South West Africa People's Organization
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The South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) is a political party and former liberation movement in Namibia. For electoral purposes, it is referred to as the "SWAPO Party." The party won 75.1% of popular votes and 55 out of 78 seats in the 2004 parliamentary elections on November 15.[citation needed]
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[edit] History
After World War I the League of Nations gave South-West Africa, formerly a German colony, to the United Kingdom as a mandate under the title of South Africa. The South African government turned this special mandate arrangement into a military occupation, and tried to extend apartheid rule to Namibia. SWAPO had its base among the Ovambo people of northern Namibia. By the 1960s SWAPO had emerged as the dominant nationalist organization for the Namibian people, co-opting other groups such as the South West Africa National Union (SWANU). SWAPO used guerrilla tactics to fight the South African military. The Norwegian government began giving aid directly to SWAPO in 1974.[1] Angola gained its independence on November 11, 1975 following its war for independence. The Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), a Marxist organization supported by the Soviet Union, quickly came to power. The MPLA offered SWAPO bases in Angola to launch attacks against the South African military in March 1976. The MPLA's alliance with SWAPO and South Africa's cooperation with UNITA sparked the Border War.[citation needed]
[edit] Controversy within the movement
Some say SWAPO was responsible for human rights abuses against its own cadres during the period of exile.[weasel word sentence] The most serious of these was the detainee issue, which remains a divisive issue.[weasel word sentence] The stories of the detainees begins with a series of successful South African raids that made the SWAPO leadership believe that there were spies in the movement. Hundreds of SWAPO cadres were imprisoned, tortured and interrogated.[2]
[edit] Independence
When Namibia gained its independence in 1990 SWAPO became the dominant political party, with its head, Sam Nujoma, elected as Namibia's first President. Nujoma had the constitution changed so he could run for a third term in 1999, but in 2004 he was replaced as the SWAPO presidential candidate by Hifikepunye Pohamba, who was described as Nujoma's "hand-picked successor."[3] Nujoma remained President of SWAPO until November 2007, when he chose not to seek re-election as party leader at a SWAPO congress; Pohamba, previously the party's Vice-President, was elected without opposition to succeed him. Former Prime Minister Hage Geingob was elected to succeed Pohamba as Vice-President at the same congress,[4] and Minister of Justice Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana was elected as Secretary-General, becoming the first woman to hold that position. At the congress, Pohamba was renominated as SWAPO's presidential candidate for the 2009 election.[5]
SWAPO is a consultative member of the Socialist International.[6]
[edit] References
- ^ Eriksen, Tore Linné. Norway and National Liberation in Southern Africa, 90.
- ^ Leys, C.; S. Brown (2005). Histories of Namibia. publisher=London: Merlin Press.
- ^ NAMIBIA: Election expected to be low-key (HTML). IRIN (2004). Retrieved on 2007-11-09, 2007.
- ^ "Nujoma succeeded by Pohamba", AFP (IOL), November 30, 2007.
- ^ "Namibia: Pohamba for 2009 polls", News24.com, December 4, 2007.
- ^ List of Socialist International parties in Africa.
