For the first time an entire war is recorded by motion picture cameras. American cameraman W.K.L. Dickson, who designed the motion picture camera for the Thomas Edison Company, leaves the U.S. for South Africa to begin filming the Anglo-Boer War. The scenes he records are a revelation to governments, who foresee in the movies a new propaganda tool.
The consecration of the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary in Asmara, Eritrea. The church is one of Africa’s most magnificent examples of Lombard Romanesque architecture.
Pretoria officially receives city status within the Union of South Africa. (pic: The Union Buildings, Pretoria, 1931)
Spanish soldiers joining the fascist rebel movement take over Spanish Equatorial Guinea from soldiers loyal to the Republic government, as 200 fascist reinforcements arrive by ship. The commander of Spain’s Army in Africa, General Francisco Franco, travels with the rebels and is carried ashore by them.
Tunisia wins its first medal at an Olympics when Mohammed Tlili ben Abdallah (pic: wearing number 615) takes silver at the Men’s 10,000 metres at the Summer Olympic Games.
After Uganda’s army shells Tanzania for a week, Tanzania’s army retaliates with mortar fire into Uganda. Uganda’s guns go silent. Both sides of the border are militarised in preparation for war.
The Kirumi Bridge, a cable-stayed bridge spanning the Mara River in northern Tanzania, is opened by Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere. The African Development Fund financed construction.
Egyptian novelist and screenplay writer Naguib Mahfouz is awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. While his writings are penetrating explorations of modern Egypt through the philosophic lens of existentialism, no Arab writer has had more of his books adapted into popular movies.
The South African Broadcasting Corporation cancels the show 100 Greatest South Africans, after voting in a non-scientific contest elevates racists and disgraced individuals like Hansie Cronje, who admitted taking bribes to fix national cricket team matches, white supremacist leader Eugene TerreBlanche, and Hendrick Verwoerd, the Architect of Apartheid.
The International Criminal Court in The Hague issues arrest warrants for Joseph Kony (pic: centre) and four other leaders of the Lord’s Resistance Army. Since 1987, the LRA has committed atrocities and mass killings in Uganda, and abducted 25,000 children to serve as child soldiers. The terrorists are supported by Sudan, which is angry at Uganda’s government for funding the independence movement that will result in the creation of South Sudan in 2011.
U.S. President Barack Obama deploys 100 U.S. military advisors to Uganda to assist with the defeat of Joseph Kony’s terror group the Lord’s Resistance Army.
Mombela, South Africa introduces the “train bus,” the world’s first three-coach articulated bus, to encourage use of public transport and cut down on carbon emissions. The bus is 27 metres long, seats 137 passengers, and is built by the South African company Buscor.
Two trucks filled with explosives are simultaneously blown up in Mogudishu, Somalia, by the Islamic jihadist fundamentalist group Al-Shabaab. 587 people are killed in one of the terror group’s worst attacks.
Egyptian teacher and iman who founded the Muslim Brotherhood Islamic organisation, in Mahmoudyah, Egypt. He originally sought change through reform rather than revolution, although he urged Arab countries to rise up against colonialism. He rejected nationalism in the belief that all Arabs were citizens of a single Muslim country.
Dictator of Zaire (1965-1997), in Lisala, Belgium Congo. A Congolese military officer who came to power in a military coup d’état in the Democratic Republic of Congo, he was one of modern Africa’s bloodiest rulers. He was responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths under his dictatorship, while he also looted an estimated US$5 billion of public funds. He changed the country’s name to Zaire, a change that lasted until he died, of natural causes.
President of Central African Republic (2003-2013), in Mouila, French Equatorial Africa. He seized power in a military coup d’état, and was ousted by rebel forces that had fought against him throughout his rule.
