On this day — September 20 in African history

Rose Francine Rogombé, the Gabonese lawyer and politician who later became the country's first female president, was born.

Sources: Presidency of the Gabonese Republic ; L'Union (Sonapresse) ; RFI

CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

Emperor Bokassa I of the Central African Empire was overthrown in a French-backed coup while abroad, ending his brutal and extravagant reign.

Sources: BBC Afrique ; L'Histoire ; Le Figaro

The ferry MV Nyerere capsized as it came in to the jetty at Ukara Island on Lake Victoria, having crossed from Bugolora on Ukerewe. It was licensed for about 100 passengers and was carrying perhaps twice that, and nobody aboard wore a life jacket. Tanzanian authorities put the dead at 228, with 41 rescued. Six days earlier the local member of parliament had told the National Assembly the ferry was malfunctioning and needed repair.

Sources: The Elephant ; Voice of America

Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

The United Nations General Assembly admitted thirteen newly independent African states, among them Chad, Congo, Côte d'Ivoire and Gabon, in a single session, alongside Cyprus. Senegal and Mali followed on 28 September and Nigeria on 7 October.

Sources: United Nations ; Security Council Report

James Meredith was temporarily barred from entering the University of Mississippi by Governor Ross Barnett, defying a federal court order and escalating a crisis over desegregation.

Sources: Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State (Foreign Relations of the United States) ; Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School

Simon Muzenda died at 80. He had been deputy prime minister of Zimbabwe from independence in 1980 until the post was abolished in 1987, and first vice-president under Robert Mugabe from then until his death, 23 years as the country's second-ranking figure.

Sources: Pindula ; The Scotsman

An armed group killed more than 50 villagers at Guelb el-Kebir, near Beni Slimane in Medea province. News reports at the time put the toll at 53. The attackers were not identified and no group claimed the killings. Algerian officials and most outside observers blamed Islamist insurgents, but Human Rights Watch found that allegations of security force collusion in that year's massacres were persistent enough to require an independent investigation, which the government refused.

Sources: Justice Commission for Algeria ; Human Rights Watch