On this day — September 25 in African history

Moussa Traoré, the army officer who ruled Mali as its second president for 23 years after a 1968 coup, was born in Kayes.

Sources: The Conversation ; BBC News Afrique ; Le Figaro

Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

The People's Democratic Republic of Algeria was formally proclaimed, five days after the election of the National Constituent Assembly that Ferhat Abbas, who had headed the wartime provisional government, went on to preside over.

Sources: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Algeria ; Guy Perville (Universite Toulouse-Jean Jaures)

Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

The Mozambican War of Independence against Portugal began, launched by the FRELIMO liberation movement.

Sources: Revista História (SciELO/Redalyc) ; Eduardo Mondlane, The Struggle for Mozambique (1969), full text at libcom.org ; Worldcrunch

Photo by Kingkongphoto & www.celebrity-photos.com — CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

Wangari Maathai, the Kenyan environmentalist and founder of the Green Belt Movement who became the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, died of cancer in Nairobi.

Sources: The Guardian ; Nobel Prize (Nobel Foundation) ; Green Belt Movement

The international Slavery Convention, the first global treaty to formally suppress the slave trade and slavery, was opened for signature at the League of Nations.

Sources: United Nations, Office of Legal Affairs (Audiovisual Library of International Law) ; UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, Treaty Series No. 16 (1927) ; Anti-Slavery International

Photo by Ricardo Stuckert — CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

Thabo Mbeki left office as president of South Africa after the African National Congress recalled him; parliament had set his resignation to take effect that day, and Kgalema Motlanthe was elected to succeed him.

Sources: Parliament of the Republic of South Africa ; Rulers.org