Tunisian street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire in protest, an act that became the catalyst for the Tunisian Revolution and the wider Arab Spring.
PoliticsOn this day — December 17 in African history
Real events, births and milestones from Africa and the diaspora.
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Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons 1960 Army and air force units loyal to Haile Selassie retook Addis Ababa from the Imperial Bodyguard, whose commander Mengistu Neway and his brother Germame had seized the capital four days earlier while the emperor was in Brazil. Counts of the dead in the fighting run from 300 to 2,000. The conspirators had shot their hostages, ministers and officials, before the end. Germame killed himself rather than be taken; Mengistu was hanged the following March.
Sources: Ethiopia Observer ; Haile Selassie archive
PoliticsCongolese parties in the Second Congo War signed a peace accord providing for transitional governance and future elections.
Politics
Portrait by Robert Sivell — CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons 1917 Kenneth Dike, the pioneering Nigerian historian who transformed the study of African history, was born.
Birth
Bayo Omoboriowo — CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons 1942 Muhammadu Buhari, who served as both a military and civilian President of Nigeria, was born.
Birth