Ondřej Žváček, CC BY 2.5, Wikimedia Commons 2005 The final section of the Obelisk of Axum, a 1,700-year-old carved stele looted by Italian forces in 1937, was returned to Ethiopia.
Sources: UNESCO World Heritage Centre ; UN News
Culture
Ceiling of Debre Birhan Selassie church, Gondar, Ethiopia. Photo: Rod Waddington, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence · Source
On this day: April 25 in African history
Real events, births and milestones from Africa and the diaspora.
Ondřej Žváček, CC BY 2.5, Wikimedia Commons 2005 
Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 1887 Kojo Tovalou Houénou, Beninese lawyer and early pan-Africanist intellectual who prominently criticized French colonialism, was born in Porto-Novo, Dahomey.
Sources: Face2Face Africa ; BlackPast ; National Gallery of Art (Smithsonian), archived copy
Birth
Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 1932 Meadowlark Lemon, African-American basketball entertainer known as the 'Clown Prince' of the Harlem Globetrotters, was born in Wilmington, North Carolina.
Sources: Los Angeles Times ; U.S. National Archives (Rediscovering Black History)
BirthSamson Kitur, Kenyan sprinter and 1992 Olympic bronze medalist in the 400 metres, died.
Sources: Olympedia ; World Athletics ; Midland Daily News (Associated Press)
Death
Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 1963 Constitutional amendments in Libya repealed the federal system, transforming the country into the unitary Kingdom of Libya.
Sources: Libyan Constitutional Union ; Legal Tools Database (ICC/CILRAP)
Corrected in September 2026 · see what changed
Politics