The National Times - Namibian independence leader Sam Nujoma dies aged 95

Nujoma had been hospitalised over the past three weeks, battling an illness from which he "could not recover", President Nangolo Mbumba said in a statement released Sunday.

With the "utmost sorrow and sadness" Mbumba said he was announcing "the passing of our revered freedom fighter and revolutionary leader".

"Our Founding Father lived a long and consequential life during which he exceptionally served the people of his beloved country," he added.

Born to poor farmers from the Ovambo tribe, Nujoma was the eldest of 10 children.

He took a job as a railway sweeper near Windhoek in 1949 while attending night classes.

There, he met Herero tribal chief Hosea Kutako who was lobbying to end apartheid rule in Namibia, then known as South West Africa.

Kutako became his mentor, shepherding Nujoma as he became politically active among black workers resisting a government order to move to a new township in the late 1950s.

At Kutako's request, Nujoma began life in exile in 1960, leaving his wife and four children behind.

That same year, he was elected president of the South West Peoples' Organisation (SWAPO) and shuttled from capital to capital seeking support for the independence cause.

SWAPO launched an armed struggle in 1966 after neighbouring South Africa refused a UN order to give up its mandate over the former German colony -- arguing that it was a buffer against the advance of communism in Africa.

- Visionary leadership' -

The resource-rich sub-Saharan country finally wrested its independence in 1990, becoming one of the last countries in Africa to do so.

Nujoma won the first democratic election in 1990 and over his three terms presided over a period of relative economic prosperity and political stability.

His policy on AIDS earned him some international praise but he came under fire for refusing to rehabilitate several hundred members of his SWAPO liberation movement, who were kept in prison in Angola as "spies for apartheid South Africa".

He was also known to rail against homosexuality, which he called a "madness", and warned in 2001 that gays and lesbians would be arrested or deported.

His handpicked successor Hifikepunye Pohamba easily won election and took over as president in 2005. But Nujoma was still seen as the power behind the throne and did not officially retire from politics for another two years.

He "inspired us to rise to our feet and to become masters of this vast land of our ancestors," President Mbumba said.

President-elect Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah paid tribute to Nujoma's "visionary leadership and dedication to liberation and nation-building", which she said "laid the foundation for our free, united nation".

"Let us honor his legacy by upholding resilience, solidarity, and selfless service," said Nandi-Ndaitwah who will be sworn in as president next month after winning last November elections.

S.Mitchell--TNT