Deep beneath what will become Gabon, naturally-occurring uranium within a sandstone and granite “container” becomes - on a self-sustaining basis - the only naturally-occurring nuclear fission reactor in Earth’s history. The remnants of the reactor will be discovered in 1974.

The Danish Gold Coast becomes the British Gold Coast as Denmark leaves Africa after nearly 200 years, selling its forts, settlements and more than 10,000km² of African land seized by force from various African peoples. Denmark spent much of its time on the continent enslaving Africans, who were the most important “product” of Danish trade in 1700s, surpassing gold and ivory. After slavery was abolished in 1803, Danish colonialists failed to earn the same profits from coffee, cotton and sugar, and today Denmark formally ends its period as an African coloniser, after enslaving and exporting 100,000 Africans. (pic: Denmark's fort in Accra, instrumental in the slave trade)

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The Treaty of Fez makes Morocco a French protectorate.  With the French army surrounding the Royal Palace in Fes, Sultan Abd al-Hafid of Morocco signs the treaty under duress. (pic: 1910 cartoon shows Spain, Germany, France and Italy seeking to possess Morocco)

The first flight between Portugal and Africa is accomplished. A sea plane departs Lisbon with two pilots, a navigator and a mechanic, and flies 966 kilometres to the island of Madiera off the African coast. The crew tests new instruments that allow air navigation without need for visual reference to the horizon. The flight will continue across the southern Atlantic to Brazil.

Consumption of imported alcoholic beverages in Gold Coast (Ghana) has risen dramatically in the past four years as more people benefit from profitable agricultural exports and can afford spirits. Consumption has risen from 302,569 gallons in 1923 to 1,486,873 gallons in 1927, according to figures for the 1927 financial year ending tomorrow. British colonial authorities do not permit intoxicating liquor to be sold in the northern part of the country. The rise in consumption among the Ashanti and peoples of the south, with gin the favoured drink, has alarmed missionaries, prompted stories in the British press and has been debated in the British parliament.

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Maurice Yaméogo, future first president of Upper Volta (Burkina Faso), uses direct campaigning at village marketplaces and meeting halls to pull off a victory over other political parties. His party wins all six seats in the legislative elections. He will soon begin a purge of political rivals, gaining further control of parliament, and with his party in control he will ban other political parties. Historians describe his rise to power as ending with a dictatorship for Upper Volta even before national independence in 1960.

Egypt’s President Gamal Nasser relaxes some of his authoritarian ways with which he has ruled the country since 1953, permitting more parliamentary independence from the executive and restoring some civil liberties.

The bodies of Algerian painter Mohammed Racim and his wife are found murdered in their home. The murderers are never caught, but authorities determine that robbery was likely involved. Racim was a major Algerian cultural figure since his remarkable miniature paintings became popular in the 1930s.

The University of Dakar in Senegal is renamed Universite Cheikh Anta Diop, in honour of the Senegalese scientist and historian. (pic: Diop's images on a campus building)

Ghana’s Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the U.N., offers his plan to reform the U.N. Human Rights Commission. He argues the commission’s “declining credibility” has damaged the U.N.’s reputation.

The first feature film of Ghana cinema director Blitz Bazawule, The Burial of Kojo, earns some of the best international reviews yet for a 2019 movie. "A dazzling modern fable" says the New York Times. "Stunning" says the Hollywood Reporter.

As South Africa observes a 21-day nationwide lockdown to discourage the spread of Covid-19, public rail transport company Transnet converts company properties in three provinces into shelters and quarantine sites for the homeless, who must be taken off streets. Local communities provide food.

The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic is proving an economic as well as a health crisis. In Morocco this past year, poverty has increased by five times in rural areas (3.9% to 19.8%) and 14 times in urban areas (0.5% to 7.1%).