Browse the year
May
31 days, 31 stories. Pick a date — or jump straight to one:
- 1 1950 Johannesburg's Bloody May Day
On May 1, 1950, a general strike against South Africa's apartheid laws brought Johannesburg's townships to a standstill. Workers in Alexandra, Orlando West, and Sophiatown stayed…
- 2 1994 Mandela Claims Victory
On May 2, 1994, Nelson Mandela stood before the press at Johannesburg's Carlton Hotel and claimed victory for the ANC in South Africa's first free elections.…
- 3 1991 Windhoek Press Freedom Declaration
On May 3, 1991, sixty African journalists gathered in Windhoek, Namibia, and signed the Windhoek Declaration. Together they demanded an independent, pluralistic, and free press across…
- 4 1978 The Cassinga Massacre
Before dawn on May 4, 1978, South African jets and paratroopers struck the SWAPO camp at Cassinga in southern Angola. The attack fell on a community…
- 5 1936 Italy Seizes Addis Ababa
On May 5, 1936, Marshal Pietro Badoglio rolled into Addis Ababa at the head of a motorized column, ending his March of the Iron Will. Three…
- 6 1998 Badme Ignites the Eritrean–Ethiopian War
On May 6, 1998, gunfire over the border village of Badme escalated when Eritrea seized the town, igniting a full-scale war between Eritrea and Ethiopia. Two…
- 7 2014 South Africa's Born Frees Vote
On May 7, 2014, South Africans voted in their fifth democratic general election, the first in which the born frees, those born after apartheid, could vote.…
- 8 1996 South Africa Adopts Its Constitution
On May 8, 1996, South Africa's Constitutional Assembly adopted the country's first democratic constitution, with 421 votes in favor and only two against. The moment closed…
- 9 1994 Mandela Elected South Africa's First Black President
On May 9, 1994, South Africa's first democratic parliament chose Nelson Mandela as the country's president, the first Black person to hold the office. The vote…
- 10 1994 Mandela Inaugurated
On May 10, 1994, Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as South Africa's first Black president at the Union Buildings in Pretoria. Dignitaries from more than 140 countries…
- 11 2008 Xenophobic Attacks Rock Alexandra
On May 11, 2008, mobs in Alexandra township turned on foreign nationals, including Mozambicans, Malawians, and Zimbabweans living among their neighbors. What began in one township…
- 12 2010 A Boy Survives the Tripoli Air Disaster
On May 12, 2010, an Afriqiyah Airways Airbus A330 arriving in Tripoli broke apart just short of the runway. Of 104 people aboard, 103 were killed.…
- 13 1943 Axis Forces Surrender in Tunisia
On May 13, 1943, the last Axis forces in Africa surrendered in Tunisia. Over 200,000 German and Italian soldiers laid down their arms, ending the North…
- 14 1991 Winnie Mandela Sentenced to Prison
On May 14, 1991, Winnie Mandela was sentenced to six years in prison for the kidnapping of 14-year-old activist Stompie Seipei, whose body was later found…
- 15 1979 Rawlings's Failed Coup Attempt
On May 15, 1979, Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings led junior officers in a mutiny against Ghana's ruling Supreme Military Council. The revolt at the Accra air…
- 16 2003 The Casablanca Bombings
On the night of May 16, 2003, twelve suicide bombers struck five targets across Casablanca, among them a hotel, a restaurant, a Jewish civic association, and…
- 17 1983 Sankara Arrested
On May 17, 1983, soldiers arrested Prime Minister Thomas Sankara at his residence in Ouagadougou, Upper Volta. The arrest was meant to silence a popular and…
- 18 1991 Somaliland Declares Independence
On May 18, 1991, clan elders and the Somali National Movement proclaimed the independent Republic of Somaliland at Burao, after a decade of war against Siad…
- 19 1986 Apartheid's Cross-Border Raids
On May 19, 1986, apartheid South Africa's army launched coordinated cross-border raids on alleged ANC targets in Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Zambia. Raiders blew up an ANC…
- 20 1972 Cameroon Votes for One Nation
On May 20, 1972, Cameroonians voted in a national referendum to scrap the federal system and adopt a unitary state. The result was overwhelming: 99.99 percent…
- 21 1991 Mengistu Flees Ethiopia
In the early hours of May 21, 1991, President Mengistu Haile Mariam fled Addis Ababa as rebel forces closed in on the capital. His departure ended…
- 22 1967 Nasser Closes the Straits of Tiran
On May 22, 1967, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser announced the closure of the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping, cutting off ninety percent of Israel's…
- 23 1893 Gandhi Arrives in South Africa
On May 23, 1893, a 24-year-old lawyer named Mohandas Gandhi arrived in Durban, South Africa, on a one-year contract. He had come for ordinary legal work,…
- 24 1993 Eritrea Becomes Independent
On May 24, 1993, exactly two years after its fighters entered Asmara, Eritrea formally declared independence from Ethiopia. A United Nations-monitored referendum had returned an overwhelming…
- 25 1963 Africa Day, the OAU Is Born
On May 25, 1963, leaders of 32 independent African states met in Addis Ababa and signed the charter creating the Organisation of African Unity. They gathered…
- 26 1948 The Election That Brought Apartheid
On May 26, 1948, South Africa's National Party, running on a platform of apartheid, won the general election against Jan Smuts's United Party. Though Smuts won…
- 27 1967 Gowon's Twelve-State Gamble
On May 27, 1967, Nigeria's head of state Yakubu Gowon announced Decree No. 14, splitting the country's four regions into twelve states. It was a political…
- 28 1975 West Africa Signs the Treaty of Lagos
On May 28, 1975, fifteen West African heads of state signed the Treaty of Lagos, creating the Economic Community of West African States. Driven by Nigeria's…
- 29 1999 Nigeria Returns to Civilian Rule
On May 29, 1999, Olusegun Obasanjo took the oath of office as Nigeria's president, ending sixteen years of military rule and launching the Fourth Republic. Retired…
- 30 1967 Biafra Declares Its Independence
On May 30, 1967, Lieutenant Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu broadcast from Enugu that the Eastern Region was seceding as the Republic of Biafra. Fourteen million people now…
- 31 1961 South Africa Leaves the Crown
On May 31, 1961, exactly fifty-one years after the Union of South Africa was created, the country became a republic. It cut its last ties to…