A 20th anniversary that was all but forgotten

Elections in Namibia in November 1989 spelled the end of colonialism

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By Tommi Nieminen
     
      While all eyes were on the celebrations surrounding the 20th anniversary of the bringing down of the Berlin Wall, another 20th anniversary was almost completely eclipsed in the news.
      In Africa's last colony, Namibia, the first free and fair elections, as certified by the UN's Special Representative to the region, were held on November 7th, 1989, two days before the Wall dividing East and West Berlin came down.
     
One of Namibia's former colonial overlords was the Kaiser's Germany, under Otto von Bismarck, who claimed the region as Deutsch-Südwestafrika in 1884.
      History later saw Germany divided into two parts, East and West, and shortly after the Berlin Wall crumbled, these two were again made one in a united Germany.
     
Namibia's process of independence from South Africa was negotiated by the then United Nations Special Representative Martti Ahtisaari, heading the UN Transition Assistance Group's (UNTAG) mission.
      When Ahtisaari, who later also became President of Finland from 1994 to 2000, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last year, he placed his work on behalf of the independence of Namibia at the head of his many achievements in international mediation and diplomacy, and he has also noted the significance of the Namibia settlement as a key to unlocking apartheid in South Africa, and so bringing down that ugly wall.
     
Namibia was the last colony on the African continent to achieve independence.
      It was high time that the shadow of that era should pass away.
      The historical ties and destinies of Germany and the far south-western corner of Africa were bound together one more time in November 1989.
      As the population in Berlin took sledgehammers to the hated barrier, in the Namibian capital Windhoek the voters lined up outside polling stations on one of the city's main thoroughfares - Kaiserstrasse.
      Since then, Kaiserstrasse has - for perfectly understandable reasons - been given a new name, Independence Avenue.
     
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 15.11.2009


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Ahtisaari emphasises role in ending apartheid (26.1.2009)

Links:
  History of Namibia (Wikipedia)

TOMMI NIEMINEN / Helsingin Sanomat
tommi.nieminen@hs.fi