The primary president of unbiased Namibia, Sam Nujoma, has died on the age of 95 within the capital Windhoek, the nation’s present chief has introduced.
Nujoma led the lengthy struggle for independence from South Africa in 1990 after serving to discovered Namibia’s liberation motion generally known as the South West Peoples’ Organisation (Swapo) within the Nineteen Sixties.
After independence, Nujoma grew to become president in 1990 and led the nation till 2005.
Nujoma had been hospitalised over the previous three weeks with an sickness from which he “couldn’t get well”, Namibian President Nangolo Mbumba stated in a press release saying the loss of life with “utmost sorrow and unhappiness”.
He “impressed us to rise to our toes and to grow to be masters of this huge land of our ancestors,” President Mbumba stated.
He added: “Our founding father lived a protracted and consequential life throughout which he exceptionally served the folks of his beloved nation.”
Nujoma retired as head of state in 2005, however continued to steer the social gathering earlier than stepping down in 2007 as president of the ruling Swapo social gathering after 47 years on the helm.
Many Namibians have reacted to his loss of life with unhappiness, fondly remembering him as “father of the nation”, says the BBC’s Frauke Jensen in Namibia’s capital, Windhoek.
He’s broadly credited for guaranteeing peace and stability after independence from South Africa, which was then below white-minority rule, in 1990.
Nujoma’s coverage of nationwide reconciliation inspired the nation’s white group to stay, they usually nonetheless play a serious position in farming and different sectors of the economic system.
He additionally championed the rights of girls and youngsters, together with making fathers pay for the upkeep of youngsters born out of wedlock.
Namibia’s Vice-President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, who is because of be inaugurated as president in March after main Swapo to victory in elections, stated his “visionary management and dedication to liberation and nation-building laid the inspiration for our free, united nation”.
African leaders have joined in paying tribute to Nujoma, with African Union Fee chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat describing him as “the epitome of braveness, by no means wavering from his imaginative and prescient for a free Namibia and a unified Africa”.
Kenya’s President William Ruto stated he was a “visionary chief who devoted his life to the liberation and improvement of his nation”.
