A wooden statue is being made of the king of the Kuba dynasty in what will be the Democratic Republic of Congo, while a companion statue is being carved of the founder of the royal family Shyaam aMbul aNgoong. A cultural tradition is established, and every new king will have a statue made of himself.
The people of Burao, British Somaliland, riot after British colonial authorities impose heavy taxation. The British District Commissioner is shot dead when gunfire erupts between villagers and British soldiers. Britain responds with disproportional force: an air attack that destroys the entire town and grazing lands with incendiary bombs.
Egypt’s Prime Minister, Ahmad Maher Pasha, is assassinated after only four months in office, while he is in parliament, after he declares war on German and Japan. (Egypt has remained neutral during World War II but with the defeat of Germany and Japan clearly coming soon, Pasha wanted to score diplomatic points with Britain and the U.S.) However, his assassination is motivated by another reason. His killer is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. Pasha had declared a fatwa against the group.
University of Dakar is founded in Senegal. The institution will be renamed Universite Cheikh Anta Diop in 1987 after the Senegalese scientist and historian.
With Egypt and Syria merging into a single country, the United Arab Republic, on 1 February, the UAR President Gamal Nasser arrives in Damascus to a triumphal reception by the Syrian people.
Ghana’s Independence hero and first president, Kwame Nkrumah, is ousted in a coup d’état by the Ghana army joined by police. The National Liberation Council will lead the military government with backing from the West, which disliked Nkrumah’s administration because of its pro-Communist foreign policy. The Council will transition to civilian rule in 1969. (pic: students and intellectuals supported the coup d’état)
Polisario Front guerillas, fighting against Morocco for the Independence of Western Sahara, shoot down a research airplane of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, flying from West Germany to the Antarctica. All three on board are killed. Two months before, the plane was the first from Germany to land at the South Pole. The action brings attention to Polisario, but it is unfavourable.
100,000 South Africans attend a rally of liberation leader Nelson Mandela at Soweto National Stadium outside Johannesburg, held 13 days after his release from his 27-year imprisonment for opposing the white minority apartheid government.
One of a pack of lions that roamed out of Kasungu National Park in Malawi several weeks ago, and has attacked and killed five people, is tracked down and shot by game hunters. Human populations are encroaching onto former wilderness areas, and human-animal conflict is growing.
Tsotsi, a South African drama directed by Gavin Hood, is released. The movie will earn the 2004 Academy Award for Best International Film.
The World Restaurant Awards in Paris names South Africa's Wofgat the "Best Restaurant in the World 2019." Located 150 km from Cape Town, restaurant was opened in 2017 and specialises in creative dishes made from local vegetables and fish.
Mathematician and meteorologist who dedicated most of his life to Egypt, in Buckhaven, Scotland. Arriving in Egypt in 1896 for a British colonial administrative job, he settled permanently in 1925 after inventing a map called the Craig Retroazimuthal Projection (pic). Centered on Mecca (and often called the Mecca Map) the map shows true distances and sizes by eliminating distortions caused by other maps. He was honoured in Egypt because his projection allows Muslim to locate true quibla, the direction to Mecca. At age 83, he was burned to death in a hotel deliberately set ablaze during the Cairo Fire that was part of anti-European riots of 1952.
Sultan of Morocco from 1908 to 1912, in Fes, Morocco. His reign ended when France forced him to abdicate and sign an agreement that made his country a French protectorate. His despotic tendencies included the torture of critics.
President of Malawi (2004-2012), in Kamoto, Thyolo District, British Nyalsaland. His presidential administration saw achievements in food production and political triumphs like becoming the African Union’s first Malawian chairperson. However, he favoured close ties with dictators of other African countries, and was intolerant of dissent and a free press. He died while in office in 2012.
Manuel de Novas, Cabo Verdean musician and poet, in Penha da França, Santo Antão Island, Cabo Verde. One of Cabo Verde’s most influential and important poets and musicians, he wrote songs performed by international artists throughout the world.
Nigerian lawyer and businessman, in Ondo State, Nigeria. His fortune is rooted in the Nigerian conglomerate Global Fleet Group that he heads, and in widespread investments and in his positions with several other companies. His efforts to achieve elected office failed in 2003.
Ugandan-British actor, in London, England. The first British actor of African heritage to win an Academy Award (for Best Supporting Actor, 2020), he earned several major cinema awards for his work in the 2010s and 2020s.
