‘Immortal Regiment’ marches held in Africa (PHOTOS)
Dozens of people joined the events in DR Congo, South Africa, Angola, Tanzania, and elsewhere
‘Immortal Regiment’ marches honoring World War II veterans have been held in several African states, leading up to Russia’s Victory Day celebrations on May 9.
On Sunday, Russian Embassy representatives and Russian nationals living and working in South Africa took part in a march alongside local and international participants with relatives who fought against Nazism.
“South African society provided humanitarian support to our country. The International Friends of the Soviet Union Association organized charity events and screenings of documentary films about life in the USSR. A symbolic moment was the performance of Dmitri Shostakovich’s Leningrad Symphony in Johannesburg and Cape Town in the summer of 1944,” Aleksey Malenko, the Russian consul general in Cape Town, said.
A march was also held on the same day in Cotonou, Benin. According to the African Initiative news agency, the event was attended by the ambassadors of Venezuela, China, Cuba, and Russia, along with Beninese alumni of Soviet and Russian universities.
An ‘Immortal Regiment’ march was likewise organized in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The ‘Garden of Memory’ initiative was also held for the first time in the country, during which participants planted ten palm trees in the park across from the Russian House in Dar es Salaam.
A similar event was held on May 2 in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The march involved a 10-meter-long Russian national flag and included Russian and Belarusian citizens, the head of Serbia’s diplomatic mission, Russian and Chadian police officers serving in the UN mission, as well as local Congolese participants.
On Monday, the Russian Embassy in Angola took part in a commemorative event, with teachers and students from the embassy’s school joining the march.
Russia’s ambassador to Angola, Vladimir Tararov, addressed the students who took part in the event. “This shows that the memory of the feats of past generations is still alive. Their heroism defines who we are,” TASS quoted the ambassador as saying.
An ‘Immortal Regiment’ march also took place on Sunday in Hammamet, Tunisia. Tunisian families whose ancestors took part in the North African campaign of 1943 were among those who joined the procession.
READ MORE: Immortal Regiment marches honoring WWII heroes held across globe (VIDEOS)
The concept of the ‘Immortal Regiment’ started in the Russian city of Tomsk in 2012, and has since gained traction nationally and further afield.