Following their failed invasion last month, Egyptian forces return to Ethiopia to conquer the country. They will build two forts, but these will prove temporary after the Egyptians are again defeated by Ethiopian forces, and withdraw once more.

Portugal grants a concession for a 99-km railway from Lourenço Marques (Maputo) in Portuguese Mozambique to Komatipoort on the border with the Transvaal Republic in South Africa. Rail builders take four years to build, but then fail to meet concession specifications by ending the line just short of the border. Portugal will confiscates the entire line in 1888. (pic: construction of Mozambique’s rail line from the port city Beira)

Belgium’s King Leopold II sends a force of 350 men to overcome Msiri, the founder (in 1856) and ruler of the Yeke Kingdom in Katanga (Democratic Republic of Congo). The kingdom will be incorporated into Leopold’s private company, the Congo Free State colony.

The opening of the Faidherbe Bridge in Senegal. Crossing the Senegal River to connect the city of Saint-Louis on its island with the mainland, the bridge is made of six links. In an engineering marvel, the central link pivots 90 degrees to allow ships to pass through. (pic: temporary wooden bridge to the left is removed with construction ended)

Release of the movie Der Voortrekkers, the first movie made in South Africa and one of Africa’s earliest feature films. The movie tells the story of the white colonial Afrikaner people’s migration and bloody invasion of the Zulu Nation in 1838.

Britain’s Empire Air Mail Scheme in which all first class mail is to be carried by air, begins with its first route from London to Alexandria, Egypt.

Five days after Tanganyika’s independence, the country becomes a member of the U.N. (pic: Tanganyika Prime Minister Julius Nyerere, centre, greets U.N. Secretary-General U Thant at U.N. headquarters in New York)

The U.N. passes a resolution strongly condemning apartheid South Africa’s policy of stripping black South Africans of citizenship, and making them “citizens” of artificial “countries” called Bantustans (homelands).

The first woman to run for Tanzania’s presidency, Anna Sankoro of the Progressive Party of Tanzania-Maendalelo, competes in the general election, which is won by Jakaya Kikwete of the CCM party.

The Pan-African University is launched by the African Union as a continental initiative, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The university will have branches in five African sub-regions which will specialise in areas chosen for their strategic significance to Africa’s development. Algeria: Water and Energy Sciences (including Climate Change; Kenya: Basic Science, Technology and Innovation; Nigeria: Life and Earth Sciences; Cameroon: Governance, Humanities and Social Sciences; and South Africa: Space Sciences.

Eswatini Prime Minister Ambrose Dlamini becomes the first head of an African government to die of Covid-19, four weeks after contracting the disease that has been a medical emergency throughout Africa since March.

Sanctions against Sudan for sponsoring terrorist organisations under the Bashir Regime are dropped by the U.S. in appreciation of Khartoum’s establishment of diplomatic ties with Israel. (pic: left, Lieutenant-General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, head of Sudan’s military government; right, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu)