Luanda - The first President of Namibia, Sam Nujoma, died on Saturday, aged 95, the Namibian Presidency announced Sunday.

The guerrilla leader died after three weeks of hospitalization due to illness, announced the President of Namibia, Nangolo Mbumba, in a
statement.

The Namibian Head of State added that the death shook the country, "the foundations of the Republic of Namibia have been shaken", he said. "Unfortunately, this time, the bravest son of our land was unable to recover from his illness", added Mbumba.

He also stressed that Nujoma "guided the Namibian people during the darkest hours of our liberation struggle". Nujoma was an activist and guerrilla leader who became the first democratically elected President of Namibia after the country gained independence from apartheid South Africa.

Revered as the “Father of the Nation” and an icon of the Namibian liberation struggle, Sam Nujoma lived up to the expectations of Namibians in many ways.

Nujoma assumed leadership of the country on 21 March 1990 and was formally recognised as the “Founding Father of Namibia” by an act of parliament in 2005, leading the country for 15 years. Born on 12 May 1929 into a farming family, Sam Nujoma was the eldest of ten children.

He tended cows and goats until, at the age of 17, he left his remote northern village to move to the western port city of Walvis Bay. He discovered discrimination against blacks and soon became a trade unionist, attending night classes where he met pro-independence activists.

Forced into exile in 1960, in Botswana, then in Ghana and the United States, he had to leave behind his wife and four children. As head of
Swapo, he launched the armed struggle in 1966. The war of independence cost more than 20,000 lives.

When he became president, Sam Nujoma refused to set up a commission to examine the atrocities committed during the 23-year conflict between
Swapo and pro-South African death squads. After retiring from politics, he returned to school and obtained a master's degree in Geology, convinced that the mountains of Namibia were full of unexplored mineral wealth. ART/TED/jmc