Nelson Mandela | Tadias Magazine

Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff

Updated: Tuesday, December 10th, 2013

New York (TADIAS) — The above photo of Nelson Mandela was captured by photographer Gediyon Kifle during the iconic leader’s last visit to the United States in 2005 at a meeting hosted by The Congressional Black Caucus in Washington, D.C.

For Gediyon the gathering at a Georgetown hotel eight years ago was a personal and professional opportunity of a lifetime that he can’t forget. He said it was a moment that he had been eyeing ever since Mandela was released from prison on February 11th, 1990 — an event etched in his memory as if it was yesterday.

“I vividly remember that it was a Sunday morning because we were headed to the chapel on campus,” Gediyon recalled in an interview with Tadias Magazine shortly after news broke on December 5th, 2013 that the iconic anti-apartheid leader had passed away. At the time when Mandela was released from prison Gediyon was a senior attending boarding school in Virginia. Like Mandela, Gediyon’s father was also a prisoner during the Derg regime in Ethiopia, but he never made it out alive.

“My teacher knew what Mandela had meant to me, so he allowed me to stay behind and watch the live broadcast of his release,” Gediyon said. “It was as if my own father was coming out of prison. Here I was by myself, full of pure excitement and gratification, very emotional and it gave me a sense of closure about my own dad.”

Since then in his career as a photojournalist Gediyon has photographed several personalities around the world, including all the living U.S. presidents as well as athletes like Haile Gebrselassie and Muhammad Ali. But, he said, nothing compares to how he felt in the presence of Nelson Mandela. “To just give you an example,” he added, “I documented post genocide Rwanda, which was a display of the worst side of human beings. For me Mandela represents the exact opposite. He epitomizes the best of humanity. He is a force for peace, justice, fairness, reconciliation and forgiveness. He embodies what’s good about humans. His achievements speak for themselves.”

Gediyon was only one of two photographers invited to cover the 2005 meeting at the Four Seasons hotel in Washington, D.C. That was the first and last time that he saw Mandela in person. Prior to that, he said, he had made several arrangements to meet with the legend in private, including traveling to Johannesburg. “It was doable, but our timing never worked out. My only regret is that I did not pose to take a picture with him when I had a chance.” Gediyon reflected on this decision noting that at the time he wanted to maintain his “professionalism as a photographer.” And yet he admitted “inside me I had this desire to reach-out and touch him.”

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Tadias Magazine
History | Editorial

Updated: Saturday, February 11, 2012

New York (TADIAS) – The forecourt of the recently inaugurated African Union building in Addis Ababa – a $200m complex funded by China as a gift to the AU – features a beautiful statue of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, one of the founders of the OAU. It is fitting that Dr. Nkrumah is honored for the role he played in African liberation struggles and the Pan African movement. It is also equally deserving and historically accurate to extend the recognition to other leaders who were involved in the formation of the organization.

On May 25, 1963, less than 22 years after Ethiopia fought and retained her independence from military occupation and annexation into the colony of Italian East Africa, several Heads of State from 32 newly independent African countries gathered in Addis Ababa. The meeting brought together various factions from across the continent that held differing views on how to achieve union among the emerging, decolonized African countries – an issue that also preoccupied the continent’s press and academics at the time.

(Photograph: The statue of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah in Addis Ababa. Photo credit: us-africarelations updates)

One such promiment group, “The Casablanca bloc,” led by President Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, argued for the federation of all African states. A second group of countries called “The “Monrovian bloc”, led by Léopold Senghor of Senegal, preferred a more gradual economic cooperation. Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia offered a diplomatic solution and brokered the establishment of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), now renamed the African Union (AU). The assembly settled its headquarters in Addis Ababa and entrusted Haile Selassie with the very first of its rotating chairmanships. Gamal Abdul Nassar of Egypt and Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana served as subsequent OAU leaders.

Today, however, we should not only remember the founders of the AU, but also embrace our modern day heros like Nelson Mandela who continue to give us renewed hope that ‘African union’ can be more than a name on a brick tower. By acknowledging our past legacy and embracing current inspiring leaders we can begin to set our sights on a new morning in Africa.
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Related:
A Chinese gift, an Ethiopian omission and a screaming Shame (The Africa Report)
Ethiopians give lacklustre welcome to Kwame Nkrumah statue (The Independent)
AU’s lavish new home hit by statue row (Reuters)
Ethiopia’s Conundrum : A statue for Nkrumah or Selassie? (The Africa Report)
African Union opens Chinese-funded HQ in Ethiopia (BBC)

Video: President John Evans Atta Mills of Ghana Unveils Nkrumah’s Statue In Addis Ababa

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