Ceiling of Debre Birhan Selassie church, Gondar, Ethiopia. Photo: Rod Waddington, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence · Source
Real events, births and milestones from Africa and the diaspora.
Brain News Service (publisher), Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 1922 Sultan Fuad I adopted the title King of Egypt by decree, a fortnight after Britain's unilateral declaration of 28 February had ended the protectorate. The independence it granted was heavily qualified: Britain kept control of Egypt's defence, the protection of foreign interests, and the Sudan.
Source: Britannica
Independence
Parliament of South Africa; vector by Denelson83, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 1961 South Africa announced it would withdraw from the Commonwealth of Nations after criticism of its apartheid policies.
Sources: South African History Online ; University of Cambridge, ArchiveSearch (Royal Commonwealth Society collections)
Politics
Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 1978 President Siad Barre announced the unilateral withdrawal of Somali forces from the Ogaden, ending the Ethio-Somali (Ogaden) War.
Sources: Gebru Tareke, The International Journal of African Historical Studies (via the University of Warwick) ; MIT, CASCON conflict case files
Corrected in September 2026 · see what changed
PoliticsJoseph Jenkins Roberts, American-born statesman who became the first President of Liberia, was born.
Sources: African American Registry ; LiberiaData
Birth
Metsavend, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons 1959 Ben Okri, Nigerian poet and Booker Prize-winning novelist, was born.
Sources: The Booker Prizes ; African Studies Centre Leiden
Birth