Foreign and Commonwealth Office: West African Department: Registered Files (JW Series)

This series contains records relating to the United Kingdom's relations with Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, Congo-Brazzaville (from 1968 the Republic of Congo), Dahomey, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, the Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Portuguese Guinea, Sao Tome, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Spanish (from 1968 Equatorial) Guinea, Spanish Sahara, Togo, and Upper Volta.

For earlier Commonwealth Office records for the West and East Africa Economic Department see DO 221

For earlier Commonwealth Office records for the West and General Africa Department see DO 216

From 1999 Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Topics

International

Middle East

Africa

The West African Department of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office was formed in October 1968 by a merger of parts of the former Foreign Office's West and Central African Department and the Commonwealth Office's West and East Africa Economic Department and West and General Africa Department.

The department was responsible for United Kingdom relations with sub-Saharan west and central Africa north of the Congo and west of Sudan, though the territorial scope of the department changed at the margins over time. The department was also responsible for questions relating to Africa generally. In 1993 the department was renamed the Africa (Equatorial) Department, though its responsibilities were largely unaltered.