A large wharf that will be in use for 70 years is completed in Cotonou by French authorities, in preparation for the Second Dahomey War of colonial conquest. Goods and passengers alike are hoisted to and from rowboats by a steam wench. The boats travel to and from ships anchored beyond the sandbars.
Yuhi V Musinga, age 16, is installed as Mwami (king) of Rwanda, after a palace coup d’état that overthrew Mibambwe IV. Because the rules of traditional succession are broken, he will struggle against questions about his legitimacy. Germany finds him useful as a front to advance its colonisation plans, and will use his name to conquer resisting clans in Ruanda-Urundi (Rwanda and Burundi).
The International Court of Justice is established, in The Hague. The court will hear cases on matters involving disputes throughout the African continent.
The Belgian protectorate Ruanda-Urundi become a United Nations Trust Territory. The two territories will separate into Rwanda and Burundi upon their national independence. Other protectorates that become U.N. Trust Territories are British Cameroon, French Cameroon, British Togoland and French Togoland.
British Togoland residents vote to incorporate their territory into Ghana, which will become the first Sub-Saharan African country to achieve independence, in 1957.
The Brazzaville Protocol, brokered in the Republic of Congo, is signed by Angola, Cuba and South Africa. The treaty ends the Angola-South Africa Border War that began in 1966 and evolved in various stages. Thus ends what is being called "The last great conflict of the Cold War."
Oliver Tambo (pic: right, with Nelson Mandela), president of South Africa’s liberation party the African National Congress, returns to his home country after 31 years in exile to participate in the transition to democracy. He is given a hero’s welcome.
Ghana diplomat Kofi Annan is appointed by the U.N. Security Council as the new U.N. Secretary-General. He is the first Sub-Saharan African to run the U.N. The U.N. General Assembly will approve the appointment, and he will serve from 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2006, after being elected to a second term in 2001.
The first Nyege Nyege festival begins, in Kampala, Uganda. The annual 4-day festival focuses on electronic music and East African performers, and will become one of Uganda’s top tourism attractions.
South African-born Elon Musk, founder of the space technology firm Space-X and the electric car company Tesla, is named Time magazine’s “Person of the Year” for 2021. He was ranked as the world’s richest man this year.
The first woman member of South Africa’s parliament, in Cape Town, Cape Colony. Only white women were allowed to vote and run for office when she was elected in 1933. Although her work as a lawmaker dealt with progressive social welfare reforms, the beneficiaries were only members of South Africa’s white minority.
Prime Minister of South Africa (1966-1978), in Jamestown, Union of South Africa. As head of the apartheid government, he oversaw the brutal enforcement of oppressive laws against black South Africans. His administration’s policy that schools must instruct only in the Afrikaans language led to the Soweto Uprising of 1976.
Nigerian journalist and newspaper editor, in Ikare, Ondo State, British Nigeria. The “grandfather of Nigerian journalism” was the profession’s foremost guiding hand for three decades. At a time when Nigerian media was British owned, he was appointed as the first African managing editor of a newspaper, the Daily Times, in 1962, and as that newspaper’s chairman in 1968.
