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.
Cyrene Magazine, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 1977 Egypt and Libya agreed to a ceasefire, mediated by Algeria and the PLO, ending their brief border war.
Sources: Facts on File World News Digest (Stanford University archive) ; Helion & Company
PoliticsMore than 10,000 African municipal workers staged the largest municipal workers' strike in Johannesburg's history to that point.
Sources: South African History Online ; The Washington Post
Corrected in September 2026 · see what changed
Politics
Simon Wedege (Kirjapan), CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons 2012 Ghanaian President John Atta Mills died suddenly in Accra; John Dramani Mahama was sworn in as his successor the same day.
Sources: Voice of America ; The Christian Science Monitor
DeathAir Algérie Flight 5017, en route from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, to Algiers, crashed in Mali, killing all 116 people aboard.
Sources: Voice of America ; Fox News
DisasterPius Langa, who served as Chief Justice of South Africa and helped shape the country's post-apartheid constitutional jurisprudence, died.
Sources: Constitutional Court of South Africa ; South African History Online
DeathAiguobasimwin, son of Oba Ovonramwen, whom the British deported in 1897, was crowned Oba of Benin at Usama with the title Eweka II. Jacob Egharevba gives this date; the historians Oghogho Oriakhi and Ikonnaya Osemwengie give July 22.
Source: Internet Archive
Read the full articles: The Kingdom of Benin, the Edo State Ruled From Benin City · 1897 and the Benin Bronzes
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