Daylight saving time in Africa

Egypt

The British first instituted daylight saving time in Egypt during the Second World War, specifically between 1940 and 1945. The practice was stopped after the war, but resumed 12 years later, in 1957.

Egypt normally observed daylight saving time between the last Friday in April and the last Thursday in September when the clocks were three hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (UTC+3). The change occurred one second after 23:59:59 on Thursday to become 1:00:00 on the last Friday in April shortening the day to 23 hours. Summer time ended one second after 23:59:59 to become 23:00:00 on the last Thursday of September lengthening the day to 25 hours. The date did not change one second after the first 23:59:59 occurred; for all practical purposes, midnight did not occur until after the second 23:59:59. An exception was made for Ramadan; in 2006 the end of DST took place one week earlier, on September 21, 2006, which took place before the start of the holy month of Ramadan. The same practice recurred in 2007 and 2008, to avoid having longer days in Ramadan. In 2009, summer time ended on Thursday, August 20, five weeks before the nominal end on the last Thursday in September. In 2010, the summer time started on April 30, and ended on September 30, but between August 10 and September 10, summer time was cancelled because of Ramadan. The previous government was planning to take a decision to abolish it in 2011 before the January 25 Revolution. The transitional government abolished daylight saving time on April 20, 2011. On May 7, 2014, the Egyptian government restored daylight saving time starting on May 16, 2014 with an exception for the holy month of Ramadan.

From 2015 onwards, Egypt no longer observes it. On April 29, 2016, the Egyptian government made plans to restore daylight saving time starting on July 7th, 2016 during Eid al-Fitr, however later on July 4, 2016, the Egyptian government cancelled these plans to re-introduce DST.

Libya

Libya observed DST each year from 1982 to 1989, 1997, and 2013.

Morocco

As of 2013, daylight saving time (DST) is observed in Morocco, advancing to UTC+1 at 02:00 on the last Sunday of March, and reverting to UTC (standard time) at 03:00 on the last Sunday of October, with the exception of the month of Ramadan, during which clocks revert to UTC (standard time).

Namibia

As the only country in the world since Czechoslovakia abolished it in 1946, Namibia observes winter time. Contrary to daylight saving time, clocks are turned back for one hour on the first Sunday in April at 03:00. The purpose is thus not to utilise additional hours of daylight but to prevent children from walking to school in darkness. Winter time lasts until the first Sunday in September, 02:00 hours. The Namibian Standard Time is thus UTC+02:00 (West Africa Summer Time) in summer, and UTC+01:00 (West Africa Time) in winter. The Zambezi Region in the far north-east of Namibia is excluded from daylight saving time and remains at West Africa Summer Time all year round, so that when the daylight saving time is active, Namibia spans two time zones.

Winter time in Namibia was introduced in 1994 but there are current discussions to abolish it. In the 2010s repeated calls from businesses and private individuals were made to abolish the daylight saving time, citing incompatibilities with South Africa, Namibia's main trading partner, as well as a "loss of productivity". After Cabinet was likewise against time changes, a new bill was tabled in February 2017. The decision is expected for March 2017, before the scheduled switch to winter time on 2 April.

Tunisia

Tunisia adopted daylight saving time for the first time in 2005 starting 1 May 2005 and following EU time schedules thereafter. This comes as a move by the government to promote saving of energy. In 2009 the government of Tunisia canceled DST and kept the standard time all year round.

African countries not using DST

These countries or regions do not use daylight saving time, although some have in the past: