Namibia - Rise to power

In September 1989, after almost 30 years in exile, Nujoma returned to Namibia. Thousands of his countrymen gathered in Windhoek to greet him. He settled in Katatura, the ghetto in which he had refused to live three decades previously. A man noted for his headstrong views, Nujoma surprised his critics by holding a series of conciliatory meetings with political rivals. For this he received high acclaim even from white politicians who had been his enemies literally only a few months previously.

In the November 1989 elections, his party failed to capture the two-thirds majority necessary to implement its own Constitution. A key factor in this defeat was the issue of SWAPO detainees during the decades-long war and its commitment to human rights. This, too, Nujoma turned to an advantage by compromising with his opponents and incorporating specific human rights guarantees into the Constitution. The result was a document that has been praised around the world. On 16 February 1990, he was unanimously elected by the Constituent Assembly as the first president of Namibia.