വിൻഡ്‌ഹോക്ക്: നമീബിയയുടെ ആദ്യ പ്രസിഡന്റ് സാം നുയോമ അന്തരിച്ചു. 95 വയസ്സായിരുന്നു. 1990-ൽ വർണവിവേചന ദക്ഷിണാഫ്രിക്കയിൽ നിന്ന് നമീബിയയെ സ്വാതന്ത്ര്യത്തിലേക്ക് നയിക്കുകയും 15 വർഷക്കാലം പ്രസിഡന്‍റായി പ്രവർത്തിക്കുകയും ചെയ്ത വ്യക്തിയാണ് സാം നുയോമ.

നിലവിലെ നമീബിയൻ പ്രസിഡന്‍റ് നംഗോലോ എംബുംബയാണ് നുയോമയുടെ മരണവിവരം പുറത്തുവിട്ടത്. തലസ്ഥാനമായ വിൻഡ്‌ഹോക്കിൽ ആശുപത്രിയിൽ പ്രവേശിപ്പിച്ച നുയോമ ശനിയാഴ്ച രാത്രി മരിച്ചുവെന്ന് അദ്ദേഹം പറഞ്ഞു. റിപ്പബ്ലിക് ഓഫ് നമീബിയയുടെ അടിത്തറ ഇളകിയെന്നാണ് എംബുംബ പ്രസ്താവനയിൽ പറഞ്ഞത്.

“കഴിഞ്ഞ മൂന്നാഴ്ചക്കിടെ, റിപ്പബ്ലിക് ഓഫ് നമീബിയയുടെ സ്ഥാപക പ്രസിഡന്‍റ് അനാരോഗ്യം കാരണം ചികിത്സക്കും മെഡിക്കൽ നിരീക്ഷണത്തിനുമായി ആശുപത്രിയിൽ പ്രവേശിപ്പിക്കപ്പെട്ടു. നിർഭാഗ്യവശാൽ, ഇത്തവണ, നമ്മുടെ നാട്ടിന്‍റെ ഏറ്റവും ധീരനായ മകന് രോഗത്തിൽ നിന്ന് കരകയറാൻ കഴിഞ്ഞില്ല” -എംബുംബ പറഞ്ഞു.

ജർമ്മനിയുടെ നീണ്ട കൊളോണിയൽ ഭരണത്തിനും ദക്ഷിണാഫ്രിക്കയിൽ നിന്നുള്ള സ്വാതന്ത്ര്യത്തിനായുള്ള യുദ്ധത്തിനും ശേഷം തന്റെ രാജ്യത്തെ ജനാധിപത്യത്തിലേക്കും സ്ഥിരതയിലേക്കും നയിച്ച നുയോമ സൗത്ത് വെസ്റ്റ് ആഫ്രിക്ക പീപ്പിൾസ് ഓർഗനൈസേഷന്റെ സ്ഥാപക അംഗവും ആദ്യ പ്രസിഡന്റുമായിരുന്നു.

ദക്ഷിണാഫ്രിക്കയിലെ നെൽസൺ മണ്ടേല, സിംബാബ്‌വെയുടെ റോബർട്ട് മുഗാബെ, സാംബിയയുടെ കെന്നത്ത് കൗണ്ട, ടാൻസാനിയയിലെ ജൂലിയസ് നൈരെരെ, മൊസാംബിക്കിലെ സമോറ മച്ചൽ എന്നിവരടങ്ങുന്ന, കൊളോണിയൽ ഭരണത്തിൽ നിന്ന് തങ്ങളുടെ രാജ്യങ്ങളെ മോചിപ്പിച്ച ആഫ്രിക്കൻ നേതാക്കളിൽ അവസാനത്തെ ആളാണ് നുയോമ.
Sources:globalindiannews

Sam Nujoma, the fiery white-bearded freedom fighter who led Namibia to independence from apartheid South Africa in 1990 and served as its first president for 15 years, and became known as the father of his nation, has died. He was 95.

Nujoma’s death was announced Sunday by current Namibian President Nangolo Mbumba, who said Nujoma died on Saturday night after being hospitalized in the capital, Windhoek.

“The foundations of the Republic of Namibia have been shaken,” Mbumba said in a statement. “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.

Mbumba said Nujoma “marshalled the Namibian people during the darkest hours of our liberation struggle.”

Nujoma was revered in his arid, sparsely populated homeland in southwestern Africa as a charismatic father figure who steered it to democracy and stability after long colonial rule by Germany and a bitter war of independence from South Africa.

He spent nearly 30 years in exile as the leader of its independence movement before returning for Parliamentary elections in late 1989, the first democratic vote in the country. He was elected president by lawmakers months later in 1990 as Namibia’s independence was confirmed.

Nujoma was the last of a generation of African leaders who brought their countries out of colonial or white minority rule that included South Africa’s Nelson Mandela, Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe, Zambia’s Kenneth Kaunda, Tanzania’s Julius Nyerere and Mozambique’s Samora Machel.

Many Namibians credited Nujoma’s leadership for the process of national healing and reconciliation after the deep divisions caused by the independence war and South Africa’s policies of dividing the country into ethnically based regional governments, with separate education and health care for each race.

Even his political opponents praised Nujoma — who was branded a Marxist and accused of ruthless suppression of dissent while in exile — for establishing a democratic Constitution and involving white businessmen and politicians in government after independence.

Despite his pragmatism and nation-building at home, Nujoma often hit foreign headlines for his fierce anti-Western rhetoric. At a United Nations conference in Geneva in 2000, Nujoma stunned delegates when he claimed AIDS was a man-made biological weapon. He also occasionally waged a verbal war on homosexuality, calling gays “idiots” and branding homosexuality a “foreign and corrupt ideology.”

He once banned all foreign television programs, declaring they had corrupted the youth of Namibia.

Nujoma built ties with North Korea, Cuba, Russia and China, some of which had supported Namibia’s liberation movement by providing arms and training.

But he balanced that with outreach to the West, and Nujoma was the first African leader to be hosted at the White House by former U.S. President Bill Clinton in 1993. Clinton called Nujoma “the George Washington of his country” and “a genuine hero of the world’s movement toward democracy.”

Nujoma also advocated for the advancement of women in a largely patriarchal region, saying “there is no shortage of competent and experienced African women to lead the way forward.” Namibia elected its first female president last year and President-elect Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah’s term is due to start next month.

Nujoma grew up in a rural, impoverished family, the eldest of 11 children. His early life revolved around looking after his parents’ cattle and the cultivation of land. He attended a mission school before moving to Windhoek and working for South African Railways.

He was arrested following a political protest in 1959 and fled the territory shortly after his release to go into exile in Tanzania. In exile, he helped establish the South West African People’s Organization and was named its president in 1960. SWAPO has been Namibia’s ruling party since 1990, and Nujoma ultimately led it for 47 years until stepping down in 2007.

When South Africa refused to heed a 1966 U.N. resolution ending the mandate it had been given over the German colony of South West Africa after World War I, Nujoma launched SWAPO’s guerrilla campaign.

“We started the armed struggle with only two sub-machine guns and two pistols,” Nujoma once said. “I got them from Algeria, plus some rounds of ammunition.”

SWAPO never achieved military victory in an independence war that lasted more than 20 years, but Nujoma won wide political support during his exile, leading to the U.N. declaring SWAPO the sole representative of the Namibian people and South Africa ultimately withdrawing from the country.

As he mixed with world leaders, Nujoma was aware of his lack of education. He left school early to work and later attended night school, largely to improve his English. He said he instead dedicated his life to his country’s liberation.

“Others got their education while I led the struggle,” he said.

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