1983 President His Highness Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan attended the celebrations marking the inauguration of the new Al Dhafra air base and the graduation of a new batch of pilots. Al Dhafra is the first air base in the UAE and is equipped with Mirage interceptor-bombers. Shaikh Zayed arrived at the air base in a helicopter and was wecomed by Brigadier Mohammad Saeed Al Badi, Chief of Staff.
The graduates then paraded before the main platform and took the legal oath to enter the armed forces. Shaikh Zayed distributed certificates to the graduates and gave prizes to the distinguished students. Shaikh Zayed congratulated the graduating pilots and wished them success. The graduates cheered Shaikh Zayed three times. It was followed by an air display. Shaikh Zayed met the graduating pilots and wished them success in their mission. Al Dhafra is the first air base in the UAE and has intercepted bomber Mirage planes.
Other important events
1843 - Britain separates Gambia from Sierra Leone as a crown colony.
1899 - Treaty ending Spanish-American War comes into effect.
1957 - Great Britain comes to agreement with Singapore giving it independence.
1961 - Nigeria imposes total boycott on trade with South Africa.
1970 - Apollo 13 blasts off on a mission to the moon that is disrupted when an explosion cripples the spacecraft.
1979 - Idi Amin is deposed as President of Uganda, Yusufu Lule forms the new government.
1983 - Al Dhafra air base is inaugurated in the UAE.
1984 - Konstantin Chernenko is appointed by parliament as Soviet leader.
1985 - Albanian leader Enver Hoxha dies at the age of 76.
1990 - Angolan government agrees to begin peace talks with rebel group Unita in Portugal.
1991 - UN Security Council announces a formal end to the Gulf War.
1992 - The Yugoslav army seizes the town of Modrica, Bosnia, sending thousands of refugees fleeing toward Tuzla.
1993 - Despite appeals for calm, two whites are burned to death in South Africa by a black crowd.
1994 - US President Bill Clinton orders trade sanctions against Taiwan for trafficking in endangered tiger and rhinoceros parts.
1997 - Indian Prime Minister Deve Gowda’s 10-month-old coalition is voted out of office.
1999 - India test fires Agni II missile, the first missile test in five years.
2006 - Centre-left economist Romano Prodi emerges the winner of Italy’s election by a razor-thin margin.
2007 - Knowledge Village launches the Dubai International Academic City.
2008 - French troops capture six pirates after they released 30 hostages who were aboard a tourist yacht off Somalia’s coast.
2010 - Sudan holds first multiparty elections in a quarter-century.
2011 - France begins to enforce ban on Islamic face veils in public.
2012 - Algeria’s first president Ahmad Bin Bella dies at the age of 95.
2013 - Mahmudur Rahman, editor of Amar Desh, the mouthpiece of Bangladesh Nationalist Party, is arrested for sedition and inciting religious tension.
2015 - US President Barack Obama and Cuban leader Raul Castro head towards historic talks in Panama.
2016 - UAE issues Child Rights Law to protect children across the UAE from negligence, mistreatment and exploitation.