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November
23

Today in African History

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The Massacre of the Sixty

The Massacre of the Sixty, known as Black Saturday, unfolded in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on the morning of November 23, 1974. This brutal event was orchestrated by the Derg government and targeted 60 former government offi...

Historical Events

4
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    🏛️ 1958 🇬🇳 Guinea
    Ahmed Sékou Touré signs a joint declaration with Kwame Nkrumah establishing the Ghana-Guinea Union as a nucleus for a future United States of Africa.
  • Jonas Savimbi
    🏛️ 1975 🇦🇴 Angola
    Jonas Savimbi's movement UNITA declares a coalition government based in Huambo alongside the FNLA to challenge the MPLA's unilateral declaration of independence.
  • Fela Anikulapo Kuti
    📌 2009 🇳🇬 Nigeria
    Fela!, the musical about his life and Afrobeat, opens on Broadway
  • Yacouba Sawadogo
    📌 2018 🇧🇫 Burkina Faso
    Receives the Right Livelihood Award at the ceremony in Stockholm

Discover Africa's Rich Past

The Massacre of the Sixty

The Massacre of the Sixty

The Massacre of the Sixty, known as Black Saturday, unfolded in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on the morning of November 23, 1974. This brutal event was orchestrated by the Derg government and targeted 60 former government officials held at Kerchele Prison, commonly known as Alem Bekagn, meaning "Farewell to the World." The tragedy occurred just ten weeks into the Ethiopian Revolution, a period initially marked by the Derg's promise of a bloodless transformation, encapsulated in the slogan "Ityopiya tikdem, yala mimin dem" – “Ethiopia first, without any bloodshed.” Unfortunately, the massacre shattered this hope and served as a grim precursor to the Red Terror and the Ethiopian Civil War that would engulf the nation in the subsequent years.

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