Namibia 1999

Namibia’s population in 1999 was estimated at 2 million people, with a growth rate of 2.5%. The economy of Namibia was largely dependent on its agricultural sector, which accounted for around 25% of the country’s GDP. This was supplemented by the manufacturing and tourism industries. Foreign relations in 1999 were largely positive with the country enjoying strong ties with many African nations and the wider international community. Politically, Namibia had been a multi-party state since 1990 when it formally adopted a democratic system. The ruling party at this time was SWAPO (South West Africa People’s Organisation) which had been in power since independence in 1990. In 1999, Sam Nujoma was president and had been since 1990. See ethnicityology for Namibia in the year of 2018.

Yearbook 1999

Namibia 1999

Namibia. A newly formed separatist movement, the Caprivi Liberation Army (CLA), attacked the city of Katima Mulilo in the Caprivi Strip in August. Visit Countryaah official website to get information about the capital city of Namibia. 14 people were killed in the fighting and several hundred suspected CLA sympathizers were arrested. CLA leader Mishake Muyongo was requested to be extradited from Denmark, where he received political asylum, but the claim was rejected. Muyongo was the Vice Chairman of the Liberation Movement SWAPO until 1980 and from Namibia’s independence 1990 leader of the largest opposition party, the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA). He was excluded from the party in 1998.

  • Also see Abbreviationfinder.org to see the acronym of NAM which stands for Namibia and other definitions of this 3-letter abbreviation.

Map of Namibia Windhoek in English

The long-narrow Caprivi strip, which the British resigned to the German colonizers in 1890 in exchange for Zanzibar on the east coast of Africa, is the most disadvantaged region of the Namibia.

Sam Nujoma was re-elected in December to a third presidential term with 77% of the vote. SWAPO retained the two-thirds majority in parliament, which allows the party to change its constitution on its own. SWAPO took advantage of that opportunity in 1998, when Nujoma was allowed a candidate for a third time.

In the middle of 97, the SWAPO Congress decided to allow Nujoma to run for a third term as the country’s president. That same year, the government decided to launch an investigation into the criminal acts that had been committed in the country prior to independence. A decision that sparked criticism in South Africa.

The social protests – particularly linked to unemployment – were overheard by the government. A significant proportion of the partisans in the former army of SWAPO remained unemployed.

Environmental and human rights organizations opposed the building of a hydroelectric plant on the river Kunene in the north of the country. Among many other damages, the building would cause the displacement of the Himba people – a larger semi-nomadic tribe.

The number of HIV positive and deaths from AIDS increased dramatically. In 97, the disease alone cost 1,539 deaths, bringing the number of deaths since 88 to 3,677. The number of HIV positive reached 40,629.

Fishing showed signs of recovering after the crisis, and there was a prospect of significant growth in 98. In the search for more currency revenue, the government began to launch the country as a tourist destination. A profession it had not previously focused on.

In August 1999, a small rebel group attempted to occupy the small town of Katima Mulil in the northern part of the country. Subsequently, about 200 people were arrested and subjected to torture, many of whom “admitted” to being supporters of the Caprivi Corridor – a hundreds of kilometers long and 4-5 kilometers wide that separates South Africa from Angola. Of the 200, at least 76 were brought to trial for treason and other offenses, while the rest were released without further charges. About 100,000 live in the Caprivi corridor. Mostly belonging to the ethnic group lozi, who refuse to be governed by the country’s ovambo majority, which is also dominant within SWAPO.

Despite protests from the opposition, the constitution was changed to allow Nujoma to stand for a third presidential term in the 1999 elections. An election he won with 76% of the vote. At his inauguration in March 2000, the re-elected president declared that the country’s goal was to live as a nation in the West by the year 2030, and more immediately to defeat the HIV virus that was eradicating the country’s population.

The black majority’s common use urged 4,000 commercial farmers – predominantly white – to support an upcoming land reform to avoid what they called ” Zimbabwe- style land invasions.” From the point of view of the common customs, the government’s policy of buying land from the whites to hand it over to the black population had failed because the whites refused to sell. Only 35,000 Namibians have been granted land since independence in 1990.

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