Timeline Namibia
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A South-West country of Africa whose majority tribe is the
Ovambo.
The semi-arid country has a population of almost [1.6 mil], 2 million
in
a territory larger than Texas and Louisiana combined. Whites number
less
than 10% but control most of the wealth. The Himba nomadic tribe lived
in the north. The Bushmen of the Kalahari live in Namibia and speak
Ju'hoansi,
a language with clicking inflections.
(LVRJ, 11/1/97, p.20A)(SFC,11/19/97, p.C3)(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.T4)
1884 Southwest
Africa (later Namibia) was made a German protectorate.
(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.T4)(SFEC, 4/30/00, p.T4)
1904 Jan 12, Anxious Germans
opened fire on Ovaherero at Okahandja. The Herero people of Namibia had
risen in rebellion against German colonial rule. The deadly Deutsche
Schutzruppe “peacekeeping regiment” quelled the tribes. They eventually
annihilated 75% of the Herero and Nama peoples. In 1981 Jon M.
Bridgeman authored “The Revolt of the Hereros.”
(www.umich.edu/news/MT/NewsE/10_05/steinmetz.html)(SSFC, 6/25/06,
p.E5)
1904 Jun 11, General Lothar von
Trotha arrived in SW Africa from Germany to take over from the colonial
Governor, Theodor Leutwein, the direction of a campaign to quell an
uprising.
(www.umich.edu/news/MT/NewsE/10_05/steinmetz.html)
1904 Aug 11, German General Lothar
von Trotha defeated the Hereros tribe near Waterberg, South Africa.
[see Namibia]
(HN, 8/10/98)
1904 Aug 14, The cattle-herding
Hereros, a tribe of Southwest Africa (later Namibia), became the first
genocide victims of the 20th century. Kaiser Wilhelm II had sent
General Lothar von Trotha to put down a Herero uprising along with the
groups of rebellious Khoikhoi. Trotha drove the Hereros into the desert
and then issued a formal "extermination order" (Schrecklichkeit)
authorizing the slaughter of all who refused to surrender. Out of some
80,000 Hereros, 60,000 died in the desert. Of the 15,000 who
surrendered, half of those died in prison camps. Some 9,000 escaped to
neighboring countries. In 2004 a senior German government official
apologized for the genocide during a ceremony in Namibia marking the
100th anniversary of the uprising. In 2005 a German minister
acknowledged violence by German colonial powers and admitted that
following uprisings, the surviving Herero, Nama and Damara were
interned in camps and put to forced labor of such brutality that many
did not survive.
(www.umich.edu/news/MT/NewsE/10_05/steinmetz.html)(HNPD,
4/14/99)(AP, 8/14/04)(SSFC, 6/25/06, p.E5)
1904 Oct 2, General Lothar von
Trotha: “I, the great General of the German soldiers, send this letter
to the Herero people (SW Africa-Namibia). The Herero are no longer
German subjects... The Herero nation must...leave the country. If they
do not leave, I will force them out with the Groot Rohr (cannon). Every
Herero, armed or unarmed...will be shot dead within the German borders.
I will no longer accept women and children, but will force them back to
their people or shoot at them.”
(www.umich.edu/news/MT/NewsE/10_05/steinmetz.html)
1904 Nov 27, A German colonial
army defeated Hottentots at Warmbad in Southwest Africa (later
Namibia).
(HN, 11/27/98)
1904 Dec 9, Von Schlieffen order
von Trotha to pardon all Ovaherero, after tens of thousands had
perished in the desert, except those who were "directly guilty
and the leaders.”
(www.umich.edu/news/MT/NewsE/10_05/steinmetz.html)
1904 Dec 24, German SW Africa
abolished the slavery of young children. [see Namibia]
(MC, 12/24/01)
1915 Jul 9, Germany’s South West
Africa surrendered to Gen. Botha of the Union of South Africa.
(http://home.wanadoo.nl/rhodesia/swatf.htm)
1916 The beginning of 73 years of
occupation [by South Africa].
(SFC,11/19/97, p.C2)
1918 Nov, The British declared the
1915 truce between Germany’s SW Africa and the Union of South Africa
invalid.
(www.deutsche-schutzgebiete.de/suedwest-english.htm)
1919 The League of Nations
assigned the colony to South Africa to govern as a "Class A" mandate.
(www.deutsche-schutzgebiete.de/suedwest-english.htm)
1959 Hifikepunye Pohamba and Sam
Nujoma of Namibia founded the South West Africa People’s Organization
(SWAPO).
(Econ, 11/20/04, p.50)
1966 Oct 27, The UN deprived South
Africa of Namibia.
(MC, 10/27/01)
1967 A 23-year brush war began
with the South West Africa People’s Organization (SWAPO) rebel movement
demanding independence from South Africa.
(LVRJ, 11/1/97, p.20A)
1980 The film "The Gods Must Be
Crazy" was directed by Jamie Uys and starred N!xau (d.2003), a Namibian
bushman of the San people.
(SSFC, 7/6/03, p.A2)
1980 The Harnas Wild Animal
Foundation was begun by Nick and Mariet van der Merwes.
(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.T5)
1982 Nov 20, South Africa backed
down on a plan to install black rule in neighboring Namibia.
(Historynet, 11/20/98)
1989 The South West Africa
People’s Organization (SWAPO) ended its rebellion against South African
rule with the UN supervised elections that elected Sam Nujoma as
President. A new constitution was written.
(LVRJ, 11/1/97, p.20A)
1990 Mar 20, Namibia became an
independent nation, marking the end of 75 years of South African rule.
The South African colony gained independence after 25 years of
guerrilla war. Namibians began petitioning the U.N. as early as 1947,
developing political parties, most notably SWAPO (South West Africa
People‘s Organization) to voice opposition to South African rule. Armed
resistance to South African rule began in earnest in the 1970s and
continued into the 1980s, which combined with drought and other
factors, contributed to an overwhelming drain to South Africa‘s
economy. The UN Security Council eventually demanded independence for
Namibia, but transition elections were not agreed to by South Africa
until December 1988 after a military disaster involving Angola. The UN
Transition Assistance Group (UNTAG) started work in April 1989 with
elections giving SWAPO 57% of the vote. On March 21 of the following
year, the South African flag was lowered and the Namibian flag raised
in Namibia‘s National Stadium.
(LVRJ, 11/1/97, p.20A)(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.T4)(AP,
3/20/00)(HNQ, 2/13/01)
1990 Sam Nujoma became president
of Namibia.
(Econ, 11/20/04, p.50)
1994 In the elections SWAPO won
over 72% of the vote.
(LVRJ, 11/1/97, p.20A)
c1995 Pres. Nujoma began to
allocate about $3 million a year to buy land from white farmers for
black resettlement. By 2000 370,500 acres were purchased and 14,000
blacks resettled.
(SFC, 5/24/00, p.C3)
1997 Jun 19, In Zimbabwe delegates
to the UN Convention on Int’l. Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)
approved the applications by Zimbabwe, Namibia and Botswana to sell an
annual quota of their collective ivory stockpile, but only to Japan.
Trade in ivory was shut down in 1989 due to extensive poaching.
(SFC, 6/20/97, p.A20)
1997 Jul, Armed police were sent
to break up a meeting between elders of the Himba tribe and their
lawyers. They were discussing a challenge a government proposed dam
proposal.
(SFC,11/19/97, p.C3)
1997 Jun 19, In Zimbabwe delegates
to the UN Convention on Int’l. Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)
approved the applications by Zimbabwe, Namibia and Botswana to sell an
annual quota of their collective 55 tons of ivory stockpile, but only
to Japan. Trade in ivory was shut down in 1989 due to extensive
poaching.
(SFC, 6/20/97, p.A20)(SFC, 4/18/00, p.A9)
1998 Aug 26, In Congo
Rwandan-backed rebels attempted an assault on Kinshasa but were held
off by government soldiers and troops from Zimbabwe and Namibia.
(SFC, 8/27/98, p.A10)
1998 Aug 27, In Congo Unita forces
from Angola joined the rebels, while forces from Namibia fought for
Kabila’s regime.
(WSJ, 8/28/98, p.A1)
1998 Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe,
chairman of the African body “Organ on Politics, Defence and Security,”
joined with Namibia and Angola in a war of plunder in Congo.
(Econ, 3/13/04, p.48)
1999 Feb 10, A UN panel eased a
trade ban on ivory. It allowed Namibia and Zimbabwe to sell nearly 34
tons to Japan.
(WSJ, 2/11/99, p.A1)
1999 Apr 9, Some 13.6 tons of
elephant tusks were sold at auction to Japanese buyers at the first
legal sale since a 1989 int'l. ban on the sale of ivory.
(SFC, 4/10/99, p.C14)
1999 Aug 2, In Namibia separatist
rebels for the independence of the Caprivi border area attacked the
town of Katima Mulilo and 16 people were killed. Pres. Sam Nujoma later
blamed the Caprivi Liberation Army and accused from opposition leader
Mishake Muyongo of being behind the revolt.
(WSJ, 8/3/99, p.A1)(SFC, 8/4/99, p.A9)
2000 Jan 4, In Namibia gunmen
attacked a family of French tourists, killed 3 children and wounded the
parents. Unita rebels were blamed.
(WSJ, 1/5/00, p.A1)
2000 May, Some 4,000 white
Namibians farmed 90 million acres, 44% of the country. Another 400
whites owned 7.5 million acres. About 1 million blacks had access to 83
million acres of communal land.
(SFC, 5/24/00, p.A15)
2001 Sep 2, Namibia confirmed that
it had pulled all its troops from all of Congo except the capital.
Uganda said it had pulled 6 of 10 battalions.
(SFC, 9/3/01, p.A10)
2001 Sam Nujoma, president of
Namibia, authored his 476-page autobiography “Where Others Wavered.” In
2005 it was made into a film.
(Econ, 5/21/05, p.49)
2003 Jul 5, Police in Namibia
reported the recent death of N!xau, the diminutive bushman catapulted
to international stardom in the film "The Gods Must Be Crazy" — he was
thought to be about 59 years old.
(AP, 7/5/04)
2003 Dec 29, Frustrated with the
government's stalled land reform program, impoverished black farmers
and laborers warned that come January they will start invading the
country's mostly white-owned commercial farms.
(AP, 12/29/03)
2004 Apr 21, President Sam Nujoma
assured Namibians that a land expropriation program would be conducted
in a legal and orderly manner.
(AP, 4/21/04)
2004 Nov, Namibia voters elected
the hand picked Hifikepunye Pohamba (69), minister for land, as
president. Sam Nujoma was due to step aside in March 2005.
(Econ, 9/25/04, p.62)(Econ, 11/20/04, p.50)
2005 Mar 14, Sam Nujoma, president
of Namibia, retired.
(http://asi.ndi.org/delegates/delegates.asp)
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