On this day: August 26 in African history

SWAPO guerrillas clashed with South African forces at Omugulugwombashe in northern Namibia, the first battle of the Namibian War of Independence, now marked annually as Namibia's Heroes' Day.

Sources: South African History Online ; The Namibian (Namibia Press Agency) ; Journal NWG / Namibia Scientific Society (Gwasira, Akawa and Nakanyete, University of Namibia)

At least 28 residents of White City in Jabavu, Soweto, were killed as they resisted council police evicting households that had joined a rent boycott. The shooting came after dark, when police moved against barricades of burning tyres. It was the bloodiest single day to that point of the township uprising that had begun in 1984.

Sources: Mail & Guardian ; World Socialist Web Site

Corrected in September 2026 · see what changed

The German colony of Togoland surrendered to French and British forces after a 20-day campaign, becoming the first German territory to fall in World War I.

Sources: 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War (Freie Universitat Berlin), Brian Digre ; Stichproben: Vienna Journal of African Studies (University of Vienna), Joseph Udimal Kachim ; National Army Museum (United Kingdom)

Chad became the first French colonial territory to join the Free French cause under Félix Éboué, who became France's first Black colonial governor.

Sources: Musee de la Resistance en ligne (Fondation de la Resistance) ; Fondation pour la memoire de l'esclavage ; Larousse (Encyclopedie) ; Ordre de la Liberation et son Musee (French state institution)

Ismail al-Azhari, who led Sudan to independence as its first prime minister and later served as head of state, died.

Sources: Encyclopaedia Britannica ; BlackPast.org

Corrected in September 2026 · see what changed