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WORLD FACTBOOK (US)
Introduction: South Africa occupied the German colony of South-West Africa during World War I and administered it as a mandate until after World War II, when it annexed the territory. In 1966 the Marxist South-West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) guerrilla group launched a war of independence for the area that became Namibia, but it was not until 1988 that South Africa agreed to end its administration in accordance with a UN peace plan for the entire region. Namibia has been governed by SWAPO since the country won independence in 1990. Hifikepunye POHAMBA was elected president in November 2004 in a landslide victory replacing Sam NUJOMA who led the...
BACKGROUND NOTES (US)
History: The San are generally assumed to have been the earliest inhabitants of the region. Later inhabitants include the Nama and the Damara or Berg Dama. The Bantu-speaking Ovambo and Herero migrated from the north in about the 14th century A.D.
The inhospitable Namib Desert constituted a formidable barrier to European exploration until the late 18th century, when successions of ...
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COUNTRY PROFILE (UK)
International Relations: Namibia has good relations regionally and internationally. There has been occasional friction with Botswana over disputed territorial boundaries, and the presence of Caprivi separatists (who fled Namibia after a failed 'uprising' in 1998) on the latter's territory. Relations with the Angolan Government are particularly close because of the latter's considerable support for SWAPO during the liberation struggle. SWAPO's - and especially ex-president Nujoma's - publicly-expressed sympathy with Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe is another relic of liberation struggle solidarity. The Namibian Defence Force participated in the unofficial, Zimbabwe-led
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