CZEFRICA.com

This month’s anniversaries

1 Oct 1947 birth of Aaron Ciechanover, Israeli biologist, recipient of Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2004
1 Oct 1960 independence of Nigeria (from the United Kingdom)
2 Oct 1958 independence of Guinea (from France)
3 Oct 1919 independence of Iraq (from the United Kingdom)
4 Oct 1966 independence of Lesotho (from the United Kingdom)
6 Oct 1981 assassination of Muhammad Anwar el Sadat, president of Egypt (1970–1981), recipient of Nobel Peace Prize 1978
7 Oct 1847 birth of Emil Holub, Czech physician and ethnographer, explorer of southern Africa
7 Oct 1931 birth of Desmond Mpilo Tutu, retired Anglican archbishop in South Africa, opponent of apartheid, recipient of Nobel Peace Prize 1984
9 Oct 1898 birth of Tawfiq al-Hakim, Egyptian writer, the most prominent Arab playwright
9 Oct 1906 birth of Léopold Sédar Senghor, first president of Senegal (1960–1980)
10 Oct 1825 birth of Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger, known as Paul Kruger, eminent South African politician, state president of South African Republic in Transvaal (1883–1900)
9 Oct 1962 independence of Uganda (from the United Kingdom)
10 Oct 2005 death of Apollo Milton Obote, first prime minister of Uganda (1962–1966), president of Uganda (1966–1971, 1980–1985)
12 Oct 1968 independence of Equatorial Guinea (from Spain)
14 Oct 1932 death of Ahmed Shawqi, Egyptian poet and dramatist, nicknamed Amir al-Shu‘ara’, The Prince of Poets
14 Oct 1999 death of Julius Kambarage Nyerere, first president of Tanganyika, later Tanzania (1961–1985)
14 Oct 2003 death of Moktar Ould Daddah, first president of Mauritania (1961–1978)
15 Oct 1817 death of Johann Ludwig (Jean Louis) Burckhardt, Swiss Orientalist and explorer who discovered the rock-cut city of Petra in Jordan
15 Oct 1916 birth of Hassan Gouled Aptidon, first president of Djibouti (1977–1999)
15 Oct 1969 assassination of Abdirashid Ali Shermarke, first prime minister of Somalia (1960–1964) and second president of Somalia (1967–1969)
16 Oct 1886 birth of David Ben Gurion, first prime minister of Israel (1948–1953, 1955–1963)
16 Oct 1919 birth of Abdirashid Ali Shermarke, first prime minister of Somalia (1960–1964) and second president of Somalia (1967–1969)
18 Oct 1905 birth of Félix Houphouët-Boigny, first president of Côte d’Ivoire (1960–1993)
18 Oct 1912 birth of Philibert Tsiranana, first president of Madagascar (1959–1972)
19 Oct 1986 death of Samora Moisés Machel, first president of Mozambique (1975–1979)
20 Oct 1890 death of Richard Francis Burton, British Orientalist, explorer of Africa and Asia
24 Oct 1964 independence of Zambia (from the United Kingdom)
26 Oct 1919 birth of Muhammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Iranian monarch (1941–1979)
29 Oct 1878 birth of William Henry Irvine Shakespear, British explorer of Arabia
29 Oct 1923 proclamation of Republic of Turkey
29 Oct 1938 birth of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, president of Liberia, recipient of Nobel Peace Prize 2011
30 Oct 1914 birth of Joseph Leabua Jonathan, prime minister of Lesotho (1965–1986)
31 Oct 1941 birth of Miroslav Verner, Czech Egyptologist and archaeologist
31 Oct 1962 death of Louis Massignon, French scholar of Islam and pioneer of Christian-Muslim understanding
October 1911 birth of Jaramogi Ajuma Oginga Odinga, prominent figure in Kenya’s struggle for independence, first vice-president of Kenya (1964–1966); exact date is not known