Africa-Press – Mozambique. The President of Mozambique, Daniel Chapo, yesterday sent a message of condolences to the Government of Namibia following the death, on Saturday, of the former president of that country, Sam Nujoma, who died of illness.
In the message addressed to the President of Namibia, Nangolo Mbumba, Daniel Chapo highlights that the death of Sam Nujoma represents a loss for the entire African continent and emphasizes that he was a “great leader”, fundamental in the movement for independence in that country as well as for the contribution he made to peace and security in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region.
As leader of the South West Africa People’s Organisation (Swapo), the liberation movement he co-founded in 1960, Sam Nujoma won Namibia’s independence in 1990 from South Africa, which had taken control of the territory from Germany after the First World War. In 2021, he dismissed Germany’s offer to pay more than €1 billion in compensation for the massacre of tens of thousands of indigenous Herero and Nama people, considered the first genocide of the 20th century, as insufficient. “Namibia must return to the negotiating table with Germany,” he said, describing the offer as “terribly insignificant.”
Foi com profunda tristeza e consternação que recebemos a notícia do falecimento do Presidente Fundador e Pai da Nação da República da Namíbia, Sua Excelência Dr. Sam Nujoma.
Born on 12 May 1929 into a farming family, Sam Nujoma was the eldest of ten children. He tended cows and goats until, at the age of 17, he left his remote northern village to move to the western port city of Walvis Bay.
He became aware of discrimination against blacks and soon became a trade unionist, attending night classes where he met pro-independence activists.
Forced into exile in 1960 in Botswana, then in Ghana and the United States, he had to leave behind his wife and four children.
He led Swapo and launched the armed struggle in 1966. The war of independence cost more than 20,000 lives. When he became president, Sam Nujoma refused to set up a commission to examine the atrocities committed during the 23-year conflict between Swapo and pro-South African death squads.
After retiring from politics, Sam Nujoma returned to school and obtained a master’s degree in Geology, convinced that the mountains of Namibia were full of unexplored mineral wealth.
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