Namibia’s President Hage Geingob, a veteran of the nation’s freedom battle and its very first post-independence prime minister, passed away on Sunday.
Homages to the 82-year-old statesman gathered from African leaders who saw him as a hero of the anti-apartheid battle.
And Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz revealed remorse that his nation had actually lost “a partner who was dedicated to the procedure of concerning terms with Germany’s colonial history”.
Just recently, Geingob supported South Africa’s problem versus Israel under the Genocide Convention and condemned Namibia’s previous colonial ruler Germany for opposing the case.
Serving his 2nd term as president, he exposed last month that he was being dealt with for cancer.
Previous vice-president Nangolo Mbumba was inaugurated as Geingob’s follower as president on Sunday, together with brand-new vice-president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah.
The set will serve till governmental and nationwide assembly elections towards completion of the year.
Previously, Mbumba had actually revealed the death, stating “our precious Dr. Hage G. Geingob, the President of the Republic of Namibia, has actually handed down today.
“At his side, was his dear better half Madame Monica Geingos and his kids.”
This set off a profusion of homages from around the continent, consisting of from leaders who worked together with him in the battle to complimentary southern Africa from apartheid guideline.
President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa stated: “Today, South Africa signs up with individuals of our sibling state Namibia in grieving the death of a leader, patriot and pal.
“President Geingob was an imposing veteran of Namibia’s freedom from manifest destiny and apartheid.
“He was likewise significantly prominent in the uniformity that individuals of Namibia reached individuals of South Africa so that we might be totally free today.”
– ‘Visionary leader’ –
President William Ruto of Kenya, and a number of more African leaders, echoed this appreciation.
“He was a follower of a merged Africa and highly promoted the continent’s voice and presence at the worldwide arena,” Ruto stated.
World Health Organization director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus hailed Geingob’s work to enhance health care for Namibians, calling him a “visionary leader”.
And Moussa Faki Mahamat, chair of the African Union commission, regreted: “A baobab has actually fallen.”
Beyond Africa, United States President Joe Biden hailed the late president as “a brave leader, defending self-reliance, supervising the preparing of the brand-new country’s constitution, and serving his nation two times as prime minister and lastly as president.
“I will miss out on dealing with him,” Biden included.
Chosen president in 2014, Geingob was Namibia’s longest-serving prime minister and 3rd president.
In 2013, Geingob went through brain surgical treatment, and in 2015 he had an aortic operation in neighbouring South Africa. He had actually been getting treatment at Lady Pohamba Hospital in Windhoek.
Last month, Geingob tossed his weight behind South Africa’s difficulty versus Israel’s military project in Gaza, under the Genocide Convention in the UN’s leading court.
– Critic of Germany –
In specific he singled out for criticism Germany, Namibia’s previous colonial ruler and an outspoken critic of South Africa’s case that argued Israel has actually breached the convention.
Regreting “Germany’s failure to draw lessons from its dreadful history”, the Namibian leader implicated Berlin of protecting “genocidal and gruesome acts”.
Germany massacred more than 70,000 Indigenous Herero and Nama individuals in Namibia in between 1904 and 1908, in what numerous historians think about the very first genocide of the 20th century.
In May 2021, after more than 5 years of settlements, Germany identified dedicating genocide in the area it had actually colonised from 1884 to 1915.
Responding to Geingob’s death, Germany’s Scholz did not describe the Israel debate, however thanked the Namibian leader for his aid in bringing Germany to terms with its own actions.
“President Geingob was among Namibia’s starting daddies and rendered fantastic services to the nation’s democratic advancement,” he stated.
“Germany is losing a partner who was devoted to the procedure of concerning terms with Germany’s colonial history with fantastic openness.”
– Independence battle –
Born in a town in northern Namibia in 1941, Geingob was the southern African nation’s very first president outside the Ovambo individuals, who comprise over half the population.
In his early years he used up advocacy versus South Africa’s apartheid program, which at the time ruled Namibia.
In 1964 he was selected agent for the SWAPO freedom motion at the United Nations.
He invested practically 3 years in Botswana and the United States, going back to Namibia in 1989 to lead SWAPO’s election project in his now independent homeland.
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