On this day — July 19 in African history

Eric Miller / World Economic Forum, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

Kgalema Motlanthe, who later served as the third president of South Africa, was born.

Sources: South African History Online ; The Presidency, Republic of South Africa

Nkosi.makgotso, CC0, Wikimedia Commons

South African singer and actress Zolani Mahola was born in Port Elizabeth (now Gqeberha), Eastern Cape.

Sources: Briefly News ; SMF News

Tunisia imposed a blockade on the French naval base at Bizerte, escalating the Bizerte crisis; French forces would seize the town days later.

Sources: Encyclopedia.com ; Polynational War Memorial

UK Department for International Development — CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

Guinean President Alpha Condé survived an assassination attempt at his residence in Conakry, when gunmen attacked with rockets and machine-gun fire and killed a member of his presidential guard.

Sources: France 24 ; African Arguments

About twenty gunmen in vehicles attacked a border guard checkpoint at Farafra in Egypt's New Valley with sniper rifles, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades. Twenty-two Egyptian border guards were killed, most of them when a grenade set off the ammunition store. Two car bombs prepared for the attack were found and defused, and the president declared three days of national mourning.

Sources: Daily News Egypt ; Associated Press

jbach (Flickr) — CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

Toumani Diabaté, the Malian musician celebrated as a master of the kora, died in Bamako.

Sources: The Boston Globe ; Music In Africa