The UN declared 1981 the International Year of Disabled Persons, prompting a wave of commemorative issues from member states the following year. Ethiopia's participation is notable given that the country was simultaneously managing the catastrophic aftermath of the 1977–78 Ogaden War and an accelerating famine crisis — circumstances that made the production of a .917 gold commemorative an overtly political act of international signaling by the Derg regime.
The UN declared 1981 the International Year of Disabled Persons, prompting a wave of commemorative issues from member states the following year. Ethiopia's participation is notable given that the country was simultaneously managing the catastrophic aftermath of the 1977–78 Ogaden War and an accelerating famine crisis — circumstances that made the production of a .917 gold commemorative an overtly political act of international signaling by the Derg regime.