For the second time, Portugal loses control of Mombasa to the Imamate of Oman, the empire that occupies the Horn of Africa.

With the opening of the Long Mountain railway line today, Mauritius’ rail network is months away from completion. The rail system has greatly expanded education on the island by allowing students to travel from their villages to schools.

Liberian soldiers are ordered to capture 250 “male natives” and deliver them for shipment to the island of Fernando Po (Equatorial Guinea). The forced labourers are being kept under army guard when they are discovered by Liberia’s Postmaster-General on an inspection tour of Greenville. He alerts Monrovia, and government responds, “If the men were being shipped against their will it is slave trading and it should be stopped.” This and similar incidents fuel international concern about slavery in Liberia.

The first book by South African-born fantasy writer J.R.R. Tolkien is published. He has given it the title The Hobbit.

As World War II begins, the South African Air Force starts its patrols of Southern Africa’s coastline and waters. The first to take wing is the SAAF’s 16 Squadron, flying three JU-86Z's out of a base at Walvis Bay (Namibia).

The Royal Show opens in Nairobi, British Kenya. New mass-market consumer products from abroad are on display, from soft drinks to automobiles, in elaborate displays.

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The continuation of Julius Nyerere’s presidency in Tanzania is assured by his victory in today’s election, which is made easy by being a one-party election. Nyerere will be sworn into his second term as President on 1 October 1965.

Political activity is permitted in Nigeria by the military government led by General Olusegun Obasanjo. He has laid the foundations for democracy since assuming power in 1976, and announces today that candidates will participate in free and multiparty elections.

A World Conference on Religion and Peace scheduled to open in Soweto, South Africa today is banned by the state police of the racist apartheid regime as “likely to endanger public safety.” Conference organiser Archibishop Desmond Tutu (pic: centre), recent winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, says, “They are scared of people discussing peace.”

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In his final trip to the U.S. as South Africa’s President, Nelson Mandela has a two-day working visit. On the agenda is U.S. aid to South Africa, foreign relations and security concerns.

On his first state visit to the U.S., South African President Thabo Mbeki addresses the U.N. General Assembly in New York, and meets with U.S. President Bill Clinton.

Yahya Jammeh, the dictator of The Gambia, upset by criticism of his authoritative rule and human rights abuses, announces that he will kill human rights workers and Gambians who cooperate with them. The U.N. is alarmed because it has schedule a major international human rights conference in The Gambian capital Banjul for 11 November.

The opening of Angola’s first five-star hotel, the Talatona Convention Hotel in Luanda. The glass structure is distinguished by brightly-coloured panels to resemble a modern art canvas.

In one of the worst terror attacks in Africa this decade, Islamic militants invade the Westgate Shopping Mall in Nairobi, Kenya, and open fire on shoppers. By the end of the massacre, 71 people are dead, including the four gunmen.