List of assassinations in Africa

This is an incomplete list of people who have been assassinated, or murdered in Africa.

Assassinations in Africa

Algeria

• 117 BC – Hiempsal, co-ruler of Numidia
• 1942 – François Darlan, senior figure of Vichy France
• 1957 – Maurice Audin, communist mathematician
• 1963 – Mohamed Khemisti, Algerian foreign minister
• 1987 – Mustafa Bouyali, Islamic fundamentalist
• 1992 – Mohamed Boudiaf, President of Algeria
• 1993 – Youcef Sebti, poet
• 1993 – Kasdi Merbah, former Prime Minister of Algeria
• 1994 – Abdelkader Alloula, playwright
• 1994 – Cheb Hasni, singer
• 1998 – Lounès Matoub, singer
• 1999 – Abdelkader Hachani, Islamic fundamentalist

Burkina Faso

• 1987 – Thomas Sankara, Head of State of Burkina Faso
• 1991 – Clément Oumarou Ouédraogo, opposition

Burundi

• 1961 – Louis Rwagasore, Prime Minister of Burundi
• 1965 – Pierre Ngendandumwe, Prime Minister of Burundi
• 1965 – Joseph Bamina, Prime Minister of Burundi
• 1975 – Ntare V, dethroned King of Burundi (disputed circumstances)
• 1993 – Melchior Ndadaye, President of Burundi
• 2001 – Kassi Manlan, World Health Organisation representative

Cameroon

• 1958 - Ruben Um Nyobe, leader of the Cameroon's People Union (UPC)

Chad

• 1975 – François Tombalbaye, President of Chad

Comoros

• 1978 – Ali Soilih, former President of Comoros
• 1989 – Ahmed Abdallah, President of Comoros

Congo (Brazzaville)

• 1977 – Marien Ngouabi, President of the Congo
• 1977 – Émile Biayenda, Archbishop of Brazzaville
• 1988 – Pierre Anga, rebel leader

Congo (Kinshasa)

• 1961 – Patrice Lumumba, former Prime Minister of the Congo
• 1961 – Maurice Mpolo, Lumumba associate
• 1961 – Joseph Okito, Lumumba associate
• 2001 – Laurent Kabila, President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Ivory Coast

• 2002 – Robert Guéi, former President of Côte d'Ivoire
• 2002 – Émile Boga Doudou, interior minister
• 2003 – Muhammad Ahmad al-Rashid, Saudi ambassador

Egypt

• Pompey the Great, (48 BC), Roman politician killed in Egypt
• Germanicus, (19), Roman military leader, poisoned in Alexandria by Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso under orders from Tiberius
• Al-Afdal Shahanshah, (1121), vizier of Fatimid Egypt
• Al-Amir, (1130), last Fatimid Caliph
• Qutuz, (1260), Mamluk sultan of Egypt
• Khalil, (1293), Mamluk sultan of Egypt
• Jean Baptiste Kléber, (1800) French general, in Cairo.
• Boutros Ghali, (1910), Prime Minister of Egypt, by Ibrahim El-Wardan
• Sir Lee Stack, (1924), governor-general of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, in Cairo
• Walter Edward Guinness, Lord Moyne, (1944), the UK's Minister Resident in the Middle East; killed in Cairo by the Stern Gang
• Ahmed Maher Pasha, (1945), Prime Minister of Egypt, in Cairo by Mahmud Issawy
• Mahmud Fahmi Nokrashi, (1948), Prime Minister of Egypt, by a member of the Muslim Brotherhood
• Hassan al-Banna, (1949), founder of the Muslim Brotherhood
• Anwar Sadat, (1981), President of Egypt
• Rifaat al-Mahgoub, (1990), speaker of Egyptian parliament
• Farag Foda, (1992), Egyptian politician and intellectual

Equatorial Guinea

• Atanasio Ndongo Miyone, Saturnino Ibongo, Bonifacio Ondó Edu, Armando Balboa, Pastor Torao and many others, (1969), Equatorial Guinean politicians, in murderous crackdown after coup attempt against President Francisco Macías Nguema

Ethiopia

• Tilahun Gizaw, (1969), Ethiopian student leader

The Gambia

• Deyda Hydara, (2004), journalist

Guinea

• Amílcar Cabral, (1973), Pan-African intellectual, in Conakry, Guinea

Kenya

• Pio Gama Pinto, (1965), socialist politician
• Tom Mboya, (1969), Kenyan politician
• Josiah Kariuki, (1975), Kenyan politician
• Robert Ouko, (1990), foreign minister of Kenya
• John Kaiser, (2000), missionary (officially recorded as a suicide)
• Starlin Arush, (2002), Somali Peace Activist and INGO Worker

Liberia

• William R. Tolbert, Jr., (1980), president of Liberia killed in military coup
• Samuel Doe, (1990), president of Liberia

Madagascar

• Radama II of Madagascar, (1863), king of Madagascar.
• Richard Ratsimandrava, (1975), president of Madagascar killed just days after taking power in military coup

Mozambique

• Eduardo Mondlane, (1969), leader of the independantist FRELIMO movement, allegedly killed by the Portuguese branch of Gladio.
• Carlos Cardoso, (2000), Mozambican journalist

Niger

• Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara, (1999), President of Niger

Nigeria

• Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, (1966), Prime Minister of Nigeria killed during military coup
• Alhaji Sir Ahmadu Bello, (1966)
• Adekunle Fajuyi, (1966)
• Samuel Akintola, (1966)
• Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, (1966), military head of state
• Murtala Ramat Mohammed, (1976), President of Nigeria
• Dele Giwa, (1986), journalist
• Ken Saro-Wiwa, (1995), activist
• Bola Ige, (2001), justice minister of Nigeria

Rwanda

• Dian Fossey, (1985), primatologist, in the province of Ruhengeri; assassination probably planned by Protais Zigiranyirazo
• Agathe Uwilingiyimana, (1994), Prime Minister of Rwanda killed one day after genocide began
• Juvénal Habyarimana, (1994), His plane was shot out of the sky as it approached Kigali airport, and signalled the start of the Rwandan Genocide.

Somalia

• Abdirashid Ali Shermarke, (1969), president of Somalia
• George Adamson, (1989), British naturalist, at Kora

South Africa

• Shaka, (1828), king of the Zulus, near Stanger (now KwaDukuza) by Dingane and Mhlangana
• Umthlangana, (1828), Zulu prince, brother of Shaka
• Hendrik Verwoerd, (1966), Prime Minister of South Africa, stabbed in parliament by Dimitri Tsafendas
• Onkgopotse Tiro, (1974), South African student leader
• Ruth First, (1982), anti-apartheid scholar and wife of Communist party leader Joe Slovo, by pro-apartheid "Koevoet" leader Craig Williamson
• Vernon Nkadimeng, (1985), South African dissident
• Dulcie September, (1988), head of the African National Congress in Paris, by South African Defense Force sergeant Joseph Klue
• David Webster, 1989, Social anthropologist and anti-Apartheid activist
• Chris Hani, (1993), leader of the South African Communist Party
• Johan Heyns, (1995), prominent leader in the Dutch Reformed Church

Sudan

• Cleo Noel Jr, US Chief of Mission to Sudan, shot by Black September terrorists (see Khartoum diplomatic assassinations)
• George Curtis Moore, US Deputy Chief of Mission to Sudan, shot by Black September terrorists (see Khartoum diplomatic assassinations)
• Guy Eid, Belgian Chargé d'affaires to Sudan, shot by Black September terrorists (see Khartoum diplomatic assassinations)

Tanzania

• Abeid Karume, (1972), first President of Zanzibar, First Vice President of Tanzania

Togo

• Sylvanus Olympio, (1963), first president of independent Togo, in a coup led by dictator Gnassingbé Eyadéma
• Tavio Amorin, (1992), socialist leader (shot in Lomé, died in Paris)

Tunisia

• Khalil Wazir ("Abu Jihad"), (1988), military leader of the PLO, in Tunis
• Salah Khalaf ("Abu Iyad"), (1991), deputy leader of the PLO killed by Abu Nidal terrorists in Tunis, Tunisia

Uganda

• Benedicto Kiwanuka, (1972), Chief Justice of Uganda
• Janani Luwum, (1977), Archbishop of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Boga-Zaire from 1974 until 1977

Zambia

• Herbert Chitepo, (1975), Zimbabwean nationalist leader

Zimbabwe

• Attati Mpakati, (1983), left-wing Malawian politician

Related articles and lists

• List of people who survived assassination attempts
• List of murdered people
• List of assassinations by car bombing
• List of assassins, assassin, terrorist
• List of assassinated anticolonialist leaders