On this day — September 29 in African history

Italy declared war on the Ottoman Empire, beginning the Italo-Turkish War that resulted in Italy seizing control of Libya.

Public Domain (U.S. DoD), Wikimedia Commons

Samora Machel, the guerrilla commander who led Mozambique's independence struggle and became its first president, was born in Chilembene, Portuguese Mozambique.

Francisco Macías Nguema, the brutal first president of Equatorial Guinea whose regime killed or exiled a large share of the population, was executed by firing squad after being overthrown by his nephew.

Boko Haram gunmen killed at least 42 students and staff in an attack on an agricultural college in Gujba, Nigeria.

Shyima Hall, who was trafficked into domestic servitude as a child in Egypt and later became a prominent American human rights activist against modern slavery, was born in Alexandria.