Africa
Benin
(Dahomey)
*Alphonse Alley, a Beninese army officer and political figure who became the Chief of Staff of the Army, was born in Bassilia, Dahomey (April 9).
*Castor Afana, a Marxist economist and militant nationalist who died in 1966 while fighting as a guerrilla against the government of Cameroon, was born in Ngoksa near Sa'a, in the Centre Region of Cameroon.
*Eugenio de Paula Tavares, a Cape Verdean poet known for his famous poems (mornas) written in the Crioulo of Brava, died in Vila Nova Sintra, Cape Verde (June 1).
Eugénio de Paula Tavares (b. October 18, 1867, Brava, Cape Verde - d. June 1, 1930, Vila Nova Sintra) was born on the island of Brava in October 1867 to Francisco de Paula Tavares and Eugenia Roiz Nozzolini Tavares. His family is mainly descended from Santarem, Portugal. He was baptized at the Saint John the Baptist (São João Baptista) church in Brava. A few years later, his father starved to death and he was adopted by José and Eugenia Martins de Vera Cruz. José Martins de Vera Cruz, a physician and surgeon who was also mayor (now president) of Boa Vista and Sal (Sal was not its own municipality until the 1930s) and later of Brava after he moved.
In 1876, Tavares attended Nova Sintra's primary school (Escola Primaria). However, most of his times, Tavares never attended school. Along with another Cape Verdean poet, Jose Lopes, he was self-taught.
(French Equatorial Africa)
*Bernard Ayandho, a Central African politician and diplomat who served as Prime Minister of the Central African Republic from September 26, 1979 to August 22, 1980, was born in Bangassou, French Equatorial Africa, now the Central African Republic (December 15).
(Dahomey)
*Alphonse Alley, a Beninese army officer and political figure who became the Chief of Staff of the Army, was born in Bassilia, Dahomey (April 9).
Alphonse Amadou Alley (b. April 9, 1930, Bassila, Dahomey [now known as Benin] – d. March 28, 1987) was a Beninese army officer and political figure. He was most active when his country was known as Dahomey. He was born in Bassila, central Dahomey, and enrolled in schools in Togo, Cote d'Ivoire, and Senegal before enlisting in the French army in 1950. He saw combat in Indochina from 1950 to 1953, in Morocco from 1955 to 1956, and in Algeria from 1959 to 1961. After the coup in 1965, President Christophe Soglo promoted Alley Chief of Staff of the Army. Young army officer Maurice Kouandete was appointed Alley's chef de cabinet in 1967.
Kouandété launched another coup against Soglo on December 17, but he was forced to hand power to Alley two days later. His administration oversaw the creation of a new constitution and a presidential election, Dahomey's first since 1964. The results were annulled because of a boycott that prevented almost three-quarters of the country from voting. Alley lost popularity with the suggestion that the military should retreat back to the barracks, and was eventually reduced to a mouthpiece for Kouandété. On July 17, 1968, Alley was forced to hand power to Emile Zinsou, a veteran politician.
Alley's retirement was marked by a series of discharges from the military, trials, and prison sentences. At one trial, Zinsou's conduct sparked another coup led by Kouandété. On October 26, 1972, Mathieu Kerekou seized power in a coup. He ended Alley's military career, as well as that of every other senior officer, and named Alley commissioner of the National Oil Wells (SNADAH), a role with very little responsibility. Kérékou accused Alley of plotting against him on February 28, 1973, and sentenced the latter to 20 years in prison. He died on March 28, 1987.
Alley was born on April 9, 1930, in Bassila, central Dahomey. He was a member of the small Widji ethnic group, based in the north. His father was also a military commander, who served the French in Syria during 1942 and helped train police in Togo. Alphonse enrolled in schools in Togo, Cote d'Ivoire, and Senegal until he enlisted in the French army in 1950. His first combat operation later that year was at the Indochinese Peninsula for the First Indochina War. Alley withdrew in late 1953, shortly before Operation Castor was launched at Dien Bien Phu. After this wartime experience, he went the Saint Maxient Non-Commissioned Officer School in France (now the National Active Non-Commissioned Officers School (France) or École Nationale des Sous-Officiers d’Actives (ENSOA)). He saw combat in Morocco from 1955 to 1956 and in Algeria from 1959 to 1961, where he became a paratrooper.
After Dahomey gained independence in 1960, Alley traveled back to his homeland and led a paratrooper unit. At first, he was a lieutenant, but he was promoted to captain in 1962 and major in 1964. Later that year he led several soldiers to the Dahomey-Niger border during a border dispute.
In Dahomeyan coups in 1963 and 1965, Alley urged General Christophe Soglo to seize power. After the 1965 coup, Soglo promoted Alley Chief of Staff of the Army. Alley made known his disagreements with Soglo on several occasions, though he remained loyal nonetheless. Young army officer Maurice Kouandete was appointed Alley's chef de cabinet in 1967 and his frequent opposition to Alley during staff meetings helped to create factions in the Dahomeyan Army.
Kouandété had aspirations of his own. On December 17, 1967, he and 60 other soldiers led a military coup and toppled Soglo. Kouandété seized the presidency, though he was unsure what to do with it. Members of his faction urged the new president to remain at his post, though the general public's opinion was against him. Meanwhile, France refused to aid Dahomey and would not recognize Kouandété. Kouandete was forced to appointed Alley provisional president two days later, even though Kouandété had placed Alley under house arrest and accused him of shirking his duties. Kouandété served as prime minister thereafter.
Alley was one of the few figures who were trusted by northern and southern Dahomeyans alike. His role was only temporary, until power was to be ceded back to civilians in six months time. Among the events on the official timetable, which the military published on January 17, 1968, was the creation of a nonmilitary Constitution Commission on January 31, which would write a new Dahomeyan constitution. The document granted Alley strong executive power, and was adopted by the Comite Militaire Revolutionaire in early March. A national referendum on the constitution was held on March 31, which passed with 92 percent in favor.
The Comite decided to ban all former presidents, vice presidents, government ministers, and National Assembly presidents from the 1968 presidential election. This was to prevent Dahomeyan politics from repeating its practices of old. The Supreme Court ruled the proscription was unconstitutional, but Alley overruled the decision. He instead only recognized five candidates as legitimate.
In response to their disqualification, former presidents Hubert Maga and Sourou Migan Apithy staged protests while Justin Ahomadegbe-Tometin, another ex-president, supported an obscure candidate named Basile Adjou Moumouni. The election was held on May 15, and was Dahomey's first since 1964. Moumouni won the election with 80 percent of the vote, but Alley declared the result void because the protest prevented nearly three-quarters of the electorate from voting. This result sparked further demonstrations, and Maga, Apithy, Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin, and former president Christophe Soglo were forbidden to enter the country, in an attempt to crack down on dissent. Alley felt he had made a mistake in disqualifying Maga, Apithy, and Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin, as he believed that only they could bring unity to Dahomey.
In a radio address on May 11, Alley announced that due to the nullification, the military would have to stay in power beyond June 17. He noted that his administration would require extra time to find a successor who was backed by everyone. Alley suggested that the military should retreat back to the barracks at Camp Ghezo and leave Dahomeyan politics to the career politicians. The view was unpopular, and he was outvoted by his military comrades. Alley eventually became little more than Kouandété's mouthpiece.
Alley attempted to remove Kouandété from the army, though to no avail. By June his fellow officers had made up their mind as to the next president. After talks with unionists, civil servants, and academics, they entrusted the reins of power to Emile Derlin Zinsou for at least five years, who was charged to form a government of national union, as per a June 28 newspaper article by the state press. On July 17, Alley handed power to Zinsou, a veteran politician.
After Alley was retired from the presidency, he was purged from combat in the army and was assigned the new post of military attaché in Washington, D.C, an appointment he refused to accept. Alley was discharged from the armed forces altogether in September, with Kouandété taking his place as Chief of Staff.
On July 11, 1969, Kouandété accused Alley of plotting to kidnap and murder him. Facing the death penalty, Alley was sentenced to ten years of hard labor at an open trial held on October 4. Zinsou intervened for Alley, and it strained relations between the president and Kouandété. The latter decided to lead another coup on December 10. In the aftermath, Alley was released from incarceration and reinstated in the army.
In 1971, Alley allowed Togolese refugee Noe Kutuklui protection in Dahomey, despite official government policy to the contrary. On October 26, 1972, Mathieu Kerekou seized power in a coup. He ended Alley's military career, as well as that of every other senior officer.
Kérékou accused Alley of plotting against him on February 28, 1973, and sentenced him to 20 years in prison. He was released on amnesty on August 1, 1984, as well as all other political detainees besides those involved in the "ignoble and barbarous imperialist armed aggression of Sunday, January 16, 1967," as the official press release states.
Kérékou accused Alley of plotting against him on February 28, 1973, and sentenced him to 20 years in prison. He was released on amnesty on August 1, 1984, as well as all other political detainees besides those involved in the "ignoble and barbarous imperialist armed aggression of Sunday, January 16, 1967," as the official press release states.
Alphonse Alley died on March 28, 1987. He was survived by his son, Zacharie.
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*Bertin Borna, a Beninese politician who served as Benin's minister of finance, was born in Tanguieta, Benin (November 20).
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Cameroon*****
*Bertin Borna, a Beninese politician who served as Benin's minister of finance, was born in Tanguieta, Benin (November 20).
Bertin Babliba Borna (b. November 20, 1930, Tanguieta, Benin – d. June 15, 2007) received an international education. Borna attended the Parakou Congress of 1957 and aligned himself with Hubert Maga. Borna served as vice president of the National Assembly from 1959 to 1960. He was minister of public works from 1958 to 1960. That year, he was named finance minister, a post he held until the coup in 1963. Christophe Soglo brought him back as finance minister in 1966, but his appointment led to agitations that resulted in the 1967 coup. Borna was accused of being involved in the 1975 coup attempt and was sentenced to death in absentia on March 7, 1975. Remaining in Abidjan and Lome, Berta remained active in international trade. He became a United Nations director for the Sahel in 1982. After returning to Benin in 1990, Borna unsuccessfully ran for president in 1991. He did manage to be elected to the national assembly that year however.
Bertin Borna died on June 15, 2007.
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*Castor Afana, a Marxist economist and militant nationalist who died in 1966 while fighting as a guerrilla against the government of Cameroon, was born in Ngoksa near Sa'a, in the Centre Region of Cameroon.
In 1948, Castor Osendé Afana (b. 1930, Ngoksa near Sa'a, Centre Region, Cameroon - d. March 15, 1966, Ndelele, Cameroon) was admitted to the seminary at Mvolye, where he became a strong friend of Albert Ndongmo, the future Bishop of Nkongsamba. He left the seminary in 1950 and became a militant nationalist. At that time Eastern Cameroon was under French colonial rule, and would not gain independence until 1960. Afana joined the Union of the Peoples of Cameroon (UPC), a left-wing movement agitating for independence and led by Ruben Um Nyobe.
Osendé Afana went to Toulouse, France to study Economic Science, and by 1956 was a vice-president of the Black African Students Federation in France (Fédération des étudiants d'Afrique noire en France – FEANF), and was managing director of the FEANF organ L'Etudiant d'Afrique noire. As a UPC militant, Osende Afana ensured that the issues of Cameroon were well-covered. While he was managing director, the moderate viewpoint of the magazine shifted to a harder and more incisive tone. In 1958, Osendé Afana was General Treasurer of FEANF, as well as being responsible for the UPC in France.
In 1958, after Ruben Um Nyobé died, Osendé Afana decided to abandon his thesis and rejoin the leadership of the UPC, proposing himself as a candidate for the new Secretary General. Osendé Afana was designated UPC representative at the Afro-Asian People's Solidarity Conference in Cairo in December 1957 – January 1958. The conference was dominated by supporters of the Chinese version of communism, and later Osendé's Maoism was to arouse suspicions with the UPC leadership in Accra. Osendé Afana completed his studies in Paris in September 1962 and traveled to Accra.
In April and May 1955, the UPC held a series of angry meetings, circulated pamphlets and organized strikes. On July 13, 1955 the French government dissolved the UPC by decree. Most of the UPC leaders moved to Kumba in the British-administered Southern Cameroons to avoid being jailed by the colonial power. In July 1957, under pressure from the French, the British authorities in western Cameroon deported the leaders of the UPC to Khartoum, Sudan. They moved in turn to Cairo, Egypt, to Conakry, Guinea and finally to Accra, Ghana. After Cameroon gained independence in 1960, UPC rebels who had been fighting the French colonial government continued to fight the government of President Ahmadou Ahidjo, whom they considered to be a puppet of the French.
On September 6, 1962 the UPC leadership in exile met in Accra at Ndeh Ntumazah's house, and decided to exclude the "criminal clique of Woungly" from the administrative secretariat. At ten that evening, when the attendees were about to leave, a bomb exploded without causing any injury. The Ghana authorities were not amused and threw the entire UPC leadership in jail. In October they freed Massaga, Tchaptchet and Ntumazah, but kept Abel Kingue in prison. On September 13, 1962, the UPC organized its first Assemblée populaire sous maquis in Mungo, where the Revolutionary Committee was named. The committee was presided over by Ernest Ouandie. Other members were Abel Kingué, Michel Ndoh, Ndongo Diye, Osende Afana, Nicanor Njiawe and Woungly-Massaga. A two-headed leadership was theoretically in place, with Abel Kingué leading the exiles from Ghana and Ernest Ouandié in the maquis. The organization functioned poorly due to communication problems and also to the Sino-Soviet split. The next year it split, with Abel Kingué and Osendé Afana allied with Ntumazah and opposed to the other leaders.
In 1963 Osendé Afana left Cairo, where he had taken refuge. He traveled to Conakry, Guinea, and then to Accra, Ghana, where he met the core of the leadership in exile. He spent the following months in Brazzaville before secretly entering Cameroon with the intent of establishing a new maquis, a second front in the Moloundou region, a corner of Cameroon that borders the Republic of the Congo. In August 1963 there had been a popular revolution in Congo Brazzaville in which the neo-colonial regime of Fulbert Youlou was replaced by a government led by Alphonse Massemba-Debat. This government was relatively friendly to the UPC rebels, opening the possibility of supply from the Congo.
Details of his activity in the period that followed are sketchy, but Osendé Afana seems to have made several visits to the extremely poor Moloundou region, where he made contact with the local people, mostly Bakas. On September 1, 1965, a small party led by Asana entered Moloundou, mainly aiming to educate the people rather than start an uprising, but was forced to leave quickly. He intended to establish a politico-administrative organization on Maoist lines, but the population of this very backward part of Cameroon was not receptive to these ideas.
A few months later Osendé Afana's small group returned to Moloundou. By March 5, 1966, they had been detected and encircled by troops that were far more at home in the forest than they were. Osendé, a myopic intellectual, lost his spectacles and his sandals. On March 15, 1966, his party was ambushed by a Cameroon army unit. He did not take flight, as did most of his companions. Taken prisoner, he was killed and decapitated, and his head was flown by helicopter to Yaounde so that President Ahmadou Ahidjo could look into the eyes of the dead man.
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Cape Verde
*Eugenio de Paula Tavares, a Cape Verdean poet known for his famous poems (mornas) written in the Crioulo of Brava, died in Vila Nova Sintra, Cape Verde (June 1).
Eugénio de Paula Tavares (b. October 18, 1867, Brava, Cape Verde - d. June 1, 1930, Vila Nova Sintra) was born on the island of Brava in October 1867 to Francisco de Paula Tavares and Eugenia Roiz Nozzolini Tavares. His family is mainly descended from Santarem, Portugal. He was baptized at the Saint John the Baptist (São João Baptista) church in Brava. A few years later, his father starved to death and he was adopted by José and Eugenia Martins de Vera Cruz. José Martins de Vera Cruz, a physician and surgeon who was also mayor (now president) of Boa Vista and Sal (Sal was not its own municipality until the 1930s) and later of Brava after he moved.
In 1876, Tavares attended Nova Sintra's primary school (Escola Primaria). However, most of his times, Tavares never attended school. Along with another Cape Verdean poet, Jose Lopes, he was self-taught.
The city of Mindelo was largely marked by the Bravense child, later he went to the public farm in Tarrafal de Santiago. At the age of 15, Tavares made an anthology known as the Almanaque de lembraço Luso-Brasileiro, an almanac which he wrote until his death, the remaining were posthumously published in 1932. He returned to his native island in 1890, first he received his own farm and married D. Guiomar Leça. When Serpa Pinto was colonial governor, he congratulated the poet. He published several "morna" poems, his new themes included love, island, sea, women, emigrant and health. Between 1890 and 1900, Tavares was the "dolphin" of Cape Verde". One of his works did not appear until 1996 in Cape Verde and was "Hino de Brava" ("Hymn of Brava") which became the island's official anthem. As hunger affected the island along with the archipelago, Tavares lived in New Bedford, Massachusetts, in the United States of America between 1900 and 1910, there he wrote articles for A Alvorada, a Portuguese language exile newspaper. When Portugal along with its empire became a republic, it promoted criticism in the colonies. He went back to Cape Verde afterwards. A year after his return, he published one of the most influential newspapers at the time, A Voz de Cabo Verde (Voice of Cape Verde) up to 1916.
The name of Eugenio Tavares is honored in the name of the town square in Vila Nova Sintra along with a statue, where his home is located which is now a museum. Later, a street name was named in the western part of the capital city of Praia in Cidadela which runs for about 500 meters and intersects the Praia-Cidade Velha road, near the Jean Piaget University of Cape Verde.
Cape Verdean singers and musicians including Cesaria Evora and Celina Pereira sang songs based on Tavares' morna.
The poem "morna aguada" was featured in a Cape Verdean escudo note in 1999. Between 2007 and 2014, Tavares was featured on a Cape Verdean $2000 escudo note.
In 2007, the Monument to the Emigrants which features one of Tavares' mornas on top was erected in Praia's Achada Grande Tras at a circle or a roundabout intersecting the Praia Circular Road (Circular da Praia), Avenida Aristides Pereira and the road to Nelson Mandela International Airport.
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Central African Republic*****
(French Equatorial Africa)
*Bernard Ayandho, a Central African politician and diplomat who served as Prime Minister of the Central African Republic from September 26, 1979 to August 22, 1980, was born in Bangassou, French Equatorial Africa, now the Central African Republic (December 15).
Bernard Christian Ayandho (b. December 15, 1930, Bangassou, French Equatorial Africa (now the Central African Republic) – d. December 18, 1993, Central African Republic) was a member of the Yakoma ethnic group. He was educated at College moderne in Bambari and Ecole normale and Ecole des cadres in Brazzaville. On September 24, 1951, Ayandho became a deputy secretary in the civil service of French Equatorial Africa. Ayandho worked in the payment service in Bangui from 1951 to 1954, at which time he became secretary to Fort Crampel. In 1955, he became a finance agent. Ayandho was appointed leader of the Bimbo district in 1957 and served in this position until 1958. He received further education at the Ecole national de la France d'outre-mer, and after graduation returned to the Central African Republic. On August 17, 1960, Ayandho was appointed secretary-general of the Council of Ministers by President David Dacko. He became Minister of the national economy on May 1, 1964, and was appointed minister of rural action on January 1, 1962.
He was appointed high commissioner by President Jean-Bedel Bokassa on January 20, 1966. Ayandho became deputy minister of economic planning and technical assistance on February 28, 1969, then head of the ministry on September 17. He was named minister of industry, mines, and geology on February 4, 1970, and the ministry was renamed mines and energy on September 13, 1971. He served in this role until October 19. He became regional representative for Air Afrique in Gabon on December 31, and was appointed economic counselor at the Central African Republic embassy in Libreville on September 27, 1975.
After Bokassa was overthrown, Ayandho was named prime minister on September 26, 1979. He had been disgraced for a number of years prior. He was considered a potential successor as President. On August 22, 1980, he was dismissed due to opposing President Dacko. Sylvestre Bangui resigned from the government in protest. Ayandho ran a private firm from 1980 to 1985, when he was named president of the Chamber of Commerce by President Andre Kolingba. Ayandho died on December 18, 1993 in Paris.
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*David Dacko, the first President of the Central African Republic, was born the village of Bouchia, near Mbaiki in the Lobaye region, which was then a part of the French Equatorial African territory of Moyen Congo (Middle Congo) (March 24).
*David Dacko, the first President of the Central African Republic, was born the village of Bouchia, near Mbaiki in the Lobaye region, which was then a part of the French Equatorial African territory of Moyen Congo (Middle Congo) (March 24).
David Dacko (b. March 24,1930, Bouchia, Moyen-Congo, French Equatorial Africa [now in Central African Republic] – d. November 20, 2003, Yaounde, Cameroon) was the first President of the Central African Republic from August 14, 1960 to January 1, 1966, and the third President from September 21,1979 to September 1, 1981. After his second removal from power in a coup d'etat led by General Andre Kolingba, he pursued an active career as an opposition politician and presidential candidate with many loyal supporters. Dacko was an important political figure in the country for over 50 years.
David Dacko, a former teacher, held ministerial posts under Barthelemy Boganda, the prime minister of the autonomous Central African Republic. Claiming a family relationship, Dacko succeeded to the prime ministership in 1959 after Boganda’s death. In 1960, the republic gained its full independence, and Dacko became the country’s first president. He ruled the Central African Republic as a one-party state and in 1962 easily won the presidential elections. Dacko was unable to improve the country’s failing economy, however, and, with the Central African Republic facing bankruptcy, he was overthrown by Jean-Bedel Bokassa on the night of December 31, 1965/January 1, 1966.
On September 21, 1979, after 13 years of brutal rule (which included Bokassa’s proclamation of a “Central African Empire”), Dacko, aided by French troops, in turn overthrew Bokassa, announcing that the country would revert to a republic with Dacko as president. His presidency was again plagued by numerous problems. Soon after taking office, Dacko survived an assassination attempt, and, following his re-election in 1981, there were riots in Bangui. Dacko was removed from office in September 1981, when General André Kolingba seized power. Dacko unsuccessfully ran for president in 1992 and 1999.
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Democratic Republic of the Congo
(Belgian Congo)
(Zaire)
*Paul Panda Farnana M'Fumu, the first Congolese intellectual and a Pan-Africanist, died in Matada, Belgian Congo (May 12).
Paul Panda Farnana M'Fumu (b. 1888, Zemba-lez-Moanda in the Bas-Congo Province of the Congo Free State - d. May 12, 1930, Matada, Belgian Congo). He was the son of Luizi Fernando, a government-appointed chief. A Belgian official, Lieutenant Derscheid, offered to bring Farnana to Belgium to receive an education. He accepted, and they arrived in Brussels on April 25, 1900. Upon Dersheid's death, Farnana was adopted by the lieutenant's widow, Louise. He attended secondary school at Athénée Royal d'Ixelles. In 1904, he passed an entrance exam and was enrolled in a horticultural and agricultural school in Vilvoorde, graduating three years later with distinction. In 1908, Farfana studied at an institute for tropical agriculture in Nogent-sur-Marne, Paris, France. That same year he studied English in Mons. He was the first Congolese to receive a diploma of higher education in Belgium.
In 1909 Farfana was hired as an agricultural specialist by the Belgian colonial government which, by then, was running the former Congo Free State as the Belgian Congo. In June, he was assigned to the Botanic Garden of Eala, near Coquilhatville.
Shortly before the outbreak of World War I, Farfana was living in Belgium. He served in the Belgian Army during the war, though he spent most of it as a German prisoner of war. Afterwards, he founded the Union Congolaise to advocate for the interests of other Belgian-Congolese veterans.
Farfana participated in the first and second Pan-African Congresses in 1919 and 1921, respectively. He also attended the First National Belgian Colonial Congress in 1920. He actively criticized Beglium's colonial practices, arguing that the ban on forced labor in the Congo was not consistently obeyed and that schools for the native population were inadequate. He also called for the Congolese to be granted political rights.
In 1929, Farfana went to Matada to manage an oil mill. He died there nine months later.
Farfana is considered the first Congolese intellectual. Following his death, Belgium forbade any further Congolese from studying in Belgium.
Farnana's work was largely forgotten by the public until Congolese historians began uncovering details about his life in the 1970s and 1980s. A Belgian documentary was made about him in 2008.
******Marcel Antoine Lihau, a Congolese politician and law professor who served as the President of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Congo and was involved in the creation of two functional constitutions for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was born in Lisala, Equateur Province, Belgian Congo (September 30).
Marcel Antoine Lihau or Ebua Libana la Molengo Lihau (b. September 29, 1930, Lisala, Equateur Province, Belgian Congo – d. April 9, 1999, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States) was the eldest of eight children. Circumventing regular colonial restrictions on education of Congolese, sociologist Willy De Craemer actively prepared Lihau for the Jury Central exam for admission to the Universite catholique de Louvain. For tutoring Lihau in Latin, Greek, and Flemish, De Craemer was blacklisted by the Governor General of the Congo. Regardless, Lihau passed the exam with an exceptionally high score and was enrolled in the university to study Roman philology. In reality, he took courses related to law (then not offered to Congolese students) with the help of De Craemer and Jesuit educators. For the duration of his studies he stayed with the family of Karel Theunissen, the former director of Leopoldville Radio. Lihau served as president of the small Congolese-Ruanda-Urundi student association in Belgium.
In 1958, a conference of Belgian missionaries was held to discuss expansion of tertiary education in the Congo. Lihau was invited to give a speech in which he encouraged Belgian clergy to join the side of Congolese activists and abandon the attitude of "clerical paternalism". In 1962, restrictions on Congolese education were loosened and Lihau became a PhD law student. By January 1963 he had earned his degree with distinction, being the very first Congolese to study law in Belgium.
Lihau married Sophie Kanza on December 26, 1964. They had six daughters: Elisabeth, Anne, Irene, Catherine, Rachel and Sophie. Due to his political activities and flight from persecution they spent most of their later lives separated.
Marcel Lihau died on April 9, 1999, seven days after the death of his wife. He was buried in Gombe, Kinshasa.
******Mobutu Sese Seko, a President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was born in Lisala, Belgian Congo (October 14).
Mobutu Sese Seko (aka Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga, b. Joseph-Desiré Mobutu, October 14, 1930, Lisala, Belgian Congo – d. September 7, 1997, Rabat, Morocco), was the military dictator and President of Zaire [now the Democratic Republic of the Congo] from 1965 to 1997. He also served as Chairperson of the Organization of African Unity from 1967–1968.
Mobutu Sese Seko was educated in missionary schools and began his career in 1949 in the Belgian Congolese army, the Force Publique, rising from a clerk to a sergeant major, the highest rank then open to Africans. While still in the army, Mobutu contributed articles to newspapers in Léopoldville (now Kinshasa). After his discharge in 1956 he became a reporter for the daily L’Avenir (“The Future”) and later editor of the weekly Actualités Africaines.
Through his press contacts Mobutu met the Congolese nationalist leader Patrice Lumumba, whose Congolese National Movement (Mouvement National Congolais or MNC) he joined soon after it was launched in 1958. In 1960 Mobutu represented Lumumba at the Brussels Round Table Conference on Congo independence until the release of Lumumba, who had been jailed for his nationalist activities in the Congo. During the conference, Mobutu supported Lumumba’s proposals (which were adopted) for a strongly centralized state for the independent Congo.
When the Congo became independent on June 30, 1960, the coalition government of President Joseph Kasavubu and Premier Lumumba appointed Mobutu secretary of state for national defense. Eight days later the Congo’s Force Publique mutinied against its Belgian officers. As one of the few officers with any control over the army (gained by liberally dispensing commissions and back pay to the mutineers), Mobutu was in a position to influence the developing power struggle between Kasavubu and Lumumba.
Mobutu covertly supported Kasavubu’s attempt to dismiss Lumumba. When Lumumba rallied his forces to oust Kasavubu in September 1960, Mobutu seized control of the government and announced that he was “neutralizing” all politicians. In February 1961, however, Mobutu turned over the government to Kasavubu, who made Mobutu commander in chief of the armed forces. Many believe that Mobutu bore some responsibility for the death of Lumumba, who was arrested by Mobutu’s troops and flown to Katanga, where, it is believed, he was killed by Congolese or Katangese troops.
Mobutu Sese Seko was educated in missionary schools and began his career in 1949 in the Belgian Congolese army, the Force Publique, rising from a clerk to a sergeant major, the highest rank then open to Africans. While still in the army, Mobutu contributed articles to newspapers in Léopoldville (now Kinshasa). After his discharge in 1956 he became a reporter for the daily L’Avenir (“The Future”) and later editor of the weekly Actualités Africaines.
Through his press contacts Mobutu met the Congolese nationalist leader Patrice Lumumba, whose Congolese National Movement (Mouvement National Congolais or MNC) he joined soon after it was launched in 1958. In 1960 Mobutu represented Lumumba at the Brussels Round Table Conference on Congo independence until the release of Lumumba, who had been jailed for his nationalist activities in the Congo. During the conference, Mobutu supported Lumumba’s proposals (which were adopted) for a strongly centralized state for the independent Congo.
When the Congo became independent on June 30, 1960, the coalition government of President Joseph Kasavubu and Premier Lumumba appointed Mobutu secretary of state for national defense. Eight days later the Congo’s Force Publique mutinied against its Belgian officers. As one of the few officers with any control over the army (gained by liberally dispensing commissions and back pay to the mutineers), Mobutu was in a position to influence the developing power struggle between Kasavubu and Lumumba.
Mobutu covertly supported Kasavubu’s attempt to dismiss Lumumba. When Lumumba rallied his forces to oust Kasavubu in September 1960, Mobutu seized control of the government and announced that he was “neutralizing” all politicians. In February 1961, however, Mobutu turned over the government to Kasavubu, who made Mobutu commander in chief of the armed forces. Many believe that Mobutu bore some responsibility for the death of Lumumba, who was arrested by Mobutu’s troops and flown to Katanga, where, it is believed, he was killed by Congolese or Katangese troops.
As commander in chief Mobutu reorganized the army. In 1965, after a power struggle had developed between President Kasavubu and his premier, Moise Tshombe, Mobutu removed Kasavubu in a coup and assumed the presidency. Two years later Mobutu put down an uprising led by white mercenaries attached to the Congolese army. His efforts to revive the Congo’s economy included such measures as nationalizing the Katanga copper mines and encouraging foreign investment. Agricultural revitalization lagged, however, and consequently, the need for food imports increased.
As president, Mobutu moved to Africanize names. The name of the country was changed in October 1971 from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Congo [Kinshasa]) to the Republic of Zaire (the country reverted back to its earlier name in 1997). In January 1972 Mobutu changed his own name from Joseph-Désiré Mobutu to Mobutu Sese Seko Koko Ngbendu Wa Za Banga (“The all-powerful warrior who, because of his endurance and inflexible will to win, will go from conquest to conquest, leaving fire in his wake”).
Mobutu attempted to soften the military nature of his regime by filling government posts with civilians. He sought to build popular support through his Popular Movement of the Revolution (Mouvement Populaire de la Révolution or MPR), which until 1990 was the country’s only legal party. Opposition to his rule came from numerous Congolese exiles, ethnic groups that had played decisive roles in previous governments, small farmers who gained no share in the attempted economic revival, and some university students. He also faced a continuing threat of attacks on the Shaba region (Mobutu’s Africanized name for the Katanga province) by Katangese rebels based in Angola.
In 1977 Mobutu had to request French military intervention to repel an invasion of Zaire by Angolan-backed Katangese. He was re-elected to the presidency in one-man contests in 1970 and 1977. Over the years Mobutu proved adept at maintaining his rule in the face of internal rebellions and attempted coups, but his regime had little success in establishing the conditions needed for economic growth and development. Endemic governmental corruption, mismanagement, and neglect led to the decline of the country’s infrastructure, while Mobutu himself reportedly amassed one of the largest personal fortunes in the world.
With the end of the Cold War in the 1990s, Mobutu lost much of the Western financial support that had been provided in return for his intervention in the affairs of Zaire’s neighbors. Marginalized by the multi-party system and ill, Mobutu finally relinquished control of the government in May 1997 to the rebel leader Laurent Kabila, whose forces had begun seizing power seven months earlier. Mobutu died in exile a short time later.
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Ethiopia
In early 1930, Gugsa Welle, the husband of the empress Zewditu and the Shum (Governor) of Begemder Province, raised an army and marched it from his governorate at Gondar towards Addis Adaba. On March 31, 1930, Gugsa Welle was met by forces loyal to Negus Tafari (the future Haile Selassie) and was defeated at the Battle of Anchem. Gugsa Welle was killed in action. News of Gugsa Welle's defeat and death had hardly spread through Addis Ababa when the empress died suddenly on April 2, 1930. Although it was long rumored that the empress was poisoned upon the defeat of her husband, or alternately that she died from shock upon hearing of the death of her estranged yet beloved husband, it has since been documented that the Empress succumbed to a flu-like fever and complications from diabetes.
With the passing of Zewditu, Tafari himself rose to emperor and was proclaimed Neguse Negest ze-'Ityopp'ya, "King of Kings of Ethiopia". He was crowned on November 2, 1930, at Addis Adaba's Cathedral of Saint George. The coronation was attended by royals and dignitaries from all over the world. Among those in attendance were George V's son the Duke of Gloucester, Marshal Franchet d'Esperey of France, and the Prince of Udine representing the King of Italy. Emissaries from the United States, Egypt, Turkey, Sweden, Belgium, and Japan were also present. British author Evelyn Waugh was also present, penning a contemporary report on the event, and American travel lecturer Burton Holmes shot the only known film footage of the event. One newspaper report suggested that the celebration may have incurred a cost in excess of $3,000,000. Many of those in attendance received lavish gifts. In one instance, the Christian emperor even sent a gold-encased Bible to an American bishop who had not attended the coronation, but who had dedicated a prayer to the emperor on the day of the coronation.
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*On March 31, 1930, Gugsa Welle, the husband of the empress Zewditu and the Shum (Governor) of Begemder Province, was met by forces loyal to Negus Tafari (the future Haile Selassie) and was defeated at the Battle of Anchem. Gugsa Welle was killed in action.
*On March 31, 1930, Gugsa Welle, the husband of the empress Zewditu and the Shum (Governor) of Begemder Province, was met by forces loyal to Negus Tafari (the future Haile Selassie) and was defeated at the Battle of Anchem. Gugsa Welle was killed in action.
Gugsa Welle (1875 – 31 March 1930), also known as Gugsa Wale, Gugsa Wolie and Gugsa Wele, was an army commander and a member of the Royal family of the Ethiopian Empire. He represented a provincial ruling elite which was often at odds with the Ethiopian central government.Gugsa Wale was born in Marto in Yejju Province. He was the son of Ras Welle Betul and the nephew of Empress Taytu Betul. His half-sister, Kefey Wale, was the second wife of Ras Mangesha Yohannes, the natural son of Emperor Yohannes IV.
Taytu Betul arranged the marriage of Gugsa Wale to Leult Zewditu, the eldest daughter of Emperor Menelek II and an earlier wife. Gugsa and Zewditu were married in 1900, six years before her elevation to Empress. Gugsa was her fourth husband. Upon his marriage to Zewditu, Gugsa Wale was immediately promoted to Ras over Begemder Province. This alliance allowed Empress Taytu to extend her influence over this important province. Despite the political nature of this marriage, the two were happy. However, in 1909, Gugsa was summoned to Addis Ababa by Menelek II to respond to the charge that he had mistreated Zewditu.
Ras Gugsa came close to becoming the power behind the throne during the intrigue that characterized the years of Emperor Menelik II's senility, for in 1909, the Empress Taytu made a serious effort to prevent the accession of Lij Iyasu as Menelik's successor. This led to the rumor that Empress Taytu and her brother, Ras Wale Betul, intended to move the capital to Gondar and make Ras Gugsa the Emperor. However, the Shewan aristocracy agreed that their authority, positions and honors depended on obeying Menelik's wishes, and they united behind Lij Iyasu as the successor. Despite this setback, Ras Gugsa initially supported the resulting status quo: when Dejazmach Abraha Araya rebelled in Tigray, Gugsa supported Dejazmach Abate Bwalu who was sent to suppress this threat, helping him to defeat Dejazmach Abraha in the Battle of Lake Ashenge on October 9.
However, once Iyasu was secure as Emperor the following year, Ras Gugsa was arrested on a murder charge. By late April, he was in chains in Addis Ababa and no longer a potential threat to the government. This confinement proved to be cruel. Gugsa was kept in chains for so long that his legs became swollen and the metal cut into his flesh. Zewditu begged Iyasu's short-lived Regent, Ras Tessema Nadew, to ease conditions for Gugsa. But it was not until 1915, when she was relegated to Falle, that Gugsa was released and the two were allowed to live together.
In 1916, a successful coup d'etat against Iyasu resulted in his being deposed and Zewditu being proclaimed Empress. Iyasu's father, Mikael of Wollo, then invaded Shewa Province with an army to restore Iyasu. Mikael was defeated in the Battle of Segale. With Iyasu deposed, Zewditu became "Queen of Kings" and Empress of Ethiopia, and her young cousin Tafari Makonnen became heir to the throne and Regent of the Empire.
Empress Zewditu and Gugsa were restored to good graces. But the Shewan leadership, leery of a resurgence of the influence of Dowager Empress Taitu and her family, forced Gugsa to separate from Zewditu and he was sent to Gondar where he served once again as Governor of Begemder. Gugsa also served as Governor of Semien at this time.
The crowning of Tafari Makonnen was controversial. He occupied the same territory as Zewditu rather than occupying a far off region in the empire. In Ethiopian history, two monarchs, even with one being the vassal and the other the Emperor (in this case Empress), had never occupied the same location as their seat. Conservatives, including Balcha Safo, agitated to redress this perceived insult to the Empress and to the dignity of the crown. This state of agitation ultimately led to Ras Gugsa's rebellion in 1930. Gugsa saw Zewditu remaining as Empress and himself as the future Emperor. However, Empress Zewditu did not authorize or openly support his rebellious actions.
In January, Gugsa raised an army in Begemder. On March 28, Gugsa marched from his governorate at Gondar towards the capital. But, on March 31, he was met near the border by the Army of the Center (Mahel Sefari) and he was defeated and killed at the Battle of Anchem. News of Gugsa Wale's defeat and death had hardly spread through Addis Ababa when the Empress died suddenly on April 2. Although it was long rumored that the Empress was poisoned upon the defeat of her husband, or alternately that she died from shock upon hearing of the death of her estranged yet beloved husband, it has since been documented that the Empress succumbed to a flu-like fever (possibly typhoid) and complications from diabetes.
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*Zewditu, the Empress of Ethiopia from 1916 to 1930, died (April 2).
*Zewditu, the Empress of Ethiopia from 1916 to 1930, died (April 2).
Zewditu (also spelled Zawditu or Zauditu; Ge'ez: ዘውዲቱ; b. April 29, 1876 – d. April 2, 1930) was Empress of Ethiopia from 1916 to 1930. The first female head of an internationally recognized state in Africa in the 19th and 20th centuries, and the first Empress regnant of the Ethiopian Empire perhaps since the legendary Makeda, the Queen of Sheba, Zewditu's reign was noted for the reforms of her Regent and designated heir Ras Tafari Makonnen (who succeeded her as Emperor Haile Selassie I), about which she was at best ambivalent and often stridently opposed, due to her staunch conservatism and strong religious devotion.
Baptised as Askala Maryam ("Askal of Mary," a type of flower), but using the given name Zewditu, the future Empress was the eldest daughter of the then Negus (or King) Menelik of Shewa, the future emperor Menelek II of Ethiopia. Zewditu is an Amharic word meaning "the Crown", though it sometimes appears erroneously Anglicized as "Judith", with which it is not cognate. Her mother, Weyziro (Lady) Abechi, was a noblewoman of Wollo and a brief companion of Menelek. Her mother had separated from Menelik when Zewditu was very young, and the future empress was raised by her father and his consort Baffana. Negus Menelik later married Taytu Betul, but had no children by this wife. Menelik had three acknowledged children: Zewditu herself, a son Asfaw Wossen who died in infancy, and another daughter Shewa Regga, the mother of Lij Iyasu, Menelik's eventual heir. However, the Emperor remained closest to Zewditu, who also had good relations with her stepmother Empress Taytu, and was part of her father's household for most of her life.
In 1886, the ten-year-old Zewditu was married to Ras Araya Selassie Yohannes, the son and heir of Emperor Yohannes IV. The marriage was political, having been arranged when Menelik agreed to submit to Yohannes' rule. Yohannes and Menelik eventually fell into conflict again, however, with Menelik launching a rebellion against Yohannes' rule. Zewditu's marriage was childless, being very young during her marriage, although her husband had fathered a son by another woman. When Araya Selassie died in 1888, she left Mekele and returned to her father's court in Shewa. Despite the hostility between Menelik and Yohannes, Zewditu managed throughout the conflict to maintain good relations with both. In a sign of his high regard and affection for his daughter-in-law, Emperor Yohannes IV sent Zewditu back to Shewa with a large gift of valuable cattle, at a point that relations between him and her father were at a particularly low point.
Zewditu had two further marriages, both brief, before marrying Ras Gugsa Welle. Ras Gugsa Welle was the nephew of Empress Taytu, Zewditu's stepmother. Zewditu had already been on good terms with Taytu, but the establishment of a direct tie between the two helped cement the relationship. Unlike her prior marriages, Zewditu's marriage to Gugsa Welle is thought to have been happy.
Upon the death of Emperor Yohannes IV at the Battle of Metemma against the Mahdists of the Sudan, Negus Menelik of Shewa assumed power and became Emperor of Ethiopia in 1889. This restored the direct male line succession of the dynasty, as Emperor Yohannes' claim to the throne was through a female link to the line. As the daughter of Menelik II, Zewditu would be the last monarch in direct agnatic descent from the Solomonic dynasty. Her successor Haile Selassie was also linked in the female line. In 1913, Menelik died, and Lij Iyasu, the son of Zewditu's half-sister Shewa Regga, who had been publicly declared heir apparent in 1909, took the throne. Iyasu considered Zewditu a potential threat to his rule, and exiled her and her husband to the countryside.
Due to fears of instability that might be caused, the cabinet of ministers decided not to publicly proclaim the death of Menelik II. As a result, Iyasu was never officially proclaimed as Emperor Iyasu V. However, both Menelik's death and Iyasu's de facto accession were widely known and accepted. The Church authorities, the Lord Regent Ras Tessema, and the ministers agreed that Iyasu's coronation should be postponed until he was a bit older and had taken Holy Communion with his wife making his marriage insoluble in the eyes of the Orthodox Church. However Iyasu quickly encountered problems with his rule and he was never crowned. He was widely disliked by the nobility for his unstable behavior, and the church held him in suspicion for his alleged Muslim sympathies. After a troubled few years, Iyasu was removed from power. Zewditu was summoned to the capital, and on September 27, 1916, the Council of State and the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church officially announced the death of Emperor Menelik II and deposed Iyasu in favor of Zewditu. Zewditu's official title was "Queen of Kings" (Negiste Negest), a modification of the traditional title "King of Kings" (Negusa Nagast).
Initially, Zewditu was not permitted to exercise power herself. Instead, her cousin Ras Tafari Makonnen was appointed regent, and her father's old loyal general, Fitawrari Hapte Giorgis Dinagde was made commander in chief of the army. Ras Tafari was also made heir apparent to Zewditu – none of Zewditu's children had survived to adulthood. In 1928, after an attempt to remove Ras Tafari Makonnen from power failed, the Empress was compelled to crown her cousin Negus.
While the conservative Ethiopian aristocracy was generally supportive of Zewditu, it was less enthusiastic about many of her relatives. Zewditu's stepmother and the aunt of her husband, Dowager Empress Taytu Betul, had withdrawn from the capital after Menelik's death, but was still distrusted somewhat due to the evident favoritism she had practiced during the reign of her late husband. In an attempt to limit her influence, the aristocracy arranged for her nephew (Zewditu's husband Ras Gugsa Welle) to be appointed to a remote governorship, removing him from court. This move, while intended as a strike against Taytu rather than against Zewditu, is believed to have upset Zewditu considerably. Zewditu also suffered guilt for taking the throne from Lij Iyasu, who her father had wanted to succeed him – while she believed that Iyasu's overthrow was necessary, she had admired her father greatly, and was unhappy at having to disobey his wishes. Her separation from her husband and her guilt about Iyasu's overthrow combined to make Zewditu not particularly happy as Empress. Increasingly, the Empress retreated from state responsibility into a world of fasting and prayer, as the progressive elements that surrounded the heir, Tafari Makonnen gained in strength and influence at court.
The early period of Zewditu's reign was marked by a war against Lij Iyasu, who had escaped captivity. Backed by his father, Negus Mikael of Wollo, a powerful northern leader, Iyasu attempted to regain the throne. The two failed to effectively coordinate their efforts however, and after some initial victories Iyasu's father was defeated and captured at the Battle of Segale. The Negus was paraded through the streets of Addis Ababa in chains, carrying a rock of repentance on his shoulders, before entering the throne room and kissing the Empress's shoes to beg for her mercy. The heir to the throne, Ras Tafari Makonnen was not present at this spectacle out of consideration for the feelings of his wife, who was the granddaughter of Negus Mikael.
Upon hearing of his father's defeat and humiliation, Iyasu himself fled to Afar. After years on the run, Iyasu was later captured by Dejazmach Gugsa Araya Selassie, the son who Zewditu's first husband had fathered by another woman. Gugsa Araya was rewarded with the title of Ras from his former stepmother, and Princess Yeshashework Yilma, the niece of Tafari Makonnen, as his bride. When Iyasu was captured, a tearful Empress Zewditu pleaded that he be kept in a special house on the grounds of the palace where she would see to his care and he could receive religious counsel. She found Ras Tafari and Fitawrari Hapte Giorgis to be unbendingly opposed, and so gave up. She did however make sure that special favorite foods and a constant supply of clothing and small luxuries reached Iyasu at his place of arrest in Sellale.
As Empress Zewditu's reign progressed, the difference in outlook gradually widened between her and her appointed heir, Ras Tafari Makonnen. Tafari was a modernizer, believing that Ethiopia needed to open itself to the world in order to survive. In this, he had the backing of many younger nobles. Zewditu, however, was a conservative, believing in the preservation of Ethiopian tradition. She had the strong backing of the church in this belief. Slowly, however, Zewditu began to withdraw from active politics, leaving more and more power to Tafari. Under Tafari's direction, Ethiopia entered the League of Nations, and abolished slavery. Zewditu busied herself with religious activities, such as the construction of a number of significant churches.
In 1928, there was a small conservative uprising against Tafari's reforms, but it was unsuccessful. Empress Zewditu was compelled to grant Tafari, who now controlled most of the Ethiopian government, the title of King (Negus). While Negus Tafari remained under the nominal rule of Zewditu (who was still Negeste Negest, Queen of Kings or Empress), Tafari was now effectively the ruler of Ethiopia. A number of attempts were made to displace him, but they were all unsuccessful. In 1930, Zewditu's husband Ras Gugsa Welle led a rebellion against Negus Tafari in Begemder, hoping to end the regency in spite of his wife's repeated pleas and orders to desist, but was defeated and killed in battle by the modernized Ethiopian army at the Battle of Anchem on March 31, 1930.
On April 2, 1930, two days after Ras Gugsa Welle was killed in battle, Empress Zewditu died. It is known today that Zewditu suffered from diabetes, and was seriously ill with typhoid, but it is not universally agreed that this was the cause of her death. According to some popular histories, Zewditu died of shock and grief at hearing of her husband's death, but other accounts contradict this, claiming that Zewditu was not informed of the battle's outcome before her sudden death. Some diplomatic sources in Addis Ababa reported at the time that the fever stricken Empress was immersed in a large container of frigidly cold holy water to cure her of her illness, but that her body went into shock and she died shortly thereafter. The timing of her death immediately after news of the outcome of the battle reached Addis Ababa has caused considerable speculation as to her cause of death. Some, particularly conservative critics of her successor, Emperor Haile Selassie, allege that once the rebellion had been decisively defeated, he or his supporters felt safe in poisoning Zewditu. Accordingly, speculation as to the cause of Zewditu's death continues today.
Empress Zewditu was succeeded on the throne by Negus Tafari, who took the name of Emperor Haile Selassie.
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*Ras Tafari, who took the name Haile Selassie when he was proclaimed Negus (King) two years ago, was crowned King of Kings at Addis Adaba (November 2). He would reign until 1974 and be regarded by Jamaican Rastafarians as the living God. He was seen as fulfilling a prophecy of Marcus Garvey, "Look to Africa, where a black king shall be crowned, for the day of deliverance is near."
*Ras Tafari, who took the name Haile Selassie when he was proclaimed Negus (King) two years ago, was crowned King of Kings at Addis Adaba (November 2). He would reign until 1974 and be regarded by Jamaican Rastafarians as the living God. He was seen as fulfilling a prophecy of Marcus Garvey, "Look to Africa, where a black king shall be crowned, for the day of deliverance is near."
On November 2, 1930, after the death of Empress Zewditu (on April 2), Ras Tafari was crowned Negusa Nagast, literally King of Kings, rendered in English as "Emperor". Upon his ascension, he took as his regnal name Haile Selassie I. Haile means in Ge'ez "Power of" and Selassie means trinity — therefore, Haile Selassie roughly translates to "Power of the Trinity". Haile Selassie's full title in office was "By the Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I, King of Kings of Ethiopia, Elect of God". This title reflects Ethiopian dynastic traditions, which hold that all monarchs must trace their lineage to Menelik I, who in the Ethiopian tradition was the offspring of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.
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*Italy built a fort at the Welwel oasis (also Walwal, Italian: Ual-Ual) in the Ogaden and garrisoned it with Somali Ascari (dubats) (irregular frontier troops commanded by Italian officers).
*Italy built a fort at the Welwel oasis (also Walwal, Italian: Ual-Ual) in the Ogaden and garrisoned it with Somali Ascari (dubats) (irregular frontier troops commanded by Italian officers).
The Italo-Ethiopian Treaty of 1928 stated that the border between Italian Somaliland and Ethiopia was twenty-one leagues parallel to the Benadir coast (approximately 118.3 kilometres [73.5 miles]). The fort at Welwel was well beyond the twenty-one league limit and the Italians were encroaching on Ethiopian territory.
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*'Abd Allah II ibn 'Ali 'Abd ash-Shakur, the last Emir of Harar, died.
'Abd Allah II ibn 'Ali 'Abd ash-Shakur, also known as Amir Hajji 'Abdu'llahi II ibn 'Ali 'Abdu's Shakur, (18??-1930) was the last Emir of Harar from 1884 (or 1885, various sources carry various dates) to January 26, 1887, when the state was terminated, following the defeat of the Harari troops at the Battle of Chelenqo (January 6).
Emir 'Abd Allah was the son of Muhammad ibn 'Ali 'Abd ash-Shakur by Kadija, the daughter of Emir 'Abd al-Karim ibn Muhammad. To secure his hold on the emirate of Harar, his father had married 'Abd Allah to the daughter of Ahmad III ibn Abu Bakr, his predecessor. When the Egyptians evacuated Harar, 'Abd Allah became the logical choice to rule Harar, and was given a few hundred soldiers trained by one of the British officers, 300 to 400 rifles, some cannon, and munitions, a force barely sufficient to garrison Harar and Jaldessa, let alone police the trade routes and ensure the security of the state.
Emir 'Abd Allah grew paranoid of the growing Ethiopian threat to his domain, and accused the resident Europeans of co-operating with Negus Menelik II. His situation deteriorated by July 1885. The population grew uncontrollable, European traders became virtual prisoners in their homes and shops, and the adjacent Galla raided the town. In response, Emir 'Abd Allah introduced a new currency which impoverished the local population. The neighboring Oromo and Somali deserted Harar's markets and the town's economy collapsed.
Emir 'Abd Allah responded to the first Ethiopian military probe with a night attack on their camp at Hirna which included fireworks. The unmotivated troops panicked at the pyrotechnics and fled toward the Asabot and Awash Rivers. When the Negus Menelik personally led a second attack a few months later, the Emir misjudged the quality of these troops and attempted to repeat his earlier success of a second night attack. Had he allowed the enemy to attack the walled city, where his few Krupp cannon might have been effective, the Shoans might have suffered a defeat with serious political consequences. But that is not what 'Abd Allah did. As a result, the battle at Chelenqo destroyed 'Abd Allah's army in fifteen minutes.
With his wives and children, the Emir fled into the empty country east of Harar, leaving his uncle Ali Abu Barka to submit to Menelik and ask clemency for Harar.
The former Emir 'Abd Allah later returned to the town to live as a Sufi or religious scholar. 'Abd Allah died in Harar in 1930.
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Ghana*****
(Gold Coast)
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*Casely Hayford, a Ghanaian journalist, editor, author, lawyer, educator, and politician who supported pan-African nationalism, died (August 11).
Joseph Ephraim Casely Hayford, or Ekra-Agiman (b. September 29, 1866, Cape Coast, Gold Coast [now Ghana] - d. August 11, 1930, Gold Coast [now Ghana]) was a member of the Fante Anona clan, part of the prominent coastal elite, and also had European ancestry. His father, Joseph de Graft Hayford (1840-1919), was educated and ordained as a minister in the Methodist church. He was a prominent figure in Ghanaian politics. His mother was from the Brew dynasty, descended from the 18th-century European trader Richard Brew and his African concubine. Brew settled in this area about 1745.
Casely was one of Hayford's middle names. he adopted Casely Hayford as a non-hyphenated double surname. His brothers were Ernest Hayford, a doctor, and the Reverend Mark Hayford, a minister.
Casely Hayford attended Wesley Boys' High School in Cape Coast, and Fourah Bay College in Freetown, Sierra Leone. While in Freetown, Casely Hayford became an avid follower of Edward Wilmot Blyden, the foremost pan-African figure at the time, who edited Negro, the first explicitly pan-African journal in West Africa.
Upon returning to Ghana, Casely Hayford became a high school teacher. He eventually was promoted to principal at Accra Wesleyan Boys' High School. He was dismissed from his position at the school for his political activism.
In 1885, Hayford began working as a journalist for the Western Echo, which was owned by his maternal uncle James Hutton Brew. By 1888, Casely Hayford was the editor, and he renamed the paper as the Gold Coast Echo. From 1890 to 1896, he was co-proprietor of the Gold Coast Chronicle. He also wrote articles for the Wesleyan Methodist Times.
In 1893, Casely Hayford traveled to London in order to study as a barrister at the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, and at Peterhouse, Cambridge. He was called to the Bar on November 17, 1896. That year, he returned with his second wife Adelaide to Ghana to private law practice in Cape Coast, Axim, Sekondi and Accra. He also continued his work as a journalist, editing the Gold Coast Leader. In 1904, he helped found the Mfantsipim School. In 1910, he succeeded John Mensah Sarbah as president of the Aborigines Rights Protection Society, the first anti-colonial organization founded in the Gold Coast.
Casely Hayford wrote several books, primarily as commentary and opposition to British land management acts, such as the Crown Lands Bill of 1897, and the Forest Ordinance of 1911. His view was that African identity and African social stability were inextricably linked to conservation of existing conventions concerning land rights.
Casely Hayford wrote several books, primarily as commentary and opposition to British land management acts, such as the Crown Lands Bill of 1897, and the Forest Ordinance of 1911. His view was that African identity and African social stability were inextricably linked to conservation of existing conventions concerning land rights.
While visiting London to protest the Forest Ordinance of 1911, he was part of a group that gave financial assistance to Duse Mohamed Ali to get his African Times and Orient Review off the ground. Others were Francis T. Dove and C. W. Betts from Sierra Leone and Dr. Oguntola Sapara from Lagos.
Casely Hayford was also deeply involved in the political movement for African emancipation. He participated in Booket T. Washington's International Conference on the Negro in 1912, and his correspondence with Washington fostered the pan-African movement in both Africa and the United States.
Casely Hayford’s career in public office began with his nomination to the Legislative Council of the Gold Coast in 1916. As a legislator, he served on various public commissions, and received an MBE (Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) in the 1919 Birthday Honours for services in aid of the Prince of Wales's Patriotic Fund. In the same year, he formed West Africa’s first nationalist movement, the National Congress of British West Africa, one of the earliest formal organizations working toward African emancipation from colonial rule. He represented the Congress in London in 1920, to demand constitutional reforms from the colonial secretary, and address the League of Nations Union. He was criticized for accepting inadequate concessions from the British. While promoting an African nationalism that demanded unity and cultural awareness among Africans, Hayford advocated only constitutional political reforms within the framework of British colonialism and the British empire. He became the first patron of the West African Students' Union in 1925, and was elected as municipal member for Sekondi in September 1927. The National Congress was dissolved shortly after Casely Hayford's death in 1930.
He published a novel Ethiopia Unbound (1911). It is one of the first novels in English by an African. It has been cited as the earliest pan-African fiction. The novel is set in both Africa and England. It relies on philosophical debates between an African and his English friend, as well as references to contemporary African events and ancient African history, to provide a context for its exploration of African identity and the struggle for emancipation.
Casely Hayford first married Beatrice Madeline Pinnock. Their son Archie Casely-Hayford became a barrister, district magistrate and the first Minister of Agriculture and Natural Resources in the First Republic of Ghana.
While in London studying at the Inner Temple and lodging at a hostel for African bachelors in 1893, Hayford met Adelaide Smith, a lady of Sierra Leonean Creole origins (later renamed Adelaide Casely-Hayford). They later married, and she returned with him to the Gold Coast in 1896 after he was received by the bar. She became a prominent writer and established a Freetown girl's vocational school. Adelaide and Joseph had a daughter, Gladys May Casely-Hayford (1904–1950), who was a teacher, an artist and a poet. Some of her poems were published under the pen name of Aquah Laluah.
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*Austin Amissah, a Ghanaian lawyer, judge and academic who became a judge of the Court of Appeal in Botswana, was born in Accra, Ghana (October 3).
Austin Neeabeohe Evans Amissah (b. October 3, 1930, Accra, Ghana – d. January 20, 2001, London, England) studied at Jesus College, Oxford and was called to the bar as a member of Lincoln's Inn in 1955. He was Director of Public Prosecutions for Ghana from 1962 to 1966, then became a judge of the Court of Appeal from 1966 to 1976; he was seconded from this position to become a professor and Dean of the Law Faculty at the University of Ghana from 1969 to 1974 and chairman of the Ghana Law Reform Commission from 1969 to 1975. He was appointed Attorney General and Minister of Justice in 1979, and later became a judge of the Court of Appeal in Botswana from 1981 to 2001, including a period as President of the Court of Appeal. His writings included Criminal Procedure in Ghana, The Contribution of Courts to Government: a West African view (1981) and Arbitration in Africa (1996).
He died in London on January 20, 2001.
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*Frank Bernasko, a Ghanaian soldier, lawyer, and politician who was a founder and leader of Ghana's Action Congress Party, was born in Ghana (December 7).
Frank George Bernasko (b. December 7,1930, Ghana – d. June 3, 2010) served as the Commissioner for Agriculture among others in the National Redemption Council (NRC) military government of General I. K. Acheampong. He was also the founder and leader of the Action Congress Party and contested the presidential election in 1979.
Bernasko was born in Ghana. He completed his basic education at Cape Coast in the Central Region and Asante Mampong in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. His secondary education was completed at the Adisadel College also at Cape Coast. He then attended the University of the Gold Coast (now University of Ghana).
Bernasko was an officer in the Ghana army and rose to the rank of Colonel. He was once the officer in charge of education at the Armed Forces Recruit Training Center in Kumasi. He also served as the Garrison Education Officer in Accra. He held the position of Director of Studies at the Ghana Military Academy and Training School at Teshie in Accra. He later became the Director of Education for the Ghana Armed Forces.
After the coup d'etat of January 13, 1972, which overthrew the Busia government, he was appointed as the Central Regional Commissioner. He later also served as the Commissioner for Agriculture and then the Commissioner for the newly created ministry of Cocoa Affairs. He is also credited with being instrumental in the completion of various projects in the Region including the Regional House of Chiefs, the moving of prisons from the Cape Coast Castle and the Anomabo Fort. While Commissioner for Agriculture, he supervised the "Operation Feed Yourself" program geared towards ensuring national food self-sufficiency. Bernasko is also credited with the success of the Dawhenya Irrigation Project and the increased uptake of agriculture which led to the first national agricultural show in 1974.
Bernasko was one of the founders of the Action Congress Party, which was formed when the ban on party politics was raised in 1978. He contested the presidential elections in 1979 and came in fourth, polling over 9% of the valid votes cast.
Bernasko appeared before the National Reconciliation Commission to answer allegations of abuse of human rights while serving as Central Regional Commissioner in the NRC military regime. He denied these allegations.
Frank Bernasko took up private legal practice after leaving the NRC government. In later life, he resided in the United Kingdom. He died on June 3, 2010 at the St. George's Hospital at Tooting, in the south of London.
Bernasko was honored by the chiefs and people of the Central Region during the Oguaa Fetu Afahye in 2008. This was in recognition of his services to the region especially when he was the regional Commissioner in the NRC regime.
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*Austin Amissah, a Ghanaian lawyer, judge and academic who became a judge of the Court of Appeal in Botswana, was born in Accra, Ghana (October 3).
Austin Neeabeohe Evans Amissah (b. October 3, 1930, Accra, Ghana – d. January 20, 2001, London, England) studied at Jesus College, Oxford and was called to the bar as a member of Lincoln's Inn in 1955. He was Director of Public Prosecutions for Ghana from 1962 to 1966, then became a judge of the Court of Appeal from 1966 to 1976; he was seconded from this position to become a professor and Dean of the Law Faculty at the University of Ghana from 1969 to 1974 and chairman of the Ghana Law Reform Commission from 1969 to 1975. He was appointed Attorney General and Minister of Justice in 1979, and later became a judge of the Court of Appeal in Botswana from 1981 to 2001, including a period as President of the Court of Appeal. His writings included Criminal Procedure in Ghana, The Contribution of Courts to Government: a West African view (1981) and Arbitration in Africa (1996).
He died in London on January 20, 2001.
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*Frank Bernasko, a Ghanaian soldier, lawyer, and politician who was a founder and leader of Ghana's Action Congress Party, was born in Ghana (December 7).
Frank George Bernasko (b. December 7,1930, Ghana – d. June 3, 2010) served as the Commissioner for Agriculture among others in the National Redemption Council (NRC) military government of General I. K. Acheampong. He was also the founder and leader of the Action Congress Party and contested the presidential election in 1979.
Bernasko was born in Ghana. He completed his basic education at Cape Coast in the Central Region and Asante Mampong in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. His secondary education was completed at the Adisadel College also at Cape Coast. He then attended the University of the Gold Coast (now University of Ghana).
Bernasko was an officer in the Ghana army and rose to the rank of Colonel. He was once the officer in charge of education at the Armed Forces Recruit Training Center in Kumasi. He also served as the Garrison Education Officer in Accra. He held the position of Director of Studies at the Ghana Military Academy and Training School at Teshie in Accra. He later became the Director of Education for the Ghana Armed Forces.
After the coup d'etat of January 13, 1972, which overthrew the Busia government, he was appointed as the Central Regional Commissioner. He later also served as the Commissioner for Agriculture and then the Commissioner for the newly created ministry of Cocoa Affairs. He is also credited with being instrumental in the completion of various projects in the Region including the Regional House of Chiefs, the moving of prisons from the Cape Coast Castle and the Anomabo Fort. While Commissioner for Agriculture, he supervised the "Operation Feed Yourself" program geared towards ensuring national food self-sufficiency. Bernasko is also credited with the success of the Dawhenya Irrigation Project and the increased uptake of agriculture which led to the first national agricultural show in 1974.
Bernasko was one of the founders of the Action Congress Party, which was formed when the ban on party politics was raised in 1978. He contested the presidential elections in 1979 and came in fourth, polling over 9% of the valid votes cast.
Bernasko appeared before the National Reconciliation Commission to answer allegations of abuse of human rights while serving as Central Regional Commissioner in the NRC military regime. He denied these allegations.
Frank Bernasko took up private legal practice after leaving the NRC government. In later life, he resided in the United Kingdom. He died on June 3, 2010 at the St. George's Hospital at Tooting, in the south of London.
Bernasko was honored by the chiefs and people of the Central Region during the Oguaa Fetu Afahye in 2008. This was in recognition of his services to the region especially when he was the regional Commissioner in the NRC regime.
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*Arthur Wharton, widely considered to be the first black professional footballer (soccer player) in the world, died in Edlington, Yorkshire, England (December 13). Though not the first black player outright - the amateurs Robert Walker, of Queen's Park, and Scotland international player Andrew Watson predate him. Wharton was the first black professional and the first to play in the Football League.
Wharton was an all-round sportsman - in 1886, he equaled the amateur world record of 10 seconds for the 100-yard sprint in the AAA championship. He was also a keen cyclist and cricketer, playing for local teams in Yorkshire and Lancashire. However, Wharton is best remembered for his exploits as a footballer (soccer player). While he was not the first mixed-heritage footballer in the United Kingdom — leading amateurs Robert Walker and Scotland international Andrew Watson predate him — he was the first mixed-heritage footballer to turn professional.
Wharton started as an amateur playing as a goalkeeper for Darlington, where he was spotted by Preston North End after playing against them. He joined them as an amateur, and was part of the team that reached the FA Cup semi-finals in 1886-87. Though part of "The Invincibles" of the 1880s, he left Preston in 1888 to concentrate on his running, and thus was not part of the team that subsequently won the Double in 1888-89.
He returned to football in 1889, joining Rotherham Town, signing as a professional. In 1890 he married Emma Lister (1866-1944) at Rotherham in Yorkshire. By 1891, he was the landlord of the Albert Tavern in Rotherham.
In 1894, he moved to Sheffield United, though he was understudy to regular first-team goalkeeper William "Fatty" Foulke. During the 1894-95 season, Wharton played three games for Sheffield United, against Leicester Fosse, Linfield and Sunderland -- the latter being a First Division game, making Wharton the first mixed-heritage player to play in the top flight.
In 1895, he left for Stalybridge Rovers, but after falling out with the management moved to Ashton North End in 1897, where he opened a tobacconist shop in Ashton-under-Lyne. Ashton North End went bankrupt in 1899, and he returned to the Stalybridge Rovers, playing with a young Herbert Chapman, before seeing out his career playing for Stockport County of the Second Division in 1901-02. As well as playing in goal, he would also occasionally feature outfield as a winger. He never won a major honor in the game during his career, nor was he capped at international level.
Having developed a drink problem, Wharton retired from football in 1902 and found employment as a colliery haulage worker at the Yorkshire Main Colliery in Edlington. By 1911, he was employed as a collier and living in a rented room in Moorthorpe, West Yorkshire. On his death in 1930 he was buried in an unmarked pauper's grave. The grave was given a headstone in 1997 after a campaign by anti-racism campaigners Football Unites, Racism Divides. In 2003, Wharton was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in recognition of the impact he made on the game. A campaign to have a statue erected in Darlington as well as in Rotherham to acknowledge Wharton's achievements gained wide support within the professional game. In 2012, a small statue of Wharton was presented to Sepp Blatter at the headquarters of FIFA, where it will be on permanent display. On October 16, 2014, a statue honoring Wharton was unveiled at St. George's Park National Football Centre.
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*Gloria Amon Nikoi, the Ghanaian foreign minister in 1979 under the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) government of Ghana, was born.
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Kenya*****
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*Gloria Amon Nikoi, the Ghanaian foreign minister in 1979 under the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) government of Ghana, was born.
Gloria Amon Nikoi (b. 1930, Ghana) was the Ghanaian foreign minister in 1979 under the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) government. As of 2007, she was the first woman to hold this position. She also became a career diplomat.
Amon Nikoi was the Deputy Chief of Mission to the United Nations from 1969 to 1974. Amon Nikoi later worked as a senior official in the Ghanaian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
After the military coup of June 4, 1979, which overthrew the Supreme Military Council government, Amon Nikoi was made foreign minister for about four months in the AFRC government of Flight lieutenant Jerry Rawlings. This ended on September 24, 1979, when the Third Republic under Hilla Limann's People's National Party government was inaugurated.
Amon Nikoi became the Chairperson of the Bank for Housing and Construction, a Ghanaian bank, in 1981. She also became a director of the African Development Bank (AfDB). She was the first Chairperson of the Council of the Ghana Stock Exchange when it was first inaugurated on November 12, 1990.
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*Hulda Stumpf, an American Christian missionary who was a vocal opponent of female genital mutilation, was murdered in her home near the Africa Inland Mission station in Kijabe, Kenya (January 3).
Hulda Jane Stumpf (b. January 10, 1867, Big Run, Pennsylvania – b. January 3, 1930, Kijabe, Kenya) was an American Christian missionary who was murdered in her home near the Africa Inland Mission station in Kijabe, Kenya, where she worked as a secretary and administrator. Stumpf may have been killed because of the mission's opposition to female genital mutilation (FGM, also known as female circumcision). Kenya's main ethnic group, the Kikuyu, regarded FGM as an important rite of passage, and there had been protests against the missionary churches in Kenya because they opposed it. The period is known within Kenyan historiography as the female circumcision controversy.
Stumpf is reported to have taken a firm stand against FGM in the Kijabe Girls' Home, which she helped to run. Some apparently unusual injuries on her body suggested to the governor of Kenya at the time that, before or after smothering her, her killer(s) had genitally mutilated her, although a court concluded that there was no evidence she had been killed because of her opposition to FGM.
Stumpf was born in Big Run, Pennsylvania, to J. R. Stumpf and his wife, and was raised in Indiana, Pennsylvania, one of four children. Her father owned Indiana's first five-and-dime, located on the 700 block of Philadelphia Street. He was one of the first local people to own a steam car – in 1906 only six cars were registered in the town – and in July 1901 began using it to make deliveries to his customers.
Stumpf attended business school, then New York Music School for two years. After college she worked as a clerk and stenographer, then taught shorthand at Indiana Business College.
In October 1906, Stumpf applied for a position as a missionary with the Africa Inland Mission (AIM), describing herself in her first letter as "forty years of age ... and not very rugged looking," but in good health. She wrote on the application form that she wanted to work in Africa because of an "earnest desire, believing the time to be short, when He shall appear, and the need in foreign fields seems to be great."
In November 1906 she told the AIM that she was trying to move away from denominationalism: "There is only one form of church government, as I understand the term, and that is based upon the scriptures, and the scriptures alone, leaving out man's notion as to how a church should be governed." From May 1907, she studied for two months at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago in preparation for her missionary work. Her college file described her as "direct, businesslike, and kind."
Stumpf sailed from New York in November 1907 on the SS Friedrich der Grobe, arriving in Gibraltar on November 12, and in Naples on November 15. In December, she arrived in Kijabe, Kenya, where she was assigned to work as a secretary for the head of the Africa Inland Mission.
Stumpf remained in Africa for most of the rest of her life, helping to run the Kijabe mission and writing articles for its monthly magazine, Inland Africa. She lived for many years in the two-room cottage in which she died, 300 yards from the mission building. Her last visit to the United States was in 1925. By the time of her death the Africa Inland Mission had 45 mission stations in East Africa, 225 missionaries and 1,000 African teachers.
Stumpf – irascible and hard of hearing, at least toward the end of her life – was a typical missionary woman, viewed by African society as having little status because she was an unmarried woman, and viewed the same way within the mission because of her relatively junior role. Nevertheless, as an agent of Western culture Stumpf represented a significant challenge to daily life in Africa.
One of her duties was to help administer the Kijabe Girls' Home and Training School, where girls were taught literacy and agricultural skills, mathematics, sewing and Bible lessons. The school was known locally as Ishai because it had an iron roof, unlike others with grass roofs; ishai meant iron sheet and also place of shelter. It was one of several girls' homes and schools run by the Africa Inland Mission.
The relationship between the missionaries and the Kikuyu members of the AIM's congregation was not one of equals. A letter Stumpf wrote in June 1916, asking that only plain dresses be sent from the United States for the Kikuyu girls, without "tucks, ruffles, piping, etc." Apparently the previous year dresses had been received by another mission that were regarded as too good for the Kikuyu, and they had been given to missionaries' children instead. The concern, Stumpf wrote (possibly relaying objections, rather than expressing her own), was that the Kikuyu would be "dressed better than white children."
Female genital mutilation (FGM) was regarded by the Kikuyu, Kenya's main ethnic group, as an important rite of passage between childhood and adulthood. The procedures include removal of the clitoris (clitoridectomy), removal of the inner labia (excision), and removal of all the external genitalia and the suturing of the wound (infibulation).
The Kikuyu practised excision and sometimes infibulation, calling it irua for female and male circumcision. A memorandum by the Church of Scotland Mission described it in or around 1929:
Female circumcision, as it exists among the Kikuyu, is an operation which varies in severity, some sections of the tribe practising a more drastic form than others. It involves the removal of not only the Clitoris, but also the labia minora and half the labia majora, together with th surrounding tissue, resulting in the permanent mutiliation, affecting the woman's natural functions of matuation, menstruation, and parturition, with disastrous results not only to the birth rate, but also to the physique and vitality of the tribe.
Female circumcision, as it exists among the Kikuyu, is an operation which varies in severity, some sections of the tribe practising a more drastic form than others. It involves the removal of not only the Clitoris, but also the labia minora and half the labia majora, together with th surrounding tissue, resulting in the permanent mutiliation, affecting the woman's natural functions of matuation, menstruation, and parturition, with disastrous results not only to the birth rate, but also to the physique and vitality of the tribe.
The medical issues apart, the missionaries objected to the sexual nature of the ceremonies. For the Kikuyu, the ceremonies and procedure were a vital ethnic ritual. Unexcised women (irugu) were viewed as unmarriageable outcasts. The Times of London reported in February 1930: "The young girls represent an economic asset to the parents and, in the eyes of the tribe, their value is completely lost unless the rites are performed. In fact, the older Kikuyu believe that no woman may bear children unless the ceremonies have been observed." There were rumors among the Kikuyu that the British wanted to stop irua so that they could marry the unexcised girls and acquire Kenyan land.
The African Inland Mission began campaigning against FGM in 1914, and in 1916 the Church of Scotland Mission said it would excommunicate African Christians who practiced it. The Kenya Missionary Council was the first organization known to call it mutilation. Marion Scott Stevenson, a Church of Scotland missionary, coined the term "sexual mutilation of women" for the practice in 1929, and the Missionary Council followed suit. That year African teachers working in CSM and AIM schools were asked to sign an oath renouncing both FGM and membership of the Kikuyu Central Association, the representative body of the Kikuyu people. Ninety percent of the African congregations chose to leave rather than swear the oath. The issue split the Kikuyu Christian community into kirore (abolitionists) and karinga (traditionalists).
Stumpf took one of the firmest stands against FGM at the Kijabe Girls' School. In May 1927, Stumpf described what happened to one teacher who had had FGM performed on his daughter.
Stumpf took one of the firmest stands against FGM at the Kijabe Girls' School. In May 1927, Stumpf described what happened to one teacher who had had FGM performed on his daughter.
"About three years ago Muchai along with many others was prohibited from teaching and was excommunicated forever, the sentence read, unless he was willing to confess his wrong and swear allegiance to the white man and his rulings. The confession was sorrow for allowing his daughter to be circumcised."
On September 30, 1929, Stumpf wrote in her diary: "Crisis in native church over female circumcision," and on November 2, referring to the oath the AIM had asked teachers to swear. "The past week was spent largely in prayer. Nearly all teachers refused to sign the petition re circumcision." On December 29, 1929, four men were arrested outside the Kijabe mission's church for singing from the Muthirigu, a series of protest dance songs that thousands of Kikuyu began performing outside mission homes and schools.
Stumpf's body was discovered in her home on the morning of January 3, 1930, by Kakoi, a
man who worked for her. She was buried nearby two days later. Another missionary, Helen Virginia Blakeslee, an osteopath, wrote in 1956 that she had examined Stumpf's body shortly after Stumpf's death, and that there was no circumcision-style wounds.
Blakeslee wrote that the death shook the local community and that the Kikuyu elders were horrified by it. African soldiers stood guard outside the mission and the girls were moved out of the school to live with other missionaries. An inquest opened on January 20, 1930, it concluded that Stumpf had died during the night of January 2-3 and recorded asphyxiation as the cause of death. Medical evidence presented at the inquest showed that there were peculiar injuries to Stumpf's body. Edward Grigg, the governor of Kenya, telegraphed the British Colonial Office on the first day of the inquest to tell them: :Medical evidence shows that Miss Stumpf was circumcised in brutal manner and died under the operation. It is clear that circumcision song and dance is being used to work those participating into a dangerous fanaticism."
The Times reported in February 1930:
The medical evidence discounted any theory of rape but inclined to the view that certain unusual wounds were due to the deliberate mutilation such as might have been caused by the use of a knife employed by native [sic] in the form of tribal operation.
The significance of this lies in the fact that for many months past certain missions have been making a stand against this tribal ceremony with the result that there have been conflicts with natives, many of whom are most hostile, while agitators have been attempting to make political capital out of the situation.
A verdict was delivered of willful murder by person or persons unknown, though a member of the Mkamba ethnic group had already been arrested. According to the African Inland Mission, the British government had for the previous ten years fingerprinted all black Africans employed in the area by white people. The man's fingerprints had been found on a clock and lamp in Stumpf's home. He was acquitted by the Supreme Court in Nairobi on November 26, 1930. The court found that there was an innocent explanation for the presence of the fingerprints -- he might have entered the house after the murder but before the police arrived -- and concluded that there was no evidence that Stumpf had been killed over her opposition to FGM.
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LiberiaA verdict was delivered of willful murder by person or persons unknown, though a member of the Mkamba ethnic group had already been arrested. According to the African Inland Mission, the British government had for the previous ten years fingerprinted all black Africans employed in the area by white people. The man's fingerprints had been found on a clock and lamp in Stumpf's home. He was acquitted by the Supreme Court in Nairobi on November 26, 1930. The court found that there was an innocent explanation for the presence of the fingerprints -- he might have entered the house after the murder but before the police arrived -- and concluded that there was no evidence that Stumpf had been killed over her opposition to FGM.
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*A United States and League of Nations commission reported that Liberia still had slavery (March 8).
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Nigeria
*Chinua Achebe, a Nigerian novelist whose first novel, Things Fall Apart, became the most widely read book in modern African literature, was born in Ogidi, Nigeria Protectorate (November 16).
Chinua Achebe (b. Albert Chinualumogu Achebe, November 16, 1930, Ogidi, Nigeria Protectorate – d. March 21, 2013, Boston, Massachusetts) was a Nigerian novelist, poet, professor, and critic. His first novel Things Fall Apart (1958) was considered his magnum opus, and is the most widely read book in modern African literature.
Raised by his parents in the Igbo town of Ogidi in South-Eastern Nigeria, Achebe excelled at school and won a scholarship for undergraduate studies. He became fascinated with world religions and traditional African cultures, and began writing stories as a university student. After graduation, he worked for the Nigerian Broadcasting Service (NBS) and soon moved to the metropolis of Lagos. He gained worldwide attention for Things Fall Apart in the late 1950s; his later novels include No Longer at Ease (1960), Arrow of God (1964), A Man of the People (1966), and Anthills of the Savannah (1987). Achebe wrote his novels in English and defended the use of English, a "language of colonisers", in African literature. In 1975, his lecture An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" featured a famous criticism of Joseph Conrad as "a thoroughgoing racist". It was later published in The Massachusetts Review amid some controversy.
When the region of Biafra broke away from Nigeria in 1967, Achebe became a supporter of Biafran independence and acted as ambassador for the people of the new nation. The war ravaged the populace, and as starvation and violence took its toll, he appealed to the people of Europe and the Americas for aid. When the Nigerian government retook the region in 1970, he involved himself in political parties but soon resigned due to frustration over the corruption and elitism he witnessed. He lived in the United States for several years in the 1970s, and returned to the United States in 1990 after a car accident left him partially disabled.
A titled Igbo chieftain himself, Achebe's novels focus on the traditions of Igbo society, the effect of Christian influences, and the clash of Western and traditional African values during and after the colonial era. His style relies heavily on the Igbo oral tradition, and combines straightforward narration with representations of folk stories, proverbs, and oratory. He also published a number of short stories, children's books, and essay collections. From 2009 until his death, he served as David and Marianna Fisher University Professor and Professor of Africana Studies at Brown University in the United States.
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*Christie Ade Ajayi, a Nigerian specialist in early childhood education, was born in Ile Oluji, Ondo State, Nigeria.
Christie Ade Ajayi (b. 1930, Ile Oluji, Ondo State, Nigeria) was the author of various English-language books for young children, and made a point of writing stories with a Nigerian setting with which her readers could relate. As well as having long experience in teaching, she was active in a number of organizations concerned with children and education.
Born Christie Aduke Martins on March 13, 1930 in Ile Oluji, Ondo State, Christie Ade Ajayi (also written Ade-Ajayi) went to Kudeti Girls' School in Ibadan (now known as St. Anne's School) and then to United Missionary College in Ibadan where she trained to be a teacher. She also studied in London at the Froebel Institute and then at the Institute of Education where she received a Diploma in Child Development in 1958. Between 1952 and 1978 she taught in various schools in Nigeria and, in London, became a headmistress. She also attended San Jose State University in California, where she was awarded a Diploma in Elementary School Administration and Leadership in 1971. She married J. F. Ade Ajayi 1956 with whom she had five children. Ade Ajayi's experience in early years teaching led to a concern with the learning needs of Nigerian children. She was motivated to encourage preschoolers and beginner readers by offering them books that reflected their own experience and culture. While enjoying stories and pictures of West African characters, they could enlarge their vocabulary and develop reading skills.
*Adebayo Adedeji, a Nigerian politician who was an Executive Secretary to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa from 1975 to 1978, and the United Nations Under-Secretary-General from 1978 until 1991, was born. He became the founding Executive Director of the African Centre for Development and Strategic Studies (ACDESS) in 1991.
Adebayo Adedeji (b. Ijebu-Ode, December 21, 1930) graduated from both London (B.Sc and Ph.D in Economics) and Harvard Universities (M.P.A). At the age of 36 years, he became a full-fledged Professor at the University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU). In 1971, he was drafted into the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria of General Yakubu Gowon as the Cabinet Minister responsible for the economic development and reconstruction of post-civil war Nigeria. He was the founder and pioneer Chairman of the Nigeria National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and the pére da la CEDEAO –– the father of ECOWAS –– which he established in May 1975 ––after over three years of arduous negotiations with sixteen governments and countries divided into Anglophone, Francophone and Lusophone spheres of influence.
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*Alexander Bada, the second Pastor of the Celestial Church of Christ (CCC), was born in Abeokuta, Nigeria (December 4).
Alexander Abiodun Adebayo Bada (b. December 4, 1930 - d. September 8, 2000) was the second Pastor of the Celestial Church of Christ (CCC), succeeding the founder Samuel Bilehou Joseph Oschoffa in December 1985.
The Celestial Church of Christ is an African Initiated Church founded by the Reverend Samuel Bilehou Joseph Oshoffa on September 29, 1947 in Porto-Novo, Benin. (An African initiated church is a Christian church independently started in Africa by Africans and not by missionaries from another continent.) The Celestial Church of Christ is mainly located in Africa and in the Afro-descendant communities in the world, particularly in Benin and Nigeria.
The movement was founded by Samuel Joseph Bilewu Oshoffa, a former carpenter born in Dahomey (now Benin) in 1909. Raised as Protestant (Methodism), Oshoffa had a divine revelation on May 27, 1947, during a solar eclipse, in a forest where he was lost. He felt called to pray, to heal the sick, and to raise the dead, and he founded his church in September 1947. Having appointed himself prophet, Reverend, pastor and founder, he occupied the highest office of the movement he had just founded. The hegemony he exercised on doctrine and discipline issues made his succession difficult after his death in 1985 in Lagos (Nigeria).
The movement continued to grow after Oshoffa's death, but also suffered setbacks — the most immediate being severe difficulties related to the matter of succession. Oshoffa was succeeded by Alexander Abiodun Adebayo Bada, who was head of the church until his death on September 8, 2000. Bada was briefly followed as leader by Philip Hunsu Ajose, who died in March 2001. There was a dispute over the succession to Ajose, with some declaring Gilbert Oluwatosin Jesse the leader, while others recognized the Reverend Emmanuel Oshoffa, son of Samuel Oshoffa. Following Jesse's death, his faction declared that Superior Evangelist Paul Suru Maforikan was the new spiritual leader of the church.
Contrary to the procedure of succession in Nigeria, Porto-Novo, the supreme headquarter, successfully chose Benoit Agbaossi (1931-2010) to the head of the church, who in his turn appointed Benoit Adeogun as the next Reverend Pastor shortly before his death in 2010. The Celestial Church of Christ (CCC) was recognized and authorized by the Republic of Dahomey (former name of Benin) in 1965. From 1976, the church launched an evangelistic campaign in former colony of the French West Africa, which became independent in 1960. From the late 1990s, the church showed its willingness to use the Internet as a means of evangelization thus allowing the many existing branches of the church within the African Diaspora (United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, France, and the United States) to maintain contact with each other and with Nigeria, the country in which the church is the most popular.
The Celestial Church of Christ is prophetic with Christian background. The faithful are called “Celestians”, and the church is sometimes informally called “Cele”. The official name of the church is inspired by a vision by which Jesus would have said that Church members adore him as do the angels in heaven] The name of the church comes from the Bible: Deuteronomy 26:15 "Look down from thy Holy habitation, from heaven, and bless thy people Israel and the land which thou hast given us, as thou didst swear to our father, a land flowing with milk and honey". The name signifies that they deem themselves as celestial or a representative of the heavenly on Earth. The church claims inspiration from God through the manifestation of the Holy Spirit among the faithful. Its doctrinal teachings are based on the Bible, and any superstition or animist belief from traditional African religions is excluded, as in other churches in the Aladura movement.
The church is governed by twelve major recommendations, consisting of several banned things, including food, common to other monotheistic religions. Tobacco, alcohol and eating pork are forbidden. The faithful must remove their shoes for prayer and in the places of worship. Men and women are separated at the church. Menstruating women and those who have recently given birth are unclean and cannot attend church events for seven days in the first case after which they would be "sanctified". Members of Celestial Church of Christ are forbidden to engage or participate in any form of idolatory, fetish ceremony or cults, black magic and charms. Only men who are "anointed" are allowed access to the altar.
The church uses the King James Bible and the Yoruba translated versions. Although the church takes elements from Gungbe and Yoruba thought, it also has strong similarities to the "purification movements" against paganism that are relatively common in African Christianity. Oshoffa believed he had a mission to combat "'Satan', 'fetish priests' and other 'powers of darkness'."
As for Alexander Abiodun Adebayo Bada, Bada was born on December 4, 1930. His father was the Baale, or viceroyal chieftain, of the Ago-Oba area of Abeokuta and the organist of the African Church, Ereko, Lagos. Bada was brought up in this church. Bada attended St. John’s School, Iloro, Ilesa (1936–1942) and Ilesha Grammar School (1943–1949). He began work with Nigerian Breweries in 1950 and was promoted to stock control supervisor in 1952.
In mid-1952, he met Superior Evangelist S. O. Ajanlekoko of the CCC, who profoundly influenced him. He left his job to work full-time for the church, becoming a Senior Elder in 1954, Leader in 1955, Senior Leader in December 1960 and Evangelist in 1964. On December 24, 1972, he became a Senior Evangelist, and on December 25, 1980 a Supreme Evangelist, the first person to attain this position which implied that he was next in rank to the pastor Samuel Oshoffa.
When Oshoffa died on September 10, 1985, after a car crash without having defined a successor, several of his followers claimed the leadership, leading to a legal conflict that continued for many years. However, the Board of Trustees announced that Bada was the new Pastor and spiritual leader at the annual CCC convocation on December 25, 1985. He was formally installed on December 25, 1987, at the CCC world headquarters at Imeko City in Ogun State, Nigeria, and led the church for the next 15 years.
Bada died on September 8, 2000, at Greenwich Hospital, London. His body was returned to Nigeria for burial at Celestial City, Imeko. Governor Olusegun Osoba represented President Olusegun Obasanjo at the funeral ceremony. Bada was survived by his wives, children and grandchildren. He was succeeded by Philip Hunsu Ajose, who was appointed leader of the Church on October 2, 2000.
******Victor Banjo, a star crossed Colonel in the Nigerian Army who was executed for staging a coup against Biafran President Odumegwu Ojukwu, was born (April 1).
Victor Banjo (April 1, 1930 – September 22, 1967) was a Colonel in the Nigerian Army. He ended up in the Biafran Army during the struggles between Nigeria and Biafra. Victor Banjo was first mistaken for a coup plotter against the Nigerian Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa. He was later alleged to have staged a coup plot against Biafran President Odumegwu Ojukwu and was executed as a result. It took a second military tribunal judge to sentence Victor Banjo, because Odumegwu Ojukwu's first military judge stated that there was not enough evidence to convict Victor Banjo of coup charges. There has been no third party verification of Victor Banjo's involvement in the Nigerian Coup nor Biafran Coup. His alleged involvement in both coup plots has been based on unsubstantiated claims.
Lieutenant Colonel Victor Adebukunola Banjo, was the first Nigerian Director of the Electrical and Mechanical Engineering Corps of the Nigerian Army. He joined the Army in 1953 as Warrant Officer 52 and he was the sixteenth Nigerian to be commissioned as an officer. A product of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, he also obtained a bachelor of science degree in Mechanical Engineering. His travails began immediately after the January 15, 1966 coup, which brought Major-General Thomas Johnson Aguivi-Ironsi to power.
Three days after Aguiyi-Ironsi came to power, Banjo was summoned to the office of the Supreme Military Commander and was arrested while he was still waiting to see the Head of State. He was accused of planning to kill the Head of State and detained. It is however believed and this much has been suggested in other writings on that tumultuous moment in Nigerian history that Banjo was detained because it was thought that he had a hand in the January 15, 1966 coup. It was a difficult moment for Nigeria as the January 15 coup had inflamed tribal passions and divided the military, and Aguiyi-Ironsi more or less did not know what to do.
Northern Army leaders successfully carried out a counter coup against the incumbent Nigerian president Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, an Igbo. Along with Ironsi many Yorubas were killed. Banjo, a Yoruba, attempted to defend a Yoruba officer but was arrested and thrown into prison by Olusegun Obasanjo. Banjo proclaimed his innocence but he was refused a trial.
When Biafra was proclaimed on May 30, 1967, Banjo was released from an Eastern Nigerian prison by Biafran President Odumegwu Ojukwu and made Colonel. His imprisonment had been without trial, due to his alleged involvement in the 1966 coup. When the Nigerian Army invaded Biafra on July 6, 1967, Ojukwu sent Banjo and Major Albert Okonkwo to invade Nigeria. Banjo was able to capture Benin City in less than a day and was able to get within 300 kilometers of the Nigerian capital of Lagos. After Banjo was repulsed at the Battle of Ore, he and other officers (Emmanuel Ifeajuna, Phillip Alale, and Sam Agbam) were accused of allegedly plotting a coup against Ojukwu. After a hurried trial, Banjo and other alleged plotters were found guilty of treason and were sentenced to death. On September 22, 1967 Banjo, Emmanuel Ifeajuna, and Philip Alale were marched into the Enugu city center and were tied to a pole. A firing squad of Biafran soldiers fired at them. When Banjo was hit, he reportedly yelled defiantly, "I'm not dead yet!" and he had to be shot multiple times before he died.
*Ado Bayero, the Emir of Kano from 1963 to 2014, was born in Kano, Northern Nigeria (July 25).
Ado Abdullahi Bayero (b. July 25, 1930, Kano, Northern Nigeria – d. June 6, 2014, Kano, Nigeria) was seen as one of Nigeria's most prominent and revered Muslim leaders. He was the son of Abdullahi Bayero son of Muhammad Abbas. Ado Bayero was the 13th Fulani emir since the Fulani War of Usman dan Fodio, when the Fulani took over the Hausa city-states. He was one of the strongest and most powerful emirs in the history of the Hausa land. He was renowned for his abundant wealth, maintained by means of stock market investments and large-scale agricultural entrepreneurship both at home and abroad.
Ado Bayero was the son of Abdullahi Bayero, a former emir, who reigned for 27 years.
Bayero was born to the family of Hajiya Hasiya and Abdullahi Bayero and into the Fulani Sullubawa clan that has presided over the emirate of Kano since 1819. He was the eleventh child of his father and the second of his mother. At the age of seven, he was sent to live with Maikano Zagi.
Bayero started his education in Kano studying Islam, after which he attended Kano Middle School. He graduated from the School of Arabic Studies in 1947. He then worked as a bank clerk for the Bank of British West Africa until 1949, when he joined the Kano Native Authority. He attended Zaria Clerical College in 1952. In 1954, he won a seat to the Northern regional House of Assembly.
He was head of the Kano Native Authority police division from 1957 until 1962, during which he tried to minimize the practice of briefly detaining individuals and political opponents on the orders of powerful individuals in Kano. He then became the Nigerian ambassador to Senegal. During this time he enrolled in a French language class. In 1963, he succeeded Muhammadu Inuwa as Emir of Kano.
Muhammadu Sanusi who was Ado Bayero's half brother ruled after their father from 1953 to 1963. Following his dethronement in 1963, Muhammadu Inuwa ruled only for three months. After Muhammadu's death, Ado Bayero ascended the throne in October 1963. Bayero was the longest-serving emir in Kano's history. Bayero's Palace played host to official visits by many government officials and foreigners.
Bayero became emir during the first republic, at a time when Nigeria was going through rapid social and political changes and regional, sub-regional and ethnic discord was increasing. In his first few years, two pro-Kano political movements gained support among some Kano elites. The Kano People's Party emerged during the reign of Muhammadu Inuwa and supported the deposed Emir Sanusi, but it soon evaporated. The Kano State Movement emerged towards the end of 1965 and favored more economic autonomy for the province.
The death in 1966 of many political agitators from northern Nigeria, and the subsequent establishment of a unitary state, consolidated a united front in the northern region but also resulted in a spate of violence there, including in Kano. Bayero's admirers credit him with bringing calm and stability during this and later crises in Kano.
As emir, Bayero became a patron of Islamic scholarship and embraced Western education as a means to succeed in a modern Nigeria. The constitutional powers of the emir were whittled down by the military regimes between 1966 and 1979. The Native Authority Police and Prisons Department was abolished, the emir's judicial council was supplanted by another body, and local government reforms in 1968, 1972, and 1976 reduced the powers of the emir. During the second republic, he witnessed hostilities from the People's Redemption Party led government of Abubakar Rimi.
In 1981, Governor Abubakar Rimi restricted traditional homage paid by village heads to Ado Bayero and excised some domains from his emirate. In 1984, a travel ban was placed on the emir and his friend Okunade Sijuwade.
In 2002, Bayero led a Kano elders forum in opposing the onshore and offshore abrogation bill.
Ado Bayero was seen as a vocal critic of the Islamist group Boko Haram who strongly opposed their campaign against western education.
On January 19, 2013, Bayero survived an assassination attempt blamed on the Islamist group which left two of his sons injured and his driver and bodyguard dead, among others.
Ado Bayero died on June 6, 2014. He was succeeded by his brother's grandson Muhammadu Sanusi II.
*Ganiyu Bello, a prominent Yoruba community leader and business tycoon, was born in Oyo State, Nigeria (July 10).
Ganiyu Akanbi Bello (b. July 10, 1930, Oyo State, Nigeria – d. June 5, 2014, Kano, Nigeria), a Yoruba community ambassador in Kano, was the chairman and chief executive of Criss Cross Ltd. He was popularly known as G A Bello.
Bello was born in Oyo State, Nigeria, on July 10, 1930, to Abdullahi Yusuf and Sinota Bello, the second of three children. Both parents died while he was a child and he was sent to live with his uncle who refused to send him to school. He left his uncle and started cutting wood in order to fund his school fees.
Bello married Sakirat Ayoka Ogabi Bello in approximately 1959. Their first child named Tawakalitu Bello Sanusi, was followed by Moriliatu Bisola Bello Sanusi, Basira Biodun Bello Oyefeso, and a son Nurudeen Bello. Between 1966 and 1967, during the Nigerian Civil War, known as the Biafran War, Bello sent his wife and children to Lagos while he remained in Kano. His family returned shortly after to join him, and they had their fifth child, Shamsideen Bello. His sixth child, Fausat Bello, was born around 1970 but died of measles as an infant.
In 1950, Bello joined the Nigerian Police under British colonial rule. During the time, he was a police officer, his closest friend was Ado Bayero, the Chief of the Nigerian Police Force who was later appointed Emir of Kano in 1963. He resigned around 1958 and founded a company which dealt in Building and Civil Engineering.
His company was the first to build a multi-story building in Kano on Odutola Street which was a residential estate. He later bought his first private residence along Abedee Street Sabon Gari, Kano. He opened the first filling station in Kano in 1968 and behind it he opened a club known as the Criss Cross Club which sold drinks, chicken, and pepper soup. His company built its first hotel, the Criss Cross Hotel, in 1971. His second hotel, known as Gab Hotel, and built in 1980.
His two eldest daughters, Tawakalitu and Moriliatu, married on the same day in 1988. Tawa married Dr. Lukman Sanusi while Morili married Retired Colonel Olawale Sanusi. In 1989, his youngest daughter, Basira, married Sakiru Olanipekun Oyefeso, the founder and managing director of Standard Trust Assurance Company. His eldest son, Nuru, married Salawat Titilope.
From 1990 to 2000, G. A. Bello was the Vice-Chairman of the Independent Petroleum Association (IPMAN) in the Kano Nigerian National Petroleum Cooperation (NNPC).
Even though Bello only had a secondary school education, he was a great believer in it and each of his children attended university.
Bello was an advocate of unity in Kano. He encouraged the government to foster unity between the different tribes in Kano State. He advised the government to encourage Nigerians to stop tribalism and live in harmony. This encouraged the Yorubas to continue to live in Kano. In January 2006, Bello served as the acting Oba of the Yoruba Community in Kano State for sixty days.
Bello contributed to many Islamic causes in Kano including the construction of two Juma't Mosques built in Sabon Gari, a non-native's settlement area. The first mosque was built around 1982 at Nomans Land, Kano and it was commissioned by the Emir of Kano, Ado Bayero. In early 2000, he built a second mosque, the Ahammadiya Mosque along Emir Road, for the Ahmadiya Muslims.
Bello donated millions of naira (the currency of Nigeria) to charity related issues, including the Rotary International. He donated equally generously to communities, Mosques and Churches. This earned him a long list of honorary awards.
Bello held many Chieftaincy titles such as: Aarre Egbe Omo Balogun Maiyegun of Ibadanland, Babasaiye of Owu, Abeokuta of Ogun State, and Aarre Basorun Timi Agbale of Ede in Osun State. He was also given an Honorary Doctorate Degree in Business Administration by Kenton University.
Bello was murdered a month before his 84th birthday on June 5, 2014 by unknown assailants in Kano. He was buried in his residence at Race Course Road.
Abubakar Abdurrahman Sadiq was caught by Nigerian police in August 2014 and confessed to the murder. Sadiq had broken into Bello's house to steal money and stabbed him when Bello tried to stop him. Sadiq had previously worked in one of Bello's hotels, but was let go for stealing.
*Mohammed Bello, the first Northern Chief Justice of Nigeria from 1987 to 1995, was born in Katsina, Nigeria.
Mohammed Bello (1930–2004) was an eminent jurist who tried to protect the court against the excess of military incursion in judicial matters.
Mohammed Bello was born in Katsina. His father, Gidado, was the mufti of Katsina. He started early education at the Central Elementary school Katsina, in 1943. For secondary tutelage, he attended the Middle school in Katsina. He then proceeded to the University College Ibadan to study Latin as a preparatory course for a law degree. Between 1953 and 1955, he was at Inn of Court, London, earning his law degree. Mohammed Bello then started his professional law career as the pupil crown counsel to the Northern Nigeria government in 1956. In 1961, he was appointed the chief magistrate, Northern Nigeria and served in that capacity for three years. He took on another public duty as the Director of Public Prosecutions, Northern Nigeria. During the waning months of the Nigerian civil war, Justice Mohammed Bello was appointed acting and later Chief Justice of Northern Nigeria between 1969 and 1975.
Described as a detribalized Nigerian by some of his peers, Justice Mohammed Bello's tenure at the Supreme Court was one of a fearless actor in the midst of a military onslaught on democratic norms and judicial precedents. As the supreme court chief, he steered the wheels of the judiciary towards peace and away from political controversy with the exception of a few instances.
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*Afi Ekong, a Nigerian artist and arts promoter, was born in Calabar, Nigeria (June 26).
Constance Afiong "Afi" Ekong (b. June 26, 1930, Calabar, Nigeria – d. February 24, 2009, Calabar, Nigeria) was born to Efik parents in Calabar as a member of the royal family of Edidem Bassey Eyo Epharaim Adam III. She attended Duke Town School and Christ Church School in Calabar. She trained as a painter and studied fashion design in England, at the Oxford College of Arts and Technology, Saint Martin's School of Art and the Central School of Art and Design.
Ekong returned to Lagos from her studies in London in 1957. In 1958, Afi Ekong was the first woman artist to hold a solo exhibit in Lagos. In 1961, she had a solo exhibition at Galeria Galatea in Buenos Aires. She owned and operated the Bronze Gallery in various locations, in Lagos and on the Fiekong Estate in Calabar. She was manager of the Lagos Arts Council, a founding member of the Society of Nigerian Artists, supervisor of Gallery Labac from 1961, and chair of the Federal Arts Council Nigeria from 1961 to 1967. She appeared regularly on a Nigerian television program called "Cultural Heritage", to promote the arts. In 1963, she was featured in a New York Times photo essay as an example of the "new African woman" after independence. She also chaired a UNESCO commission in the 1970s, and in 1990 the National Council of Women's Societies Committee on Arts and Crafts.
Ekong's work to advance the arts and women's education in West Africa was recognized in 1962 when she was proclaimed "The Star of Dame Official of the Human Order of African Redemption," by President William Tubman of Liberia. She was also an ordained elder in the Presbyterian Church.
Afi Ekong was married to government official Abdul Azizi Atta, son of the Atta of Igbirra, in 1949. Afi Ekong died in 2009, in Calabar, at the age of 78.
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*Bola Ige , a Nigerian lawyer and politician, was born in Zaria, Kaduna. He became Federal Minister of Justice for Nigeria. He was murdered in December 2001.
James Ajibola Idowu Adegoke Ige (b. September 13, 1930, Zaria, Kaduna, Nigeria – d. December 23, 2001) was born the son of Yoruba natives of Esa-Oke town, in the old Oyo State (now in Osun State). Bola Ige left Kaduna and headed south to the Western region at the age of 14. He studied at Ibadan Grammar School (1943–48), and then at the University of Ibadan. From there, he went to the University College London where he graduated with a Law degree in 1959. He was called to the bar in London's Inner Temple in 1961.
Bola Ige established Bola Ige & Co in 1961, and later became a Senior Advocate of Nigeria. He became well known in the country for his oratory prowess, as well as his advocacy work on civil rights and democracy. Bola Ige's faith was Christianity. Uncommonly, Bola Ige spoke all the three major Nigerian languages, Yoruba, Ibo and Hausa fluently. He wrote several books, and an anthology of articles and tributes about him was published shortly after his death.
During the First Republic (1963–1966), at age 31 he was at the center of the Action Group crisis, when Chief Obafemi Awolowo was pitted against his deputy, Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola. He became a rival of Olusola Olaosebikan for succession to Obafemi Awolowo. Bola Ige was a Commissioner for Agriculture in the now-defunct Western Region of Nigeria (1967–1970) under the military government of General Yakubu Gowon. In 1967, he became a friend of Olusegun Obasanjo, who was a commander of the army brigade in Ibadan.
In the early 1970s, during the first period of military rule, he devoted his time to the anti-racism campaign of the World Council of Churches.
Towards the end of the 1970s he joined the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), the successor to the Action Group. When General Olusegun Obasanjo initiated the Second Republic, he was elected as governor of Oyo State from October 1979 to October 1983. Adebisi Akande, later to be governor of Osun State after it was split off from Oyo State, was his deputy governor during this period. In the 1983 elections, when he ran for re-election as the UPN candidate, he was defeated by Victor Omolulu Olunloyo. Ige unsuccessfully challenged the election in court. However, Olunloyo lost the seat three months later to a coup staged by Generals Muhammadu Buhari and Tunde Idiagbon.
Ige Bola was detained after the coup, accused of enriching party funds. He was released in 1985, after the next coup, by Ibrahim Babangida, and returned to his legal practice and to writing. In 1990, he published People, Politics And Politicians of Nigeria: 1940–1979, a book that he had begun while imprisoned. He was a founder member of the influential Yoruba pressure group, Afenifere. Although critical of the military rule of General Sani Abacha, Bola Ige avoided political difficulties during this period.
Following the restoration of democracy in 1999, Bola Ige sought the nomination of the Alliance for Democracy party as a presidential candidate, but was rejected. President Obasanjo appointed Bola Ige as minister of Mines and Power (1999–2000). He was not able to make significant improvements to service provided by the monopoly National Electric Power Authority (NEPA).
Bola Ige then became Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (2000–2001). In September 2001 Bola Ige said that the Federal government had initiated a program to re-arrange and consolidate the laws of the Federation, publish them in digital form, and make them available on the website of his ministry. He campaigned ardently against the imposition of the Sharia law in the northern states of Nigeria. In November 2001 he said that the Federal government would not allow the Sokoto State government to execute the judgment of a verdict passed by a Gwadabawa sharia court to stone a woman, Safiya Hussaini to death for committing adultery.
Bola Ige was about to take up a new position as Africa's Representative on the United Nations International Law Commission when he was gunned down in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.
On December 23, 2001, Bola Ige was shot dead at his home in the south-western city of Ibadan. He had been entangled in squabbles within his Alliance for Democracy party in Osun State. The previous week, the long-running feud between Osun state Governor Bisi Akande and his deputy, Iyiola Omisore, had apparently contributed to the death of an Osun State legislator, Odunayo Olagbaju. The government of President Olusegun Obasanjo deployed troops in south-western Nigeria to try to prevent a violent reaction to the murder. Although various people were arrested and tried for involvement in Bola Ige's murder, including Iyiola Omisore, all were acquitted.
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*Augustine Obi, a Nigerian Professor of virology and a President of the Nigerian Academy of Science, was born.
Augustine Njoku Obi (1930 – 2003) was known for developing a cholera vaccine approved for its efficacy in 1971 by WHO. In 1985, he was elected President of the Nigerian Academy of Science to succeed Professor Emmanuel Emovon.
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*Nnamdi Azikiwe, the future President of Nigeria, graduated from Lincoln University, an historically black university located in Chester County, Pennsylvania in the United States.
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Josiah Ransome-Kuti, a Nigerian clergyman and music composer, died (September 4). He was known for setting Christian hymns to indigenous music, and for writing Christian hymns in Yoruba.
Josiah Jesse Ransome-Kuti (b. June 1, 1855, Igbein, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria - d. September 4, 1930) was born into an Egbafamily. He was baptized in 1859 and enrolled as a student into the Church Missionary Society Training Institution, Abeokuta before proceeding to the Church Missionary Society Training Institute, Lagos in 1871.
Shortly after completing his education at the Church Missionary Society Training Institute, Lagos, Josiah was employed as a teacher at St. Peter's School, Ake, Abeokuta and then left to teach music at the CMS Girls School, Lagos in 1879 where he met his wife Bertha Anny Erinade Olubi. In 1891, he was made catechist at the Gbagura Church Parsonage, Abeokuta before he founded Gbagura Church, a local church where he converted people to the Christian faith through his versatility in rendering English gospel hymns into indigenous gospel songs.
He became a deacon in 1895, ordained a priest in 1897, and was appointed district judge from 1902 to 1906. In 1911, Josiah was appointed pastor of St. Peter's Cathedral Church, Ake after previously serving as superintendent of the Abeokuta Church Mission.
In 1922, he was made canon of the Cathedral Church of Christ, Lagos and in 1925, he became the first Nigerian to release a record album after he recorded several Yoruba language hymns in gramophone through Zonophone Records.
*Augustine Obi, a Nigerian Professor of virology and a President of the Nigerian Academy of Science, was born.
Augustine Njoku Obi (1930 – 2003) was known for developing a cholera vaccine approved for its efficacy in 1971 by WHO. In 1985, he was elected President of the Nigerian Academy of Science to succeed Professor Emmanuel Emovon.
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*Nnamdi Azikiwe, the future President of Nigeria, graduated from Lincoln University, an historically black university located in Chester County, Pennsylvania in the United States.
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Senegal
*Ibrahima Fall, a disciple of Aamadu Bamba and the founder of the influential Baye Fall movement, died in Touba (June 9).
Ibrahima Fall (1855–1930) was a disciple of Sheikh Aamadu Bamba Mbakke (Amadou Bamba), founder of the Mouride Brotherhood movement in West Africa. Well known in the Mouride Brotherhood, Ibrahima Fall established the influential Baye Fall movement.
Ibrahima Fall catalyzed the Mouride movement. Fall led all the labor work in the Mouride brotherhood. Fall reshaped the relation between Mouride Talibes (Mouride disciples) and their guide, Aamadu Bàmba Mbàkke. Fall instituted the culture of work among Mourides with his concept of Dieuf Dieul “you reap what you sow”.
Ibrahima Fall was born around 1855 in a northern village, Ndiaby Fall, Cayor. His original tyeddo name was Yapsa Khanth Fall. Aamadu Bàmba Mbàkke later gave him the name Ibrahima Fall. Ibrahima Fall was a son of Amadou Rokhaya Fall and Seynabou Ndiaye. At an early age, Ibrahima Fall learned the Qur'an in a neighboring village, Ndiaré. Fall studied major Arabic sciences such as theology, fiqh, tafsir, grammar and rhetoric.
In 1882, Ibrahima Fall went looking for the best Muslim teachers. Ibrahima Fall studied under Serigne Massamba Syll and afterwards under Serigne Adama Gueye. It was Adama Gueye who directed Ibrahima Fall to Aamadu Bàmba Mbàkke in 1883.
The encounter between Ibrahima Fall and Aamadu Bàmba Mbàkke defined the beginning of Mouridism.
An accord developed between Fall and Aamadu Bàmba Mbàkke. Ibrahima Fall became Aamadu Bamba's 40th disciple. From this moment, Fall followed the Ndiguel "orders" of Aamadu Bamba until Fall’s death.
Within this accord called “Diebelou”, Ibrahima Fall displayed an absolute, slave-like devotion to his master. His “pastef” (courage and devotion) served example for all Mourides. Fall started growing food, cutting firewood, fetching water and building shelters and mosques. Likewise, Serigne Moussa Kâ tells us that Fall reshaped quickly the relation between a disciple and his guide. Ibrahima Fall instituted five rules of deference to the Sheikh:
- Never stand at the same level than Aamadu Bàmba Mbàkke
- Never greet the Shaikh with your hat on your head
- Never walk in front of him
- Always do the “sudiot” (kiss his hands) with the Shaikh
- Always lower your voice in front of him
Ibrahima Fall himself supervised these rules.
In 1890, Shaikh Aamadu Bàmba nominated Fall the third responsible in the Mouride Brotherhood. Fall had to supervise all manual works. With the exile of Aamadu Bàmba Mbàkke, Fall’s life changed. He moved to Saint-Louis, Senegal, to defend the innocence of his Shaikh.
On September 21, 1895, the French exiled Aamadu Bàmba to Gabon. Aamadu Bàmba then ordered Ibrahima Fall to work for Sherif Hassan. He did so until 1901, when Sherif Hassan died. In this interval (1895–1901), Fall kept sending money (in Wolof “Adiya”) to the Shaikh until his return in 1902. On November 11, 1902, Aamadu Bàmba Mbàkke returned to Senegal and awarded Ibrahima Fall the degree of Sheikh.
In June 1912, the French kept Aamadu Bàmba under house arrest in Ndjarèem, Diourbel. Consequently, Sheikh Ibrahima Fall followed him to Diourbel. In Diourbel, Fall created a famous district, Keur Sheikh. In Keur Sheikh, the Baye Fall movement consolidated and expanded very quickly. Many tyeddos became his disciples. In 1925, the French banned construction of the Touba Mosque. Sheikh Ibrahima Fall enclosed the area of the mosque with timbers Fall carried from Ndjarèem to Touba.
In 1927, at the death of Aamadu Bàmba Mbàkke, Sheikh Ibrahima Fall performed the first obeisance to the Shaikh's son, Serigne Moustapha Mbacké.
Sheikh Ibrahima Fall died June 9, 1930 after helping the succession of Aamadu Bàmba. He lies in Touba.
Sheikh Ibrahima Fall obviously helped Shaikh Aamadu Bàmba Mbàkke to expand Mouridism, particularly with Fall’s establishment of the Baye Fall movement. For this contribution, Serigne Fallou (the second Caliph after Aamadu Bàmba) named him “Lamp Fall" (the light of Mouridism). In addition, Ibrahima Fall earned the title of “Babul Mouridina”, meaning "Gate of Mouridism".
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*Babacar Ba (b. June 14, 1930 – d. December 13, 2006), a Senegalese politician from Kaolack, who served as Foreign Minister of Senegal in 1978, was born.
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*Babacar Ba (b. June 14, 1930 – d. December 13, 2006), a Senegalese politician from Kaolack, who served as Foreign Minister of Senegal in 1978, was born.
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*South Africa's white women received the vote (May 19). However, blacks of both sexes remained disenfranchised.
The Women's Enfranchisement Act, 1930, was an act of the Parliament of South Africa which granted white women aged 21 and older the right to vote and to run for office. It also had the effect of diluting the limited voting power of non-white people (in the Cape Province) by effectively doubling the number of white voters. It was enacted by the National Party government of Prime Minister J. B. M. Hertzog.
The first general election at which women could vote was the election of May 17, 1933. At that election Leila Reitz (wife of Deneys Reitz) was elected as the first female Member of Parliament, representing Parktown for the South African Party.
The act enfranchised all white women, while certain property qualifications still applied to men. In June 1931 the Franchise Laws Amendment Act, 1931 enfranchised all white men while retaining the property qualifications for non-white voters, thus further diluting the non-white vote. The delimitation of electoral divisions was still based on the white male population until April 1937, when the Electoral Quota Act, 1937 altered it to be based on the whole white population.
The Women's Enfranchisement Act was repealed in 1946 when the franchise laws were consolidated into the Electoral Consolidation Act, 1946.
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*An African National Congress executive resigned in protest against President Josiah Gumede's close ties with communists (January).
In 1928, the Communist Party departed from its fruitless efforts to promote solidarity between black and white workers. Instead, it chose to concentrate on the concept of black liberation and the formation of a 'black republic.' This followed a successful campaign to expand its African membership. But although the party was predominantly black by 1929, few of their recruits -- many of whom were young and ill-educated -- were well versed in doctrine. Indeed, Eddie Roux, a prominent member of the party at that time, wrote: "It began to seem that the Party might be swamped by members who had little knowledge of Marxist principles and theory."
However, in a move aimed at preserving the "purity" of their doctrine. Moscow suggested that the party should remain a small and select body of trained revolutionaries who could give a clear lead to the masses on all questions.
The idea of a popular front for black liberation led to the establishment of the African League of Rights (ALR) in 1929. Drawing on the memberships of existing black political and labor organizations, the league succeeded in persuading ANC president Josiah Gumede to become its first president. It was a major coup for the communists -- especially when the new movement seemed set to grab the imagination of Africans -- in particular those who had been left without a political home after the virtual collapse of the Industrial and Commercial Workers' Union (ICU).
League activities began on a high note -- with the launch of a major anti-discrimination petition aimed at taking a million signatures to parliament. But just as the campaign began to get off the ground, Moscow did an about-turn: convinced that the capitalist system was about to collapse -- as a result of the Great Depression -- Communist Parties everywhere were ordered to terminate alliances with non-Marxist organizations. A telegram ordered the immediate dissolution of the ALR.
As petitions rolled in, they were thrown into the wastepaper basket.
The existence of the ALR, however, was viewed with consternation by a section of the ANC's membership. Amid fears that it would undermine the ANC's claims to the leadership of the African nationalist movement, and also dissatisfaction by the ANC's conservative faction over Gumede's continued romance with the communists, the ANC executive resigned in January 1930 in protest at Gumede's role as president of the ALR.
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*Pixley Seme replaced Josiah Gumede as President of the African National Congress (April).
*Pixley Seme replaced Josiah Gumede as President of the African National Congress (April).
Josiah Gumede was challenged for the leadership of the African National Congress by Pixley Seme and, at a conference in April, the inevitable showdown came. Gumede - backed by the Transvaal communists, George Champion of the ICU yase Natal, and Bransby Ndobe and Elliot Tonjeni of the western Cape branch of the ANC -- reaffirmed his support for the communists, adding that the ANC's demands were too mild and that its appeals for justice to Britain were in vain.
Pixley Seme, on the other hand, cautioned against "the humbug of communism." He and his supporters felt that only the ANC should be permitted to articulate African political demands, and that equality of opportunity and participation in the system was what they sought. Their weapons were persuasion, moral force and consultation. They were not prepared to go over to mass confrontation. Seme won by 39 votes to 14.
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*Kenneth Mopeli, the Chief Minister of the South African bantustan of QwaQwa from 1975 to 1994, was born in Namahadi (September 20).
*Kenneth Mopeli, the Chief Minister of the South African bantustan of QwaQwa from 1975 to 1994, was born in Namahadi (September 20).
Tsiame Kenneth Mopeli (b. September 20, 1930, Namahadi - October 1, 2014) was the former Chief Minister of the South African bantustan of QwaQwa. Mopeli built 350 schools in Qwa Qwa along with 3 teachers' colleges. The soccer stadium Charles Mopeli Stadium and the Setsing Shopping Complex were also developed by him.
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*African National Congress "radicals" in the Western Cape formed an independent African National Congress (December).
*African National Congress "radicals" in the Western Cape formed an independent African National Congress (December).
The victory of the ANC "moderates" with the election of Pixley Seme as president led within eight months to the expulsion of Bransby Ndobe and Elliot Tonjeni and the formation in the Western Cape of the Independent African National Congress to continue the spirited, although losing battle against Boland farmers and police who regularly harassed their organizers and members.
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*Communist leader Johannes Nkosi was killed during a protest in Durban (December 16-17).
*Communist leader Johannes Nkosi was killed during a protest in Durban (December 16-17).
During 1930, together with what remained of the Industrial and Commercial Workers' Union (ICU), the Communist Party began to canvass support for a new Pass-burning campaign scheduled to begin in the main centers on December 16, 1930 -- a day on which Afrikaners commemorated their victory over Dingane, but which had also become a regular occasion for black political activities.
In Bloemfontein, hundreds of Africans joined the party and pledged their support. At a conference in Johannesburg. the ANC, the local ICU and other unions all endorsed the Pass-burning campaign and called for strikes. In Durban, the young African communist Johannes Nkosi, helped by the ICU yase Natal, was drumming up widespread support.
On December 7, 1930, in Bloemfontein, Kadalie, in a controversial return to the public spotlight, warned ICU followers not to take part in the Pass-burning.
The campaign in Natal was poorly supported, with only Durban giving any real backing. However, despite this, police and white vigilantes moved in on a protest meeting at Cartwright's Flats, and in the ensuing fracas Johannes Nkosi and three others were killed.
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Togo
*Paul Ahyi, a Togolese artist, sculptor, architect, painter, interior designer and author who is credited with designing the national flag of Togo, was born in Abomey, French Dahomey (now known as Benin) (January 15).
*Emmanuel Bob--Akitani, a Togolese politician who was the main opposition candidate in the 2003 and 2005 Togolese presidential elections, was born in Aneho, Lacs Prefecture, Togo (July 18).
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Togo
*Paul Ahyi, a Togolese artist, sculptor, architect, painter, interior designer and author who is credited with designing the national flag of Togo, was born in Abomey, French Dahomey (now known as Benin) (January 15).
Paul Ahyi (b. January 15, 1930, Abomey, French Dahomey [now known as Benin] – d. January 4, 2010, Lome, Togo) was known for his massive outdoor artworks, reliefs and sculptures, including his contributions to the Independence Monument in Lome, which commemorates the country's independence from France. Other outdoor sculptures and statues by Ahyi can be found on buildings and in parks throughout Togo, as well as the Vatican, Senegal, Benin, Cote d'Ivoire, Nigeria and South Korea.
Ahyi also created his pieces using a wide array of mediums including jewelry, pottery, ceramics and tapestries. He was also an interior designer who created household objects and art pieces.
Paul Ahyi was born to Togolese parents on January 15, 1930, in Abomey, French Dahomey. Ahyi attended school in Dakar, Senegal, from 1949 until 1952. He moved to France, where he enrolled in the Fine Art School of Lyon beginning in 1952. He graduated from the Ecole nationale superieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1959 and returned to Togo, which was called French Togoland prior to independence.
Ahyi was commissioned to design the flag of the new nation of Togo, which achieved independence from France on April 27, 1960. His finished design, which was unveiled in 1960, is still used by the country. Ayhi used the Pan-African colors of red, yellow and green in his flag. Modeled on the flag of Liberia, the flag has five horizontal stripes with two yellow stripes separating the three green stripes. In the right hand corner of the flag there is a red square which symbolizes the blood shed in the struggle for independence. The flag's yellow stripes represent the soil, while green symbolizes Togo's forests and agriculture. Ahyi added a white star centered in the red square, similar to the Liberian flag, representing light, intelligence and peace.
Ahyi also contributed to another important Togolese national symbol, the Independence Monument which was constructed in the center of Lomé.
Ahyi's reliefs and sculptures have been installed and displayed at the United Nations in New York City, as well as Canada, South Korea, West Africa, Italy, Japan, and Paris, France.
Ahyi taught art and architecture throughout Africa during his career and he authored several books, many focusing on the arts and his native Togo, including "Togo, mon cœur saigne" and "La réflexion sur l’art et la culture".
Ahyi received numerous awards, honors and recognitions through his career. In 1961, he was bestowed the Médaille d’Or des Métiers d’Arts in Paris. Ahyi was made an Officer of the Ordre du Mono in Togo in 1970. He was inducted as a Commander of the Ordre des Palmes Academiques in 1985 and an Officer of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, also in 1985.
Ahyi was designated a UNESCO Artist for Peace in a ceremony held in Paris on September 10, 2009.
Paul Ahyi died on Monday, January 4, 2010, in Lomé, at the age of 79.
******Emmanuel Bob--Akitani, a Togolese politician who was the main opposition candidate in the 2003 and 2005 Togolese presidential elections, was born in Aneho, Lacs Prefecture, Togo (July 18).
Emmanuel Bob-Akitani (b. July 18, 1930, in Aneho, Lacs Prefecture, Togo - d. May 16, 2011, in Lome, Togo) was a founding member of the Union of Forces for Change (UFC), an opposition political party in Togo. At the time of the 2003 election, the UFC's First Vice-President. Akitani stood as the UFC's candidate in 2003 because UFC President Gilchrist Olympio had been barred from running due to his failure to meet the residency requirement. According to official results, he placed second behind long-time President Gnassingbe Eyadema in the 2003 election, with 33.68% of the vote against 57.78% for Eyadéma. The UFC alleged fraud and Bob-Akitani claimed to have won the election. Following Eyadéma's death, he ran again in the April 2005 election as the candidate of an opposition coalition that included the UFC. He was again declared runner-up in the election, behind Eyadéma's son, Faure Gnassingbe, amidst widespread allegations of seized ballot boxes and other electoral fraud.
At a UFC party congress in July 2008, Bob-Akitani was named Honorary President of the UFC.
Emmanuel Bob-Akitani died on May 16, 2011 in Lome.
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Zambia
*Daniel Muchiwa Lisulo, the Prime Minister of Zambia from June 1978 until February 1981, was born in Mongu, Zambia (December 6).
Born in Mongu, Zambia, Daniel Muchiwa Lisulo (b. December 6, 1930, Mongu, Zambia - d. August 21, 2000, Johannesburg, South Africa) married Mary Mambo in 1967. She died in 1976, leaving Lisulo with two daughters. Lisulo served as the director of the Bank of Zambia from 1964 to 1977 before becoming Prime Minister. He was a member of Parliament from 1977 to 1983. After this, he went into private law practice. He died in Johannesburg, South Africa.
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