NASA — Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 1960 Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser detonated ten tons of dynamite to begin construction of the Aswan High Dam on the Nile.
ScienceOn this day — January 9 in African history
Real events, births and milestones from Africa and the diaspora.
NASA — Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 1960 
Lokal_Profil — CC BY-SA 2.5, Wikimedia Commons 2005 The Sudan People's Liberation Movement and the Government of Sudan signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, ending the Second Sudanese Civil War and paving the way for South Sudan's eventual independence.
Politics
Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 1957 British Prime Minister Anthony Eden resigned from office following the failure of the Suez Crisis intervention to retake the Suez Canal from Egyptian control.
Politics
USAF, A1C William Firaneck — Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 1922 Ahmed Sékou Touré, who led Guinea to independence in 1958 and became its first president, was born (died 1984).
Birth
jimincairns — CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons 1933 Wilbur Smith, Zambian-born novelist known for his best-selling adventure novels set in Africa, was born (died 2021).
Birth
Roosewelt Pinheiro — CC BY 3.0 BR, Wikimedia Commons 2012 Malam Bacai Sanhá, President of Guinea-Bissau, died in office at age 64.
DeathA funeral in Mozambique's Tete province turned deadly when locally brewed beer contaminated with bacterial toxins killed 75 people and sickened over 230 others.
Tragedy