The island of Príncipe (São Tomé and Príncipe) now has the highest railway mileage in the world per capita, as sugar plantations build narrow-gauge railways that connect to the island’s rail network. The carriages of the slow-moving cars have no sides, but curtains are used to protect passengers from rain.

A milestone in education at Gold Coast (Ghana), as the Prince of Wales College (later renamed Achimota College) opens. It is a nondenominational school for students from kindergarten to the pre-university level.

For the first time, Eid al-Fitr, the Islamic holiday that is celebrated at the end of Ramadan, is observed at Nairobi’s new Jamia Mosque. This is now the tallest building in Kenya, with the tallest minarets in East Africa.

A coup d’état in Gitarama in central Rwanda ousts the Tutsi authorities who have ruled over the Hutu majority during the era of Belgian colonial rule. An all-Hutu provisional government is established. Rwanda will achieve independence in 1962, but ethnic tensions will continue until the 1994 Rwandan Genocide brings these to a horrific climax. (Pic: Kabgayi Hospital, future Rwandan genocide site)

Exiled South African anti-apartheid leader Oliver Tambo meets the U.S. Secretary of State in Washington, as calls increase in the U.S. for Washington to take greater action against the apartheid regime.

The musical Sarafina!, about students during the Soweto Uprising, opens in New York. The show, written and directed by Mbongeni Ngema and with music by Hugh Masekela, receives positive reviews from critics. A movie adaptation will be made in 1992.

Five former South African security police officers confess to the 1977 murder of black consciousness leader and anti-apartheid icon Steve Biko. They are testifying before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and have applied for amnesty for Biko's killing.

Tanzanian police, army and coast guard personnel violently suppress a peaceful protest in Zanzibar against irregularities in the October 2000 elections. International observers have also condemned the election as fraudulent. The security forces attack 4,000 unarmed demonstrators, killing 35.

A delegation from the Vatican arrives in Tanzania to investigate the possibility that the country’s founding president Julius Nyerere (in pic with Pope John Paul II) be beautified. The step is the beginning of the process of making him a saint in the Roman Catholic Church, to which Nyerere belonged.

The African Union opens its headquarters in Addis Ababa. The 20-story tower will be Ethiopia’s tallest building for the next six years.

Malian government forces, along with French troops, retake Timbuktu from Islamic rebels. This is done without a fight when it is discovered the rebels have already evacuated the city.

Piracy has plagued the Gulf of Guinea in recent years. The kidnapping of crews for ransom is a growing hazard in Nigeria. After the installation of satellite surveillance systems, coastal radar systems and the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System, piracy incidents drop from 445 in 2010 to 180 in 2017.