Namibia - CountryWatch

Political Overview Foreign Relations
for its lack of action on economic and social fronts, the African Union is charged with development as
its primary task.
Following a model based on the European Union, the African Union is intended to bridge the economic
gaps between African countries and thrust the continent onto the world economic stage as a single
entity. The African Union Bill was based on a convergence of South African president Thabo
Mbeki's African development plan, and the Plan Omega proposed by Senegalese president Abdoulaye
Wade. It therefore adds to its economic mandate the political mandate that all of Africa should seek
democratic consolidation.
There are significant criticisms to the new African Union, though. Some fear that too much faith is
being placed in a document that makes more sense in theory than in practice. The strongest criticism,
however, is that the Africa Union's largest force has been Libyan President Muammar al-Qadhafi. The
U.S. has made its objections to the Union clear no doubt due to a lack of trust in Qadhafi's motives.
Many African leaders backed the Union even though they also demonstrated a lack of faith in
Qadhafi's motives. At the opening of the meeting of the OAU leaders noted that Qadhafi failed to mention
Africa's founding fathers even though it was Ghana's Kwame Nkrumah who was the founder of
pan-Africanism some forty years ago. Indeed, Qadhafi has backed groups that are markedly anti-pan-
Africanist in his own c ountry. Other comments challenged the controversial role Libyan nationals
often play in sub-Saharan African countries. Yet the most controversial position of Qadhafi no doubt
was his statement that "We cannot be neutral here. We are here for the Africans, not the Europeans. We
are here for the blacks, not for the whites." With Louis Farrakhan, leader of the U.S.-based Nation of
Islam movement, standing behind him, this statement was taken as an affront to increased western
relations as opposed to the Union's goal of increasing economic ties with wealthier countries.
Libya
February 2001 saw a marked improvement in the relations between Namibia and Libya. During his
official state visit to Libya in February, President Nujoma met Libyan president Muammar al-Qadhafi
in Tripoli and called upon the international community to lift sanctions imposed on the country following
the Lockerbie bombing. He also called for the release of the Libyan national convicted of bombing
the Pan American jetliner over Lockerbie, Scotland.
Other Significant Relations
United States
Relations between Namibia and the United States have been aided by shared democratic values and the
role the United States played in negotiating Namibian independence. In keeping with its general support
of United Nations resolutions and International Court of Justice advisory opinions on Namibia,
the government of the United States maintained that South Africa should end its illegal occupation of
Namibia. The United States advocated resolving the Namibian problem through peaceful means and
supported practical efforts to implement United Nations Security Council Resolution 435.
During an April 1999 forum between several African heads of state and the United States Assistant
Secretary of State for African Affairs, President Nujoma noted that the United States' share of a nearly
700 million person African market remained at less than eight percent (the European Union is much
more involved in trading with Africa). The U.S. lagged in the development of mutually beneficial trade
relations. President Nujoma urged that both the U.S. government and private corporations endeavor to
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