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Karamara Victory anniversary at the Ethio-Cuba Friendship Park

Ethio-Cuba Friendship Park  attracted thousands for the 44 Karamara Victory Celebration

Karamara Victory _ Ethio-Cuba Friendship
Cuban Ambassador to Ethiopia, Jorge Lefebre Nicolá, putting flowers at the memorial statue in Frenship park in Addis Ababa, on March 5, 2022 ( Photo credit : FBC) 

borkena
Last updated on March 5, 2023 at 10:49 P.M. Toronto Time

Yekatit, an Amharic for February, seems to have a special place in the history of Ethiopia in the sense that Ethiopia achieved at least two major battle victories. One is the victory at Adwa at the end of the 19th century and the other one is against the Invading Somalian forces about 44 years ago. In fact the 1974 Ethiopian revolution , which toppled the imperial government of Haileselassie I, also took place in the month of Yekatit. 

Today, and it is still Yekatit, Ethiopia has commemorated the Karamara victory at the Ethio-Cuba Friendship Park in the capital Addis Ababa.  

There is a reason why it was celebrated at the Ethio-Cuba Friendship park. At the time, Cuba sent over 15,000 troops to fight along with Ethiopia to reverse the Somali invasion and hundreds of soldiers have paid in life.  Apart from the military contribution, Cuba under the leadership of Fidel Castro offered 5,000 scholarships to Ethiopian Children including to those whose fathers were killed during the war. 

Veterans from the war, government officials, members of the diplomatic community including Cuban Ambassador to Ethiopia (Ambassador Jorge Lefebre Nicolás), attended the event. 

 

Ethiopia was in a period of political transition right after the 1974 revolution when Somalia under Siad Barré ordered the invasion. His forces occupied territories up to 700 kilometres deep inside Ethiopia. The aim was to attain “The Greater Somalian ” dream by incorporating the land it invaded from Ethiopia. 

Three hundred thousand forces, a chunk of it militia forces trained in less than three months,  were raised to reverse the invasion. And the invading army was defeated. The last battle was fought at Karamara – the reason for the celebration of Karamara victory. 

The celebration has been very colourful and has attracted  thousands of residents from the city. State media covered the story. The Ethiopian government has a plan to make Ethiopia-Cuba Friendship Park one of Addis Ababa City’s tourist attractions. 

Meanwhile, the Federal Security task force is accusing what it called “some political parties, groups and individuals” of attempting to incite ethnic based violence. It is accusing some of those who were attending the Karamara Victory celebration. 

Statement from the task force claimed that security forces were restrained in the face of provocation from those groups. 

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government has lost significant public trust due to repeated unpopular decisions. The latest anger was over the government decision to change venue for Adwa victory celebration from Ghiorgis in the city centre where Emperor Mebelik II statue stands, to Adwa bridge. 

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2 COMMENTS

  1. Aside from controversial historical point of view as far the local residents are concerned, the correct and historical name of the mountain known by the locals in Somalis languages is and should be Karamardha ,not Karamara..I don’t know where people got this misnomer. Because I igrew up in the area, which is used to be about 2km distance from Jigjig city and now about less than 1 km distance from it.

  2. “We’re letting everyone in,” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said in a Saturday news conference. “I’ve seen people who have no travel documents, but we’re providing them too with travel documents. And we’re also allowing in those who have arrived from third countries after the proper screening.”
    Hungary’s right-wing prime minister Viktor Orban has described the arrival of asylum seekers in Europe as “a poison”, saying his country did not want or need “a single migrant”.
    For us migration is not a solution but a problem … not medicine but a poison, we don’t need it and won’t swallow it,” he said.
    Even Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Europe’s leading anti-migrant politician, travelled to the border town of Beregsurány, where he said Hungary was accepting all citizens and legal residents of Ukraine.
    “We’re letting everyone in,” Orbán said.
    “We’re prepared to take care of them [Ukrainians], and we’ll be able to rise to the challenge quickly and efficiently,” he said in a statement.
    About 105,000 people have crossed into Hungary in a week and have been met with a well-organised humanitarian mission made up of Hungarians from across the country.
    reason.com/2022/03/03/nonwhite-ukrainian-refugees-complain-of-unequal-treatment-at-borders/
    globalnews24h.com/2022/03/03/hungarys-orban-defends-response-to-ukraine-war-refugees/
    edition.cnn.com/2019/11/05/europe/hungary-orban-ukraine-putin-trump-intl/index.html

    Why is the western world so brutal when ethiopians suffer fopr over 1 year and unwilling to resolve the problem and dethrone Abiy, US spies ? Why are western demangogue leaders highly contemptible to our people ? Why do they throw our people into the ocean , poison and deliver harmful medicines to Africans and close borders and even deport Ethiopians when Ethiopia is at war with its own people supported by western genociadl weapons exported for profit ?

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