Biographical Note

H.E. Mr. Sam Nujoma was elected as the first President of the Republic of Namibia in February 1990, and he is currently serving his third term of office. President Nujoma has won international recognition for the leading role he played in achieving independence for his country.

Born in 1929 in what was then called South West Africa, Mr. Nujoma grew up looking after his parents’ cattle and helping with cultivation of the land. Later, he worked for the South African Railways and studied through the Trans-Africa Correspondence College, in South Africa.

In the late 1950s, the future President of Namibia was among several leaders who petitioned the United Nations, demanding that South West Africa be placed under the UN trusteeship system. In 1959, he helped organize resistance against the apartheid-based policy of the forcible removal of people to the new township of Katutura. This culminated in the massacre of 12 innocent, unarmed persons, after which Mr. Nujoma was arrested and charged with organizing the resistance. He went into exile in March 1960.

Soon thereafter, Mr. Nujoma sent a telegram to the United Nations, requesting an oral hearing in the Fourth (Decolonization) Committee. He received approval through a post office in Tanganyika, and in June 1960, he reached the United States and petitioned the Fourth Committee, demanding the end of South Africa’s colonial administration in South West Africa.

After the founding of the South West Africa People’s Organization (SWAPO) in April 1960, in Windhoek, Mr. Nujoma was elected President of the movement in absentia. In March 1966, he chartered a plane and flew to Windhoek, accompanied by Hifikepunye Pohamba, Secretary-General of SWAPO, to challenge South African claims at the International Court of Justice that Namibian nationals were in self-imposed exile and could return to the country without fear of arrest. On arrival at Windhoek airport, the two were arrested, put in prison and deported to Zambia the next day. Clandestinely, Mr. Nujoma transported the first weapons from Algeria to Zambia; they were taken into north-western Namibia, where the armed liberation struggle began on 26 August 1966. Mr. Nujoma served as Commander-in-Chief of SWAPO’s armed forces until their dissolution in 1989.

In 1971, Mr. Nujoma became the first leader of an African nationalist movement seeking independence to address the United Nations Security Council. From 1977 to 1978, he led the SWAPO team at negotiations that culminated in the adoption of Security Council resolution 435(1978). Nine years later, in March 1989, he signed the ceasefire agreement with South Africa that resulted in the implementation of 435.

Mr. Nujoma returned from exile to a hero’s welcome in September 1989, and on 21 March 1990 he was sworn in as first President and Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Force of the newly independent Republic of Namibia. President Nujoma was re-elected to a second term that began on 21 March 1995, and to a third term starting on 21 March 2000.

For his role in leading his country to freedom, President Nujoma has received many national and international awards and honorary degrees. He is married and has three sons and one daughter.