This is a list of notable people who have been assassinated in Africa.
Algeria
Date
|
Victim(s)
|
Assassin(s)
|
Notes
|
117 BC
|
Hiempsal, co-ruler of Numidia
|
|
Hiempsal's death was ordered by his cousin, Jugurtha.
|
December 24, 1942
|
François Darlan, former Head of Government of Vichy France and High Commissioner of France in Africa
|
Fernand Bonnier de La Chapelle
|
|
March 4, 1957
|
Larbi Ben M'Hidi, Algerian nationalist and FLN leader
|
|
Hanged by French Army officers under Paul Aussaresses; his death was initially passed off as a suicide.
|
March 23, 1957
|
Larbi Tbessi, nationalist and president of the Association of Algerian Muslim Ulema
|
|
Thrown from a building by French Army officers under Paul Aussaresses; at the time, his death was passed off as a suicide.
|
June 21, 1957
|
Maurice Audin, Pied-noir and PC militant
|
|
|
March 15, 1962
|
Mouloud Feraoun, writer
|
Organisation armée secrète
|
|
October 18, 1970
|
Krim Belkacem, polititian
|
|
assassinated in his hotel room in Frankfurt
|
July 8, 1976
|
Gaston Marie Jacquier, Catholic bishop
|
Abdessalam Abdelkader
|
Stabbed in a crowded Algiers street while wearing full clerical attire. The assassin had a history of psychiatric problems, but was suspected by some to have been religiously motivated.[1][2][3]
|
February 3, 1987
|
Mustafa Bouyali, Islamic fundamentalist
|
|
Ambushed by Algerian security services.
|
June 29, 1992
|
Mohamed Boudiaf, Chairman of the High Council of State
|
Lembarek Boumaârafi
|
Shot at Annaba.[4]
|
June 2, 1993
|
Tahar Djaout, journalist, poet and author
|
|
Killed by the Armed Islamic Group.
|
August 21, 1993
|
Kasdi Merbah, former Prime Minister of Algeria
|
|
|
March 10, 1994
|
Abdelkader Alloula, playwright
|
|
Killed by two members of the Islamic Front for Armed Jihad.
|
September 29, 1994
|
Cheb Hasni, singer
|
|
|
December 3, 1994
|
Saïd Mekbel, journalist
|
|
Assassinated with a car bomb in Aïn Bénian.
|
September 28, 1995
|
Aboubakr Belkaid, former minister
|
|
|
May 21, 1996
|
Seven Trappist monks of Tibérine
|
|
The monks were kidnapped by the Armed Islamic Group in March 1996, and reportedly executed on May 21; others claim that the monks were accidentally killed by the Algerian army. See Assassination of the monks of Tibhirine.
|
August 1, 1996
|
Pierre Lucien Claverie, Catholic bishop of Oran
|
|
|
October 22, 1996
|
Ali Boucetta, Mayor of Algiers
|
|
|
January 28, 1997
|
Abdelhak Benhamouda, trade unionist
|
|
|
June 25, 1998
|
Lounès Matoub, Berberist singer
|
|
|
November 22, 1999
|
Abdelkader Hachani, Islamic fundamentalist
|
Fouad Boulemia
|
Fouad Boulemia, a member of the Armed Islamic Group, was convicted for Hachani's murder and sentenced to death, but was later released.
|
Angola
Benin
Date
|
Victim(s)
|
Assassin(s)
|
Notes
|
June 20, 1975
|
Michel Aikpé, Minister of the Interior
|
|
|
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Date
|
Victim(s)
|
Assassin(s)
|
Notes
|
October 13, 1961
|
Louis Rwagasore, Prime Minister of Burundi
|
Georges Kageorgis
|
|
January 15, 1965
|
Pierre Ngendandumwe, Prime Minister of Burundi[5]
|
|
|
December 15, 1965
|
Joseph Bamina, Prime Minister of Burundi
|
|
Killed during the 1965 Burundian coup d'état attempt
|
April 29, 1972
|
Ntare V Ndizeye, deposed King of Burundi
|
|
|
October 21, 1993
|
Melchior Ndadaye, President of Burundi, founder of the Burundi Workers' Party
|
|
Overthrown and killed in the 1993 Burundian coup d'état attempt
|
March 11, 1995
|
Ernest Kabushemeye, Minister for Mines and Energy
|
|
|
September 9, 1996
|
Joachim Ruhuna, Roman Catholic archbishop of Gitega
|
|
|
November 20, 2001
|
Kassi Manlan, World Health Organization representative
|
|
Murdered in a conspiracy after discovering that aid money was being diverted into private accounts.
|
January 1, 2017
|
Emmanuel Niyonkuru, Minister of Water and the Environment
|
|
Assassinated in Bujumbura.
|
Cameroon
Central African Republic
Date
|
Victim(s)
|
Assassin(s)
|
Notes
|
December 4, 1996[6]
|
Christophe Grelombe, government minister
|
|
|
Chad
Comoros
Date
|
Victim(s)
|
Assassin(s)
|
Notes
|
May 29, 1978
|
Ali Soilih, former President of Comoros
|
|
Killed after being overthrown in a coup
|
November 26, 1989
|
Ahmed Abdallah, President of Comoros
|
|
Overthrown in a coup.
|
June 13, 2010
|
Combo Ayouba, army chief of staff and former interim head of state
|
|
|
Republic of the Congo
Ivory Coast
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Date
|
Victim(s)
|
Assassin(s)
|
Notes
|
January 17, 1961
|
Patrice Lumumba, former Prime Minister of the Congo[8]
|
Soldiers of the State of Katanga with the involvement of Belgian officials
|
Sent to the breakaway region of Katanga to be killed after being ousted in a coup led by Joseph Mobutu during the Congo Crisis
|
January 17, 1961
|
Maurice Mpolo, former Minister of Interior, and associate of Lumumba[7]
|
|
|
January 17, 1961
|
Joseph Okito, Vice-President of the Senate and associate of Lumumba[8]
|
|
|
January 29, 1993
|
Philippe Bernard, Ambassador of France to Zaire
|
|
Killed during an army mutiny in Kinshasa
|
May 6, 1997
|
Mahele Lieko Bokungu, Commanding General of the Forces Armées Zaïroises
|
|
Killed by Mobutu loyalists for attempting to negotiate a peaceful settlement with Laurent-Désiré Kabila during the First Congo War
|
January 16, 2001
|
Laurent-Désiré Kabila, President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo[7]
|
Rashidi Muzele
|
Killed by one of his bodyguards
|
February 22, 2021
|
Luca Attanasio, Italian Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo [9]
|
Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (suspected)
|
Killed in an ambush in Goma
|
Egypt
Date
|
Victim(s)
|
Assassin(s)
|
Notes
|
1962 BC
|
Amenemhat I, Pharaoh of the Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt
|
|
The identity of the assassin is unknown and the fact of the assassination is not entirely certain. Nevertheless, it is accepted as likely that he was killed in his bedchamber by members of his bodyguard as described in the Instructions of Amenemhat. The assassination of Amenemhat I is commonly cited as the first recorded political assassination in history.
|
1155 BC
|
Ramesses III, Pharaoh of the Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt
|
Tiye, Pebekkamen, and other members of the Harem conspiracy
|
CT scans of his mummy show the king throat was cut deeply enough to strike bone, likely killing him immediately. The conspirators, who were attempting to install Tiye's son Pentawer on the throne, failed, and (according to the Judicial Papyrus of Turin) were tried and sentenced to death by the government of Ramesses's intended successor Ramesses IV.
|
48 BC
|
Pompey the Great, Roman general and politician
|
Achillas, Lucius Septimius Salvius, and Julius Caesar
|
|
1121
|
Al-Afdal Shahanshah, vizier of Fatimid Egypt
|
|
|
1130
|
Al-Amir bi-Ahkami l-Lah, Fatimid Caliph
|
|
|
October 24, 1260
|
Qutuz, Mamluk sultan of Egypt
|
Baybars
|
|
June 14, 1800
|
Jean Baptiste Kléber, French general
|
Suleiman al-Halabi
|
|
February 20, 1910
|
Boutros Ghali, Prime Minister of Egypt
|
Ibrahim Nassif al-Wardani
|
|
November 19, 1924
|
Sir Lee Stack, Governor-General of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan
|
|
|
November 6, 1944
|
Walter Edward Guinness, Lord Moyne, the UK's Minister Resident in the Middle East
|
Eliyahu Hakim, a member of Zionist group Lehi
|
|
February 24, 1945
|
Ahmed Maher Pasha, Prime Minister of Egypt[10]
|
Mustafa Essawy .
|
|
January 5, 1946
|
Amin Osman, Former minister of finance.
|
A group of Egyptian army officers including Anwar Sadat.
|
|
December 28, 1948
|
Mahmud Fahmi Nokrashi, Prime Minister of Egypt[11]
|
Abdel Meguid Ahmed Hassan
|
|
February 12, 1949
|
Hassan al-Banna, founder of the Muslim Brotherhood
|
|
|
November 28, 1971
|
Wasfi al-Tal, Prime Minister of Jordan
|
|
Shot by members of Black September during a visit to Cairo.[7]
|
October 6, 1981
|
Anwar Sadat, President of Egypt
|
Khalid Islambouli
|
Shot while reviewing a military parade;[7] see Assassination of Anwar El Sadat.
|
October 13, 1990
|
Rifaat al-Mahgoub, Speaker of the Egyptian parliament
|
|
|
June 8, 1992
|
Farag Foda, politician and intellectual
|
|
Islamist movement al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya claimed responsibility for the attack.
|
June 29, 2015
|
Hisham Barakat, Prosecutor General
|
|
Killed in car bombing
|
Equatorial Guinea
Date
|
Victim(s)
|
Assassin(s)
|
Notes
|
November 14, 1932
|
Gustavo de Sostoa y Sthamer, Spanish governor
|
|
|
Eswatini
Date
|
Victim(s)
|
Assassin(s)
|
Notes
|
April 1, 2008
|
Gabriel Mkhumane, political opposition leader
|
|
|
Ethiopia
Date
|
Victim(s)
|
Assassin(s)
|
Notes
|
December 17, 1960
|
Ras Abebe Aragai, Prime Minister
|
|
Killed during a failed coup attempt
|
June 22, 2019
|
General Se'are Mekonnen, Chief of General Staff of the Ethiopian National Defense Force
|
|
Killed during the Amhara Region coup d'état attempt
|
June 22, 2019
|
Major General Gezae Abera, Aide to General Mekonnen
|
|
Killed during the Amhara Region coup d'état attempt
|
March 30, 2023
|
Desalegn Bokonja, head of the Prosperity Party’s office in Nekemte
|
|
|
April 27, 2023
|
Girma Yeshitila, head of the Prosperity Party in Amhara
|
|
|
May 8, 2023
|
Omer Lemma, head of the Prosperity Party in Haruka Woreda, Afar Region
|
|
|
The Gambia
Date
|
Victim(s)
|
Assassin(s)
|
Notes
|
December 16, 2004
|
Deyda Hydara, journalist
|
|
|
Ghana
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Kenya
Date
|
Victim(s)
|
Assassin(s)
|
Notes
|
February 25, 1965
|
Pio Gama Pinto, journalist, anti-colonial activist and socialist legislator
|
|
|
July 5, 1969
|
Tom Mboya, Minister of Economic Planning [12]
|
|
|
March 2, 1975
|
Josiah Mwangi Kariuki, Assistant Government Minister
|
|
|
January 3, 1980
|
Joy Adamson, conservationist
|
|
|
August 20, 1989
|
George Adamson, conservationist
|
|
|
February 13, 1990
|
Robert Ouko, Foreign Minister
|
|
Disappeared on February 12–13; found dead on February 16.[13]
|
May 16, 1998
|
Seth Sendashonga, former interior minister of Rwanda
|
|
|
August 23, 2000
|
John Anthony Kaiser, Roman Catholic priest
|
|
|
March 5, 2009
|
Oscar Kamau Kingara, human rights activist
|
|
|
March 5, 2009
|
John Paul Oulo, human rights activist
|
|
|
April 30, 2025
|
Charles Ong'ondo, Member of Parliament
|
|
Shot dead by gunmen on a motorcycle in Nairobi[14]
|
Liberia
Libya
Madagascar
Date
|
Victim(s)
|
Assassin(s)
|
Notes
|
May 12, 1863
|
Radama II, King of Madagascar
|
|
After Radama passed a controversial law allowing disputes to be settled by duelling, his palace was besieged on the orders of the Prime Minister, Rainivoninahitriniony. Radama was captured by soldiers and strangled with a silk sash; some historians believe he may have survived this attack and lived out the rest of his days in obscurity.
|
February 11, 1975
|
Richard Ratsimandrava, President of Madagascar
|
|
Shot six days after taking power in military coup.[7]
|
Malawi
Date
|
Victim(s)
|
Assassin(s)
|
Notes
|
February 3, 1915
|
John Chilembwe, anti-colonial leader
|
|
|
Mauritania
Mauritius
Date
|
Victim(s)
|
Assassin(s)
|
Notes
|
May 10, 1965
|
Rampersad Surath, Political activist
|
|
|
May 10, 1965
|
Robert Brousse and Jacques Beesoo, Political activist and policeman[15] in Trois Boutiques.[16]
|
|
|
November 25, 1971
|
Fareed Muttur, Political activist (MMM)
|
|
|
November 25, 1971
|
Azor Adelaide, Dock worker and political activist (MMM)
|
|
|
1986
|
Cyril de Guardia, Raymond Desvaux de Marigny and Ambicaduth Sooknundun (Medine Sugar Estate executives)
|
Sténio Hervel (alias Piou Piou)
|
Piou Piou Hervel murders
|
1996
|
Babal Joomun, Zulfikar Bheeky and Yousouf Moorad Political activists (Labour Party)
|
Escadron de la mort
|
Gorah Issac murders
|
Morocco
Mozambique
Namibia
Date
|
Victim(s)
|
Assassin(s)
|
Notes
|
March 27, 1978
|
Clemens Kapuuo, Herero chief and politician
|
|
|
September 12, 1989
|
Anton Lubowski, leading white SWAPO activist
|
|
Shot in front of his home in central Windhoek, allegedly by members of the government's Civilian Co-Operation Bureau.
|
Niger
Nigeria
Date
|
Victim(s)
|
Assassin(s)
|
Notes
|
January 15, 1966
|
Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Prime Minister of Nigeria
|
|
Killed during the 1966 Nigerian coup d'état
|
January 15, 1966
|
Ahmadu Bello, Premier of Northern Nigeria
|
|
Killed during the 1966 Nigerian coup d'état
|
January 15, 1966
|
Samuel Akintola, Premier of Western Nigeria
|
|
Killed during the 1966 Nigerian coup d'état
|
January 15, 1966
|
Festus Okotie-Eboh, Finance Minister of Nigeria
|
|
Killed during the 1966 Nigerian coup d'état
|
July 29, 1966
|
Adekunle Fajuyi, Military Governor of Western Nigeria
|
|
Killed during the 1966 Nigerian counter-coup led by Theophilus Danjuma.
|
July 29, 1966
|
Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, Head of State of Nigeria
|
|
Killed during the 1966 Nigerian counter-coup
|
February 13, 1976
|
Murtala Mohammed, Head of State of Nigeria[7]
|
|
Killed in an attempted coup led by Buka Suka Dimka.
|
October 19, 1986
|
Dele Giwa, journalist
|
|
|
June 4, 1996
|
Kudirat Abiola, pro-democracy activist and wife of presidential candidate Moshood Abiola
|
|
|
December 23, 2001
|
Bola Ige, Justice Minister
|
|
|
October 16, 2011
|
Modu Bintube, Borno state legislator
|
|
Suspected to have been killed by Boko Haram militants.[17]
|
July 2, 2016
|
Gideon Aremu, Oyo State legislator and lawmaker.[18]
|
|
|
Rwanda
Date
|
Victim(s)
|
Assassin(s)
|
Notes
|
December 1896
|
King Mibambwe IV Rutarindwa
|
|
Died in the aftermath of the Rucunshu Coup
|
December 26, 1985
|
Dian Fossey, primatologist
|
|
Possibly killed by gorilla poachers.
|
April 6, 1994
|
Juvénal Habyarimana, President of Rwanda, and Cyprien Ntaryamira, President of Burundi
|
|
Plane carrying the two leaders shot down by unknown attackers with a surface-to-air missile. The attack was the catalyst for the Rwandan genocide.[7] See Assassination of Juvénal Habyarimana and Cyprien Ntaryamira.
|
April 7, 1994
|
Agathe Uwilingiyimana, Prime Minister of Rwanda
|
|
Killed during the Rwandan genocide
|
April 7, 1994
|
Joseph Kavaruganda, President of the Constitutional Court
|
|
Killed during the Rwandan Genocide
|
April 7, 1994
|
Faustin Rucogoza, Minister of Information
|
|
Killed during the Rwandan Genocide
|
April 20, 1994
|
Rosalie Gicanda, Queen Dowager of Rwanda
|
|
Killed during the Rwandan Genocide
|
May 1994
|
Jean-Baptiste Habyalimana, Prefect of Butare Province and then the only Tutsi prefect in Rwanda
|
|
Killed during the Rwandan Genocide
|
June 1994
|
André Kameya, journalist and Secretary-General of the Parti Libéral
|
|
Killed during the Rwandan Genocide
|
Senegal
Somalia
Date
|
Victim(s)
|
Assassin(s)
|
Notes
|
April 16, 1957
|
Kamal Al Din Salah, chairman of the UN Advisory Council on Italian Somaliland
|
|
Shot by a Somalian
|
October 15, 1969
|
Abdirashid Ali Shermarke, President of Somalia
|
|
Shot by one of his bodyguards, possibly for personal – rather than political – reasons
|
July 9, 1989
|
Salvatore Colombo, Roman Catholic bishop of Mogadishu
|
|
|
July 28, 2006
|
Abdallah Isaaq Deerow, former acting President of Somalia
|
|
|
June 17, 2009
|
Ali Said, Mogadishu police chief
|
|
|
June 18, 2009
|
Omar Hashi Aden, security minister
|
|
Killed in the 2009 Beledweyne bombing, for which Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility.
|
June 10, 2011
|
Abdishakur Sheikh Hassan Farah, interior minister
|
Haboon Abdulkadir Hersi Qaaf, Farah's teenage niece
|
Killed in a suicide bomb attack; Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility.
|
July 27, 2022
|
Abdullahi Ali Ahmed Waafow, mayor of Merca
|
|
Killed in a suicide bomb attack; Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility.
|
South Africa
Date
|
Victim(s)
|
Assassin(s)
|
Notes
|
September 22, 1828
|
Shaka, King of the Zulus
|
Dingane and Mhlangana, Shaka's half-brothers
|
|
September 6, 1966
|
Hendrik Verwoerd, Prime Minister of South Africa[7]
|
Dimitri Tsafendas
|
Tsafendas, a parliamentary messenger, stabbed Verwoerd to death with a dagger in the House of Assembly due to his opposition to Verwoerd's policy of apartheid.
|
November 22, 1977
|
Robert Smit, economist and parliamentary candidate for the National Party
|
|
|
August 17, 1982
|
Ruth First, anti-apartheid scholar and wife of Communist party leader Joe Slovo
|
|
Killed by a letter bomb; her death was ordered by Craig Williamson of the South African Police.
|
May 21, 1985
|
Vernon Nkadimeng, anti-apartheid activist
|
|
|
March 29, 1988
|
Dulcie September, head of the African National Congress in Paris
|
|
|
May 1, 1989
|
David Webster, anthropologist
|
Civil Cooperation Bureau
|
|
April 10, 1993
|
Chris Hani, leader of the South African Communist Party
|
Janusz Walus
|
|
November 5, 1994
|
Johan Heyns, prominent leader in the Dutch Reformed Church
|
|
|
January 22, 2009
|
Mbongeleni Zondi, Zulu chieftain and politician
|
|
|
February 15, 2025
|
Muhsin Hendricks, World's first openly queer Imam
|
2 masked gunmen[19]
|
|
Sudan
Date
|
Victim(s)
|
Assassin(s)
|
Notes
|
March 2, 1973
|
Cleo A. Noel, Jr., US Chief of Mission, George Curtis Moore, Deputy Chief of Mission, and Guy Eid, Belgian chargé d'affaires[7]
|
|
Taken hostage and assassinated by members of Black September; see Attack on the Saudi Embassy in Khartoum.
|
January 1, 2008
|
John Granville, diplomat for the United States Agency for International Development
|
|
|
June 14, 2023
|
Khamis Abakar, Governor of West Darfur State
|
Rapid Support Forces (RSF)
|
Killed during the Battle of Geneina of the 2023 Sudan conflict
|
Tanzania
Togo
Tunisia
Uganda
Western Sahara
Zambia
Zimbabwe
See also
References
- ^ CINI. "Les Evèques d'Algérie (l'histoire) | Chrétiennes". www.cerclealgerianiste.fr (in French). Archived from the original on 2018-10-18. Retrieved 2017-06-18.
- ^ "Victimes religieuses en Algérie". La Croix (in French). 2016-04-15. ISSN 0242-6056. Retrieved 2017-06-18.
- ^ Kiser, John (2003). The Monks of Tibhirine: Faith, Love, and Terror in Algeria. Macmillan. p. 47. ISBN 9780312302948.
- ^ "Historic Assassinations Since 1865," The World Almanac and Book of Facts 2004, p156 (World Almanac 2004)
- ^ "Chief Political Assassinations Since 1865," The World Almanac and Book of Facts 1967, p257 (World Almanac 1967)
- ^ "explaining the conflict in central african republic". Epiphany.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m World Almanac 2004, p156
- ^ a b c World Almanac 1967, p257
- ^ Specia, Megan; Pianigiani, Gaia (22 February 2021). "Italian Ambassador Among Three Killed in Attack on U.N. Convoy in Congo". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
- ^ "Assassinations and Political Murders," 20th Century Timeline (Griesewood & Dempsey, Ltd., 1985) (Crescent Books, 1985) [20th Century Timeline], p119
- ^ 20th Century Timeline, p120
- ^ "Historic Assassinations Since 1865," The World Almanac and Book of Facts 1982 (World Almanac 1982), p750
- ^ Cohen, David William (2004). The Risks of Knowledge: Investigations Into the Death of the Hon. Minister John Robert Ouko in Kenya, 1990. Ohio University Press. p. x. ISBN 9780821415986.
- ^ "Kenya MP's killing appears 'targeted and premeditated', police say". Al Jazeera. 30 April 2025. Retrieved 30 April 2025.
- ^ Sivaramen, Nad. "Histoire Vivante". L'Express. Retrieved 2018-01-28.
- ^ Li Ching Hum, Philip (2018-03-09). "The downside of freedom". Defimedia. Le Defi. Retrieved 2018-03-09.
- ^ "Nigeria's Boko Haram accused of killing MP Modu Bintube". BBC News. October 17, 2011.
- ^ "Gunmen Assassinate Oyo Assembly Lawmaker, Gideon Aremu - 360Nobs.com".
- ^ "Openly Gay South African Imam Shot Dead". Barron's. 15 February 2025.
- ^ "Killed the Matabele God: Burnham, the American scout, may end uprising". New York Times. June 25, 1896. ISSN 0093-1179.
- ^ Badat, Saleem (2013). The Forgotten People: Political Banishment under Apartheid. BRILL. p. 24. ISBN 9789004247710.
- ^ Todd, Judith Garfield (2007). Through the Darkness: A Life in Zimbabwe. Zebra Press. p. 209. ISBN 9781770220027.