Copycat: Weyane have done it yet again - Lol Photo: Eritreas own Pushkin monument in Asmara (L) and the requested statue in Moscow (R) By CDE Ethiopia is awaiting the imminent arrival of a decades-old statue of renowned Russian poet Alexander Pushkin – who allegedly had Ethiopian roots – from Russia, Ethiopias Foreign Ministry said Wednesday. Born in 1799 in Moscow, Pushkin, whose ancestry is claimed by both Ethiopia and Eritrea, is considered the father of modern Russian literature. Foreign Ministry spokesman Dina Mufti told Anadolu Agency on Wednesday that the Pushkin statue would be transported to Addis Ababa from Moscow soon. Its a gift to Addis Ababa from Moscow, he said, noting that the two governments were currently arranging the logistics of the move. The life-size, bronze statue has stood at the center Moscows Pushkin Square since being inaugurated in 1880 by world-renowned Russian authors Ivan Turgenev and Fyodor Dostoyevsky. According to Mufti, Ethiopian and Russian officials discussed the process of transporting the statue during a recent visit to Ethiopia by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. This will further strengthen the ages-long friendship between Ethiopia and Russia, the spokesman asserted. Pushkins grandfather, Abram Gannibal, is believed to have been born in Ethiopia in 1679. The son of an Ethiopian prince, Gannibal was kidnapped and taken to Russia at the age of eight as a slave of Russian Czar Peter the Great. In Russia, Abram climbed the ladder of Russian society, eventually becoming an aristocrat. Eritrea, for its part, claims Pushkin had Eritrean blood, since Gannibal is believed to have been born in an area called Loggo Sarda in the modern state of Eritrea, which seceded from Ethiopia in 1991.
Posted on: Wed, 08 Oct 2014 17:51:57 +0000
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