On this day: September 28 in African history

Public Domain (Egypt), Wikimedia Commons

Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, the influential Pan-Arabist and Pan-Africanist leader, died of a heart attack in Cairo.

Sources: U.S. Department of State, Foreign Relations of the United States ; Encyclopedia.com ; The Citizen (Tanzania)

Guinean security forces attacked opposition supporters massed in a Conakry stadium to protest against junta leader Moussa Dadis Camara standing for president. A UN-mandated inquiry confirmed 156 people killed or disappeared, 67 of them with bodies returned to their families, and at least 109 women subjected to rape and other sexual violence, and said the true toll was probably higher. The junta first put the dead at 57 and later reported 63 to the inquiry. Camara was convicted of crimes against humanity in July 2024 and sentenced to 20 years.

Sources: Human Rights Watch ; United Nations Security Council (International Commission of Inquiry, transmitted by the Secretary-General) ; Amnesty International

Corrected twice in September 2026 · change 1 · change 2

Bob Denard landed on Grande Comore with 33 mercenaries and seized the country, the last of several such operations he mounted in the Comoros. France sent about 600 troops a week later and he surrendered within two days. President Djohar was flown to Réunion and did not return to office. Denard was tried in Paris in 2006 and given a five-year suspended sentence.

Sources: WarHistory.org ; US Department of State

Photo by Abdirisak, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

Somali government and African Union forces launched a coordinated assault to retake the strategic port city of Kismayo from al-Shabaab militants.

Sources: The Guardian ; African Affairs (Oxford University Press, via Oxford University Research Archive)

Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

A military coup in Damascus effectively ended the United Arab Republic, the political union between Egypt and Syria that Gamal Abdel Nasser had championed since 1958.

Sources: U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian (FRUS 1961-1963, Vol. XVII, Doc. 114) ; Middle East Monitor ; Al Majalla (Sami Moubayed)