Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 1985 Julius Nyerere stepped down as President of Tanzania after 24 years in office, peacefully handing power to Ali Hassan Mwinyi.
Sources: The Citizen (Dar es Salaam) ; East African Community
Politics
Ceiling of Debre Birhan Selassie church, Gondar, Ethiopia. Photo: Rod Waddington, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence · Source
On this day: November 5 in African history
Real events, births and milestones from Africa and the diaspora.
Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 1985 
Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 1911 Italy formally annexed Tripoli and Cyrenaica, the territories that would become Libya, during the Italo-Turkish War.
Sources: Library of Congress (Historical Section, Naval Staff Intelligence Division, 'Italian Libya', 1920) ; marxists.org (V. B. Lutsky, Modern History of the Arab Countries, Progress Publishers)
PoliticsA pogrom against Jews began in Tripoli and spread through Tripolitania over three days. More than 140 Jews were killed and hundreds were injured, and almost every synagogue in the city was looted. Libya was under British military administration at the time, and the authorities were criticised for how slowly they moved to stop it.
Sources: Haaretz ; Jewish Virtual Library
Corrected in September 2026 · see what changed
History