President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, on Wednesday participated at the solemn flower-laying ceremony at the Freedom Monument in Riga, the capital of Latvia.
The Rwandan leader was accompanied at the granite and copper monument by his host President Edgars Rinkēvičs.
The 42.7 meter-high Freedom Monument erected in November 18, 1935, honours soldiers killed during the Latvian War of Independence.
It is considered an important symbol of the freedom, independence, and sovereignty of Latvia.
The monument is made up of 56 sculptures, divided into 13 sculptural groups on four levels, which depict Latvian history and culture.
At the base of the monument, the motto For Fatherland and Freedom is inscribed.
At the top of the monument’s obelisk is the nine-meter symbol of freedom – a young woman holding three stars above her head, which symbolize the three historic provinces of Latvia, and national unity.
Today, a two-man honor guard stands at the base of the monument, symbolizing Latvia’s sovereignty.
The Latvian War of Independence, sometimes called Latvia’s freedom battles or the Latvian War of Liberation, was a series of military conflicts in Latvia between 5 December 1918, after the newly proclaimed Republic of Latvia was invaded by Soviet Russia, and the signing of the Latvian-Soviet Riga Peace Treaty on 11 August 1920.
The war can be divided into a few stages: Soviet offensive, German-Latvian liberation of Kurzeme and Riga, Estonian-Latvian liberation of Vidzeme, Bermontian offensive, Latvian-Polish liberation of Latgale.
The war involved Latvia (its provisional government supported by Estonia, Poland and the Western Allies—particularly the navy of United Kingdom) against the Russian SFSR and the Bolsheviks’ short-lived Latvian Socialist Soviet Republic.
Germany and the Baltic nobility added another level of intrigue, initially being nominally allied to the Nationalist/Allied force but attempting to jockey for German domination of Latvia.
Eventually, tensions flared up after a German coup against the Latvian government, leading to open war.