Namibian and ruling Swapo celebration President Sam Nujoma speaks throughout an election rally in Windhoek, Namibia, Nov. 13, 2004.
Themba Hadebe/AP
conceal caption
toggle caption
Themba Hadebe/AP
WINDHOEK, Namibia — Sam Nujoma, the fiery freedom fighter who led Namibia to independence from apartheid South Africa in 1990 and served as its first president for 15 years, and was generally known as the daddy of the nation, has died. He was 95.
Nujoma’s demise was introduced Sunday by present Namibian President Nangolo Mbumba. Mbumba mentioned Nujoma died on Saturday evening after being hospitalized within the capital, Windhoek.
“The foundations of the Republic of Namibia have been shaken,” Mbumba mentioned in an announcement. “Over the past three weeks, the Founding President of the Republic of Namibia and Founding Father of the Namibian Nation was hospitalized for medical treatment and medical observation due to ill health.”
“Unfortunately, this time, the most gallant son of our land could not recover from his illness,” Mbumba added.
Nujoma was revered in his homeland as a charismatic father determine who steered his nation to democracy and stability after lengthy colonial rule by Germany and a bitter conflict of independence from South Africa. He spent almost 30 years in exile because the chief of its independence motion earlier than returning to be elected his nation’s first democratic chief in 1990.
Nujoma, together with his trademark white beard, was the final of a era of African leaders who introduced their international locations out of colonial or white minority rule that included South Africa’s Nelson Mandela, Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe, Zambia’s Kenneth Kaunda and Mozambique’s Samora Machel.
Many Namibians credited Nujoma’s management for the method of nationwide therapeutic and reconciliation after the deep divisions brought on by the independence conflict and South Africa’s insurance policies of dividing the nation into ethnically based mostly regional governments, with separate schooling and well being look after every race.
Even his political opponents praised Nujoma — who was branded a Marxist and accused of ruthless suppression of dissent whereas in exile — for establishing a democratic Structure and involving white businessmen and politicians in authorities after independence.
Regardless of his pragmatism and nation-building at house, Nujoma typically hit international headlines for his fierce anti-Western rhetoric. He claimed AIDS was a man-made organic weapon and likewise sometimes waged a verbal conflict on homosexuality, calling gays “idiots” and branding homosexuality a “foreign and corrupt ideology.”
Nujoma constructed ties with North Korea, Cuba, Russia and China, a few of which had supported Namibia’s liberation motion by offering arms and coaching.
However he balanced that with outreach to the West, and Nujoma was the primary African chief to be hosted on the White Home by former U.S. President Invoice Clinton in 1993. Clinton referred to as Nujoma “the George Washington of his country” and “a genuine hero of the world’s movement toward democracy.”
Nujoma grew up in a rural, impoverished household, the eldest of 11 kids. His adolescence revolved round taking care of his dad and mom’ cattle and the cultivation of land. He attended a mission faculty earlier than transferring to Windhoek and dealing for South African Railways.
He was arrested following a political protest in 1959 and fled the territory shortly after his launch. In exile, he helped set up the South West African Folks’s Group and was named its president in 1960. SWAPO has been Namibia’s ruling celebration since 1990.
When South Africa refused to heed a 1966 U.N. decision ending its mandate over the previous German colony of South West Africa, Nujoma launched SWAPO’s guerrilla marketing campaign.
“We started the armed struggle with only two sub-machine guns and two pistols,” Nujoma as soon as mentioned. “I got them from Algeria, plus some rounds of ammunition.”
