Castro has stamped his mark on Africa's history

As the world wonders about Fidel Castro's health, Africa remembers him as the foreign leader who most invested his personal effort -- and Cuban lives -- to help end colonialism and apartheid.

Throughout the veteran Comandante's 47-year rule, the world's poorest continent has loomed large in his global outlook and it was the scene of his most ambitious overseas adventures.

From the deserts of Algeria and Ethiopia to the jungles of Guinea Bissau and Congo and the Angolan bush, close to half a million Cubans have fought and worked on African soil in the name of "revolutionary solidarity." More than 2,000 died there.

African leaders, and many historians, say Cuba's military muscle -- personally directed by Castro from Havana -- kept Angola free, won independence for Namibia and hastened the end of apartheid rule in South Africa.

"When Angola was invaded by the Boers, Comrade Castro sent his troops to assist his brothers here in Africa," Zambia's former President Kenneth Kaunda said recently.

The memory of Cuba's help against colonialism and apartheid kept Castro's star burning brightly in Africa. South Africa's former President Nelson Mandela calls him friend, so too does Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe and a host of other African leaders.