Mandela visited Dhaka in March 1997 to celebrate Bangladesh’s 25th year of independence. At the time, he was the president of South Africa. Also present were Palestine’s president Yasser Arafat and Turkey’s president Suleyman Demirel.
They visited Sriti Shoudho, laid laurels for the fallen martyrs of the war, and planted trees around the premises. Following the festivities the three leaders visited Suhrawardy Udyan, where Nelson Mandela delivered his only speech in Bangladesh. Here are excerpts from that speech:
“I have come to Bangladesh to pay homage to a nation that has fought for its sovereignty. Celebrating this blood-soaked independence, I am here to say today that escaping the clutches of oppression and autocratic rule is never easy.
“I have deep respect for Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Standing in this great country today, I also want to be a friend of Bangladesh. While Bangladesh celebrated its independence, our democracy was in its infancy. We were just crawling from the darkness of racism towards the light of freedom.
“Despite being so far away, the people of Bangladesh were not callous to what South Africa was facing. You all know that freedom is not complete till everyone is free. Standing here as a friend of Bangladesh, I want to say that we will fight hunger, poverty and any other problem facing us.” ❑
courtesy: My Golden Bangla
