31.12.2022, Russia, Mozambique
Mozambique will build a monument to honor the Soviet soldiers near the city of Beira, said Daria Da Konseisao, director of Black to USSR documentary project, on December 30, reports RIA Novosti.
“A monument honoring the Soviet soldiers fallen during shelling by militants on July 26, 1979 in a protracted war to liberate Mozambique from colonial Portugal is planned to be erected near the city of Beira,” said Da Konseisao.
She noted that support for the installation of the monument provided Major General Viktor Suldin, head of the Russian military advisers’ mission in Africa.
The director recalled the huge role the USSR played in the decolonization of Africa, the fact that Western European civilization oppressed whole nations in the first half of the 20th century, crippling them and bringing them to their extinction.
“In the 1970s, our people, inspired by ideas of true equality, earned the right to live the way they wanted in the battles of civil wars. Later, they started building schools and hospitals. And the USSR helped them to achieve this,” she said.
Soviet Union was the country that helped to train some of the best specialists in Africa, and the people of this continent still consider Russia as an intercessor with the Soviet spirit, noted Da Konseisao.
The first part of the documentary, shows African people who studied in the USSR, as well as the grandson of the first black South African President Nelson Mandela and one of his political allies who was in the same prison cell with him for 12 years, and later studied in Moscow, Leningrad, Odessa, Kiev and Sevastopol. The film was shot in Mozambique and South Africa.
“This sincere story has not left the viewers of various film festivals indifferent,” noted the director.
The first part of the film was shown at the Moscow International Film Festival on September 1, as well as the Zolotaya Bashnya (Golden Tower) International Film Festival in Ingushetia, where it received the prize for the best director’s work.
The director is currently filming the second part of his documentary called Black to USSR: Russians in Africa. She spoke warmly about the Soviet Union and recalled the great moment in history – the 100th anniversary since its creation.
“We know that the best is always remembered. Today is a great day – 100th anniversary of the USSR. Our films and cultural projects dedicated to the Soviet Union are a real living bridge in the Russian-African dialogue,” she said.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
