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Bob Kandetu
Today, the curtain is open as when we celebrated his 80th birthday, with comrade Theo-Ben standing next to George Houser, founder and director of the American Committee on Africa, in Manhattan, New York, at an anti-apartheid rally
C was at the top of the fight for decolonization. At that time, South Africa's apartheid was on the rise and Namibia's liberation movement was in the spotlight. Swapo had to walk as he ran but was watching his back all the time. This should have pushed Chester Crocker to conclude his diplomatic career with a book entitled "Southern Africa's Midday: Making Peace in a Difficult Neighborhood".
These are the challenges that guided Sam Nujoma's head of diplomacy between European capitals In the daunting task of imploring London, Paris, Ottawa and Berlin that the cause on which Washington had landed was on a plot of land. sliding and leading to nowhere.
In the end his efforts paid off – the liberation movement was justified and the struggle for the liberation of Namibia resulted in the implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 435 (UNSCR435) , the plan that ushered in the independence of Namibia. At the Manhattan meeting in New York, Gurirab spoke to an audience of African students and diplomats, mingled with African-American sisters and brothers who were determined to support the Namibian liberation movement. Gurirab gave a glimpse of how Namibians became the UN's responsibility and what drove Swapo to take up arms against the powerful South African army with its support of major European capitals. He concluded by saying, "Our struggle is for the liberation of humanity and one day when Namibia will be free and independent, Washington will understand that we fought for the liberation of the American people too."
The story of Theo-Ben Gurirab is necessarily the story of Swapo. I remember him as a tireless activist for the decolonization of Namibia. In many of his speeches, his background was portrayed by the wisdom of Ghana's first president, Kwame Nkrumah, who felt that the liberation of Africa would remain an abuse of language as long as only one African country would debate in the periphery of imperial colonization. There was a reshuffle in the direction of Swapo and Gurirab was elevated to the position of Party Secretary for International Relations and he had to move to Luanda. I only saw it when the process of applying UNSCR 435 happened.
Nikko Bessinger and I traveled from Namibia to Bonn, Germany from the West, to participate in a conference on decolonization and human rights. Bessinger was Assistant Secretary for International Relations for Swapo and I was sent to the Namibian Council of Churches (NCC), the organization to which I had the privilege of serving as Deputy Secretary General.
Meanwhile, Theo-Ben and Nikko on developments on the international scene. Nikko briefed me on our return trip. The great powers of the UN had decided that Namibia should be independent and that the friends of the liberation movement advised Swapo to prepare for the repatriation of refugees.
We went back to report to our respective constituencies. The atmosphere in Namibia remained at best ambivalent, while preparations on the international scene intensified
. Over time, the UN convened the United Nations Transitional Assistance Group (UNTAG) to oversee the implementation of Council Resolution 435. the hitch was presented as a potential barrier to the process.
There was a movement in the UN to reduce the budget of UNTAG. At that time, the momentum of progress had taken shape and the nations of the world were determined to spare no effort to try to secure the process. NCC has sent me to New York to increase the lobby at the UN for maintaining the strength of UNTAG. Gurirab had arrived in New York from Luanda for the same purpose and we have developed a common strategy. We met every night to compare the notes and draw a strategy for the next day.
The Gurirab campaign was intense. He met with almost all the ambassadors to the UN, including for the first time, the South African chargé d'affaires, with Martti Ahtisaari. These interactions resulted in a happy ending. Two days later, Gurirab and I had our last consultations. Gurirab confirmed that he had met with the South African Charge d 'Affaires and he was of the opinion that South Africans might be cooperating after all. A day later, I left for Windhoek, confident that the process was on the right track. Later, I was sent to Luanda to facilitate repatriation with Swapo and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). This was not an easy task as there were tensions between Swapo and UNHCR, particularly with regard to the number of refugees to be repatriated. I was relieved to find Gurirab already in Luanda and we consulted before engaging the main actors on the repatriation of Namibian refugees. Gurirab's point of view was that, now that we had unblocked the process in New York, we could not let this situation present a stumbling block. He gave me an overview of the historical relationship between UNHCR and Swapo and advised me to handle this exercise with tenderness but firmness.
The Swapo Repatriation Committee was led by Hifikepunye Pohamba and included members such as Nickey Iyambo, Vitalis Ankama, Mzee Kaukungwa and Festus Naholo. The group was resolved and we agreed on the repatriation process, the service management modus operandi for returnees and security aspects. I returned the good news to my boss, Dr. Abisai Sheyavali, then Secretary General of CCN, whom I replaced.
I advised church leaders that my collective experience in New York and Luanda good news leading to a happy ending, one had to be cautiously optimistic because the situation remained complex.
This turned out to be a realistic assessment because, on April 1, 1989, Namibia was entertained at a mix of good news from the arrival of UNTAG in Windhoek, juxtaposed with the resumption of a shootout between South African troops and swapo fighters in northern Namibia. But in the end, there was a happy ending and, Theo-Ben leaves behind a free unitary state of Namibia, though confused by economic and other development challenges. The life and times of Theo-Ben Gurirab are intrinsically linked to the life and times of Swapo and these pages are limiting to cope with a review of this expansive life. Well my brother, our relationship will last.
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