The first statue was erected in 1941 and inaugurated by Emperor Haile Selassie in memory of Abune Petros, the archbishop of the Ethiopian Orthodox church who supported the national patriots against the fascist Italian invaders.
An attempt on the life of Viceroy Graziani by the two Ethiopians, Abrha Deboch and Moges Asgedom, in February 1937 provoked the Italians to unleash a three-day reign of terror, in the course of which thousands of innocent Ethiopian citizens were killed in cold blood and many of their memory to tell the world and remind Ethiopians of their history.
This monument was erected in the memory of members of the heroic Ethiopian defense forces, who repulsed the aggressive Somali army led by President Siad Bare that invaded Eastern Ethiopia in 1969 E.C with Cuban support.
