Eritrea: Massawa – Liberation Monument

Massawa was one of the last towns in Eritrea that was liberated by the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF) rebels during the long war between Eritrea and Ethiopia for independence. The Massawa Liberation Monument consists of three tanks and commemorates the success of Operation Fenkil in 1990 when Massawa was captured. This is also known as a “Tank Memorial”, and it’s located before the causeway leading into the city, the latter is entirely on an island. The tanks displayed here are Soviet-made T-55 tanks, that were captured from Ethiopian forces by the EPLF during the liberation of Massawa. The T-55 tanks were widely used by the Ethiopian military, which was a client of the Soviet Union.