On this day — December 8 in African history

Name: Armed men attacked the mountain villages of Bouhamed and Ayachiche, north of Tadjena in Chlef province west…
Start: 1998

Real events, births and milestones from Africa and the diaspora.

We are adding a source to every entry in this archive. 1 of 4 on this page carry one so far. The rest were written before per-entry citations were recorded, so if you intend to rely on one, check it independently until its source appears here. See our sourcing methodology.

Today

1998

Armed men attacked the mountain villages of Bouhamed and Ayachiche, north of Tadjena in Chlef province west of Algiers, killing 81 villagers overnight and abducting about 20 women. As with the other massacres of that period, nobody was identified as responsible. Human Rights Watch noted that survivors described attackers moving freely through militarised zones without the security forces intervening, and that no independent body was ever allowed to investigate.

Sources: Human Rights Watch ; Northwest Florida Daily News (wire brief, "Briefs: nation & world") ; Stathis N. Kalyvas, Rationality and Society (Sage Publications, peer-reviewed)

Tragedy

Turn685 / Avenhar — CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons 1970

The UN Security Council adopted Resolution 290, condemning Portugal for its military attacks on the Republic of Guinea.

Politics

Schorle — CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons 2021

Robbie Shakespeare, the Jamaican bassist of the influential rhythm duo Sly and Robbie, died.

Death

Schlesinger Library, Harvard University — No known restrictions, Wikimedia Commons 1903

Zelma Watson George, a Black American opera singer, sociologist and UN delegate, was born.

Birth