On this day: July 13 in African history

Photo by Frankie Fouganthin (2018), CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

Wole Soyinka, the Nigerian playwright who later became the first African Nobel laureate in literature, was born.

Sources: The Nobel Prize (Nobel Prize Outreach) ; Biography.com (A&E Television Networks)

Thembekile Mandela, Nelson Mandela's eldest son, died in a car accident while his father was imprisoned on Robben Island.

Sources: South African History Online ; Nelson Mandela Foundation

Photo by Squelle (1985), CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

Live Aid, the benefit concert raising funds for famine relief in Ethiopia, was held simultaneously in London and Philadelphia.

Sources: History.com (A&E Television Networks) ; The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Photo by Vogler, Göteborg Book Fair (2010), CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

Nadine Gordimer, South African novelist and Nobel laureate, died in Johannesburg.

Sources: Al Jazeera ; TODAY (NBC News)

Somalia's army invaded Ethiopia's Ogaden region without a formal declaration of war, beginning the Ogaden War over the disputed territory.

Sources: War on the Rocks ; U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian

Corrected in September 2026 · see what changed

The UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1999, recommending that the General Assembly admit South Sudan to the United Nations; the Assembly did so the next day, making it the 193rd member state.

Sources: UN News (United Nations) ; Voice of America

Corrected in September 2026 · see what changed

Official White House Photo by Pete Souza, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

Zindzi Mandela, South African politician, diplomat, and third daughter of Nelson Mandela, died in Johannesburg.

Sources: Al Jazeera ; Refinery29 ; South Africa Gateway