1900, 31 May - Boer War
Boers withdraw to Pretoria as British troops seize Johannesburg.
1901, 31 May - Boer War
Boers kill 174 British during guerrilla raid at Vlakfontein (now called Derby). Dinizulu refuses British instructions to take up arms against the Boer. He is warned by Colonel Bottomley that under the current martial law he may be banished for such a refusal.
1902, 31 May - Boer War: Peace
Boer delegates at the Vereeniging national delegation agree 54 to 6 to accept the British proposals for peace. The Treaty of Vereeniging is signed by representatives of both sides at Melrose House, Pretoria.
1910, 31 May
Union of South Africa is inaugurated, eight years after the declaration of peace at Vereeniging, from four colonies: Cape Colony, Natal, Orange River Colony (Oranje Vrij Staat), and the Transvaal (Zuid Afrikaansche Republick).
1943, 31 May - World War II: North Africa
Charles de Gaulle and Henri Honoré Giraud set up the Committee of National Liberation in Algiers to represent France until the end of the war.
1947, 31 May
Abd al-Krim, Moroccan nationalist leader, escapes after an 11-year imprisonment on the Island of Reunion.
1966, 31 May
Joseph-Désiré Mobutu's military government in the Congo has four former ministers sentenced to death for treason, murder, and an attempted coup. (Mobutu will change his name to Mobutu Sese Seko on 10 January 1972.)
1968, 31 May
Biafra pulls out of peace talks with Nigeria.
1994, 31 May - The Rwanda Genocide
At least 500,000 are reported as dead from the fighting between Tutsi and Hutu in Rwanda.
