Victory of the Namibian People
On March 21, 1990, the sovereign State of Namibia was definitively established by Security Council Resolution 435 and the 1988 agreements (Geneva, Brazzaville and New York) after a long struggle led by the South West African People's Organization (SWAPO), the independence movement born in 1950.
The leader of the movement, Sam Daniel Shafiishuna Nujoma, was sworn in as President of the Republic of Namibia before the eyes of the Secretary General of the United Nations, the President of South Africa and Nelson Mandela who had just been released from prison. South Africa had administered Namibia since the beginning of 1950 and governed the country according to the segregationist principles and laws of apartheid.
Sam Nujoma, who led the armed struggle for independence, managed to have SWAPO recognized at the United Nations as the sole legitimate representative of South West Africa, renamed Namibia in 1968, the year the UN ended the South African mandate. The Namibian people have never stopped fighting for their independence since the discovery of what was called Transgariep by British and German explorers between 1836 and 1884.
Already in 1904, the indigenous Hereros rose up against the German occupiers who responded with genocide.
The leader of the movement, Sam Daniel Shafiishuna Nujoma, was sworn in as President of the Republic of Namibia before the eyes of the Secretary General of the United Nations, the President of South Africa and Nelson Mandela who had just been released from prison. South Africa had administered Namibia since the beginning of 1950 and governed the country according to the segregationist principles and laws of apartheid.
Sam Nujoma, who led the armed struggle for independence, managed to have SWAPO recognized at the United Nations as the sole legitimate representative of South West Africa, renamed Namibia in 1968, the year the UN ended the South African mandate. The Namibian people have never stopped fighting for their independence since the discovery of what was called Transgariep by British and German explorers between 1836 and 1884.
Already in 1904, the indigenous Hereros rose up against the German occupiers who responded with genocide.