Sam Nujoma

Sam Nujoma, the first President of Namibia, was inagurated in 1990 and was re-elected for five-year terms as president in 1995 and 2000.

He has been the President of SWAPO (South West African People's Organization), while leading an armed struggle against the then occupying foreign and colonial power, South Africa.

South Africa administered the land under a policy of apartheid, or division, in which the best resources were reserved for those classified white, while indigenous Namibians were treated as inferior, and forbidden from active participation in their country. Nujoma led SWAPO in an armed struggle to end the South African occupation.

As head of SWAPO, Nujoma was unanimously declared president upon the victory of SWAPO in a UN-supervised election.

Nuyoma was born in the north of the country, in Ongandjera, and his mother Gwakondobolo is still alive as of August 2003.