Former freedom fighter Sam Nujoma ruled the new state for the first 15 years.
The first president of the independent Namibia Sam is dead. Nujoma died on Saturday at the age of 95, says the current president of the country Nangolo mbumba. He had been in the hospital for the last three weeks.
“Our founder lived a long and significant life, during which he served the people of his country in an exceptional way,” Mbumba said.
Nujoma was ethnically Ovambo and was born in 1929 to a poor farmer family in southwestern Africa (the then name of Namibia), which was under the South African colonial rule. He became interested in politics and the opposition of South Africa in the 1950s.
In 1960, Nujoma was chosen to lead the Swapness Show movement that driven the country’s independence, and the same year he went out of exile.
When Namibia became independent in South Africa in 1990, the former freedom fighter became president. Nujoma led the young state until 2005.
Criticism to Finland
Nujoma also knew well to the former president of Finland Martti Ahtisaariwho was a representative of the UN in Namibia for more than a decade before his presidential term and contributed to the country’s independence.
In 1992 Nujoma admitted to Ahtisaari and his spouse To Eeva Ahtisaari Namibia’s honorary citizenship. After becoming president, Ahtisaari visited Namibia in 1995.
However, in his biography published in 2001, Nujoma also criticized Ahtisaari’s activities in the end of the Namibia independence process in the late 1980s.
When the ceasefire agreement with South Africa did not hold in 1989, Ahtisaari thought Nujoma swallowed lies about Swapo’s attack and allowed the South African brigade to re-dispose of. According to Nujoma, Ahtisaari’s activities led to the death of several innocent civilians.
According to Nujoma, Ahtisaari was ultimately more interested in his own career in the UN than his duties against the Namibians oppressed by South Africa’s illegal administration.
At that time, Ahtisaari told Helsingin Sanomat that he was disappointed with Nujoma’s discretion, and said that there were a lot of unusable throws in his book.
Following the death of Ahtisaari in 2023, Nujoma thanked him for supporting Namibia’s freedom struggle and midwifery of the country’s independence.
Updated 9.2.2025 at 9.14: News supplemented.