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.
C.P. Cavafy Archives, Onassis Foundation, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 1863 Constantine P. Cavafy, one of the most important Greek-language poets of the 20th century, was born in Alexandria, Egypt, where he spent most of his life.
Sources: Encyclopaedia Britannica ; Onassis Cavafy Archive (Onassis Foundation)
Birth
Ron Bennett, US HUD, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 1934 Pedro Pires, who led Cape Verde's independence-era government and later served as the country's third president, was born on the island of Fogo.
Sources: United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification ; Instituto Pedro Pires para a Lideranca
Corrected in September 2026 · see what changed
Birth
Magharebia, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons 1988 Taoufik Makhloufi, Algerian middle-distance runner who won Olympic gold in the 1500 metres at the 2012 London Games, was born in Souk Ahras, Algeria.
Sources: Olympedia ; Track and Field Statistics (brinkster.net)
Corrected in September 2026 · see what changed
Birth
Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons 2012 Shukri Ghanem, Libya's prime minister from 2003 to 2006 and then its oil minister until he defected during the 2011 uprising, was found dead in the Danube in Vienna. Police said the body showed no external signs of violence, and a post-mortem found he had drowned.
Source: Al Jazeera
Corrected in September 2026 · see what changed
Death