The Askari Monument....But what does it stand for?

The Askari Monument stands on the location of statue to Major Herman Von Wissmann, a German explorer and soldier, who became Governor of German East Africa in 1895. The first statue of Von Wissmann was erected in 1911 to celebrate the German victory in 1888, and then demolished in 1916 when the British occupied Dar es Salaam.
The current statue, Askari Monument, is cast in bronze and depicts an askari (soldier) in a World War I uniform, the bayonet of his rifle pointing towards the nearby harbor. The monument commemorates the African troops who fought and died during the 1914-18 conflict. Rudyard Kipling, the famous British writer and poet wrote the inscription that appears in English and Swahili.

To think..All through my childhood I was made to believe that guy was a traffic police who would shoot if i didnt look left and right before i crossed the road....sighs...