant manpower in the Trente Glorieuses post--World War II economic growth period . In the 1960s, due to economic needs for post-war reconstruction and rapid economic growth, French employers actively sought to recruit manpower from the colonies, explaining today's multiethnic population . </P>

What impact did world war ii have on independence movements in africa