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This month’s anniversaries

1 Apr 1940 birth of Wangari Maathai, Kenyan environmental and political activist, recipient of Nobel Peace Prize 2004
1 Apr 1979 establishment of Islamic Republic of Iran
2 Apr 1984 death of Lubor Matouš, Czech Assyriologist and Sumerologist
3 Apr 1885 birth of Hillary „Harry“ St-John Bridger Philby (Jack Philby), British Arabist, explorer of Arabian Peninsula
4 Apr 1910 birth of Barthélemy Boganda, leading Central African politician, nicknamed „founding father“ of the Central African Republic
4 Apr 1960 independence of Senegal (from France)
4 Apr 2002 end of civil war in Angola which began in 1975
5 Apr 1876 birth of František Lexa, founder of Czech Egyptology
5 Apr 1987 death of Joseph Leabua Jonathan, prime minister of Lesotho (1965–1986)
6 Apr 1652 establishment of the first Dutch settlement in South Africa, near modern-day Cape Town
6 Apr 2000 death of Habib Bourguiba, first president of the Republic of Tunisia (1957–1987)
7 Apr 1956 independence of Spanish Morocco
8 Apr 1919 birth of Ian Douglas Smith, prime minister of Rhodesia, present-day Zimbabwe (1964–1979)
8 Apr 1938 birth of Kofi Annan, Ghanaian diplomat, UN Secretary-General (1997–2006), recipient of Nobel Peace Prize 2001
10 Apr 1931 death of Gibran Khalil Gibran, Lebanese artist, poet, and writer
11 Apr 1827 birth of James Augustus Grant, Scottish explorer of eastern equatorial Africa
11 Apr 1931 birth of Luís Severino de Almeida Cabral, first president of Guinea-Bissau (1974–1980)
11 Apr 2012 death of Ahmad ben Bella, first president of Algeria (1963–1965)
12 Apr 1944 death of Alois Musil, Czech Orientalist, ethnologist and explorer
13 Apr 1922 birth of Julius Kambarage Nyerere, first president of Tanganyika, later Tanzania (1961–1985)
13 Apr 1975 death of François (N’Garta) Tombalbaye, first president of Chad (1960–1975)
14 Apr 1126 birth of Abu’l-Walid Muhammad Ibn Ahmad Ibn Rushd (Averroes), Andalusian Islamic philosopher, theologian, and physician
16 Apr 1978 death of Philibert Tsiranana, first president of Madagascar (1959–1972)
17 Apr 1946 independence of Syria (from League of Nations mandate under French authority)
18 Apr 1939 birth of ayatollah Sayyed Ali Hosseini Khamenei, current Supreme Leader of Iran
18 Apr 1980 independence of Zimbabwe (from United Kingdom)
21 Apr 1946 birth of Jiřina Šedinová, Czech Hebraist and translator
23 Apr 1989 death of Abdoulaye Hamani Diori, first President of Niger (1960–1974)
26 Apr 1815 death of Carsten (Karsten) Niebuhr, German explorer of Mesopotamia, Arabian Peninsula, Syria, Egypt, and Turkey
26 Apr 1964 Tanganyika and Zanzibar merged into United Republic of Tanzania
27 Apr 1960 independence of Togo (from France)
27 Apr 1961 independence of Sierra Leone (from United Kingdom)
27 Apr 1972 death of Kwame Nkrumah, first prime minister (1957–1960) and president (1960–1966) of Ghana
27 Apr 1994 end of apartheid in South Africa, Freedom Day
28 Apr 1924 birth of Kenneth David Kaunda, first president of Zambia (1964–1991)
28 Apr 1931 birth of Rudolf Veselý, Czech Arabist and historian
28 Apr 1964 death of Milton Augustus Strieby Margai, first prime minister of Sierra Leone (1961–1964)