Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 1991 Mengistu Haile Mariam fled Ethiopia as rebel forces advanced on Addis Ababa, bringing the 17-year Ethiopian Civil War to an end.
PoliticsOn this day — May 21 in African history
Real events, births and milestones from Africa and the diaspora.
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Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 1991 The passenger ferry MV Bukoba capsized and sank on Lake Victoria in Tanzania, killing close to a thousand people in one of Africa's worst maritime disasters.
HistorySeven Trappist monks abducted from their monastery at Tibhirine, Algeria were killed amid the country's civil war.
HistoryA powerful earthquake struck Boumerdes in northern Algeria, killing more than 2,200 people.
HistoryMarc-Vivien Foe, the Cameroonian midfielder who later died on the pitch during a 2003 Confederations Cup match, was born.
Birth
Nightscream — CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons Binyavanga Wainaina, the Kenyan writer celebrated for his memoir 'One Day I Will Write About This Place', died.
Death