On the picture H.E. Dr. Kaire Mbuende Ambassador for Namibia to the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
By Roy Lie A Tjam.
H.E. Dr. Kaire Mbuende Ambassador for Namibia to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, residing in Brussels, came to The Hague to celebrate his country’s 27th independence anniversary. Ambassador Mbuende had special reasons to come to The Hague, reminiscing of the unwavering support the Southern African Committee and the Anti-Apartheid Committee, two Dutch entities, rendered Namibia during the dark days of her struggle for Independence.
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The venue chosen for the celebration was Pulchri Studio The Hague on Tuesday 21 March 2017. Besides the Ambassadors and diplomats who came to felicitate Ambassador Mbuende, there were also other guests such as: academics, businessmen, and international judges along with friends of Namibia.
In his welcome address, H.E. Dr. Kaire Mbuende stated the following: “it was in this city, during the dark days of our struggle for independence where the International Court of Justice, ICJ gave an Advisory Opinion forty-six years ago, in 1971, that declared that the presence of the South African administration in Namibia illegal. It took another nineteen years, however, before the people of Namibia could attain their freedom and independence on 21st March 1990.
By celebrating our independence here today, we underscore the importance we attach to multilateralism. We are committed to working towards global common good.”
Dr. Mbuende continued, “It is gratifying to observe that the efforts of the people of Namibia with the generous support of the international community brought about a dispensation in our country that we all can be proud of. Namibia is a stable, peaceful and democratic country.
The country made steady economic progress and it is today classified as an upper middle-income country.
It is not all rosy; however, we face many challenges as a country. The greatest of them all is poverty. The President of Namibia declared war against poverty upon assuming office two years ago, and introduced multiple strategies to combat poverty including a blue-print, Harambee Prosperity Plan.”
Ambassador Mbuende concluded by stating, “We are optimistic that the war against poverty can be won but it requires collective efforts as was the case with the struggle for independence. The global frameworks for development such as the SDGs and the Addis Ababa Action Plan can contribute to poverty eradication. However, we believe that the lasting solution lies in overcoming the structural weakness of our economy through domestic and foreign investments, trade and transfer of technology leading to economic diversification. There are abundant investment opportunities in sectors such as agro-processing, mining and quarry, and tourism.”
Prof. Dr. Heino Falcke, Professor of Astroparticle Physics and Radio Astronomy at theRadboud University in Nijmegen was present at the reception and made an interesting statement about Namibia. He stated: “Namibia has very clear skies and it is located such that the very center of the Milky Way passes almost right overhead. The center of the Milky Way is the point all stars in our galaxy, including the sun, will rotate around in the course of 200 Million years! We have very good evidence that in this very center we have a supermassive black hole, called Sagittarius A*. Note, there are other galaxies in the universe with even bigger black holes, but they are much further away.”
Falcke continued, “Furthermore, in Southern Africa you have a beautiful view of the Milk Way. However, if you stand at the most southern point of Namibia and you pick the right time of the night, the center of the Milky Way and this Black Hole will be almost exactly above you. In that sense, Namibia is a very special place for us.”
All in all, quoting the lyrics of Namibia’s national anthem, the contrasting beautiful Namibia, land of savannahs has made an excellent debut into the diplomatic community of The Hague, the international city of peace and justice. Bravo Namibia!
