| Week
starting Saturday 25 June |
|
| Date |
Year |
Event |
|
| 25 |
1942 |
World War II: North Africa
As the Axis forces under the command of Field Marshal Rommel once again
cross into Egypt (through the lines at El Duda). Meanwhile, command of the
Eighth Army is reclaimed by General Claude Auchinleck (having disagreed
with Major-General Neil Ritchie over its deployment at Mersa Matruh). |
| 25 |
1975 |
After 470 years under Portuguese rule, Mozambique gains
independence. Samora Moïses Machel will be the newly independent country's
first president. |
|
|
For more on 25 June |
|
| 26 |
1952 |
Blacks, Coloured, and Indians join forces in South
Africa for the official start of the Defiance Campaign - a non-violent
protest against segregationist laws. By refusing bail, and insisting on
jail sentences, they hoped to disrupt the Apartheid government. |
| 26 |
1955 |
Three years after the start of the Defiance campaign,
anti-Apartheid activists hold a Congress of the People in a Johannesburg
suburb, Kliptown. Delegates ratify the Freedom Charter. The
document sets out the demand for a multi-racial democratically elected
government, equal opportunities, and a redistribution of land. Only about
50 of the 3,000 people attending are white, including British Anglican
missionary, Father Trevor Huddleston. The South African governments
response - police raid, armed with Sten guns and rifles with affixed
bayonets. |
|
|
For more on 26 June |
|
| 27 |
1942 |
World War II: North Africa
As the Eighth Army abandons Mersa Matruh - Rommel's forces claim to have
captured another 6,000 British troops. |
| 27 |
1977 |
Djibouti, formally Territore Français des Afars et
des Issas, or Côte Française des Somalis), France's last
colony in Africa, gains independence. |
|
|
For more on 27 June |
|
| 28 |
1942 |
World War II: North Africa
Field Marshal Rommel and his Panzerarmee Afrika capture Fuqa. |
| 28 |
1995 |
Nelson Mandela sets up the Truth and Reconciliation
Commission of South Africa to investigate human rights abuses of the
Apartheid era. |
|
|
For more on 28 June |
|
| 29 |
1942 |
World War II: North Africa
Il Duce, Benito Mussolini, arrives in Tripoli, Libya. A second aircraft has
been used to deliver his white Arab charger on which it is planned he will
make a triumphal entrance into Cairo. |
| 29 |
1976 |
Flight 139, an Air France A-300B Airbus hijacked from
Athens on 26 June, arrives at Entebbe, Uganda. Hijackers demand release of
53 PLO prisoners in return for the 256 hostages. |
|
|
For more on 29 June |
|
| 30 |
1960 |
Republic of Congo (now Democratic Republic of the Congo,
DRC) gains independence from Belgium (Congo Belge) with Joseph Kasavubu as
president and Patrice Lumumba as prime minister. |
| 30 |
1983 |
Colonel Muannar Kadhaffi (also written in English as:
Gaddafi, Qadhafi, or Khadafy), president of Libya (officially his title
since 2 March 1979 is 'Leader of the Revolution') flies to Rabat for talks
with King Hassan II of Morocco (Mawlay al-Hasan II ibn Muhammad). Success
ends a 14 year political rift between the two countries and leads to a
period (1984-86) of strong political union between the two countries. |
|
|
For more on 30 June |
|
| July |
|
| 1 |
1942 |
World War II: North Africa
Hampered by sandstorms, General Erwin Rommel's PanzerArmee Afrika overrun
an infantry brigade at Dier el Shein as his troops move towards El Alamein.
In response staff at the British Embassy in Cairo and at various military
HQ burn important documents - earning the day the name 'Ash Wednesday'. |
| 1 |
1960 |
Ghana, which gained independence on 6 March 1957 is
declared a republic with Kwame Nkrumah as President. It will remain part of
the British Commonwealth of Nations. |
|
|
For more on 1 July |
|
