On this day: May 8 in African history

French forces, settler militias and the police put down nationalist demonstrations at Sétif, Guelma and Kherrata on the day Europe marked the German surrender, and went on killing for weeks. French authorities first counted 1,020 Algerian dead. Algerian nationalists said 45,000, a figure independent Algeria adopted. Historians generally put it between 8,000 and 20,000, and American intelligence at the time reported 30,000.

Sources: France 24 ; Sciences Po Mass Violence and Resistance

Corrected in September 2026 · see what changed

Apollo Temu, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

Ali Hassan Mwinyi, who became the second President of Tanzania, was born.

Sources: Africa Confidential ; High Commission of the United Republic of Tanzania, Ottawa ; BBC News

Lula Oficial, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

South Africa held its sixth democratic general election, in which the African National Congress retained its majority under President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Sources: Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU Parline) ; SAnews (South African Government News Agency) ; Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC)

Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

Ali Bey al-Kabir, the Mamluk leader who ruled Egypt as a virtually independent sultan, died.

Source: Britannica

Mwepu Ilunga, the Congolese footballer famous for charging out of the wall to disrupt a free kick at the 1974 World Cup, died.

Sources: The Guardian ; BBC Sport

Chatham House, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

Simon Mann, the Eton-educated former SAS officer who led the 2004 attempt to overthrow Teodoro Obiang in Equatorial Guinea, died at 72, reportedly of a heart attack. He had been arrested at Harare airport in March 2004 alongside about 70 other men when the Boeing 727 carrying them stopped in Zimbabwe to collect weapons on the way to Equatorial Guinea. He was extradited there, sentenced in July 2008 to 34 years and pardoned on health grounds in November 2009 after serving little more than a year of that sentence.

Sources: SABC News ; The Telegraph (obituary, syndicated on Yahoo News) ; The Associated Press (via NBC News) ; Al Jazeera ; Lymington Times (Advertiser and Times)

Corrected in September 2026 · see what changed