President Hage Geingob’s death great loss to Namibia, Africa- Museveni

President Museveni has described the death of his Namibian counterpart, Hage   Geingob a great loss for the South African nation and African continent as a whole.

“Ï have been working with SWAPO, the Namibian Liberation Movement, for the last 57 years, starting with 1967.  Initially, I used to interact with SWAPO youth from Kurasini in Dar-es-Salaam, led by a fellow youth by the name of Kalwenya Omatene, who, I came to understand died of natural causes before Namibia’s Independence,” said Mr Museveni who described Geingob, 82, as “our brother.”

The said youth linked Mr Museveni to Mzee Sam Nujoma, the President of SWAPO.  

“We used to organize lectures and solidarity meetings for the Liberation Movements at the university to demystify the idea that the oppressive Whites in Africa could not be defeated by African arms and inform the Africans of the efforts of their brother freedom fighters of Southern Africa and Guinea Bissau,” Mr Museveni, 79, said on Monday, a day after Geingob was announced dead.
Mr Museveni who has been in power since 1986 when he shot his way to state house through a five-year guerilla warfare said he first heard of Geingob in the 1970s when he became the head of the Namibian Institute in Lusaka.  

“Indeed, some Ugandans, such as Joan Kategaya, worked there, during the time many of them were in exile, running away from the terror of Idi Amin.  The Namibian Institute, I think, was training Namibians in exile so that they could be able to run their country after independence. When the NRM came to power in 1986, Mzee Sam Nujoma came here and we were ready to support SWAPO as we, indeed, supported ANC and PAC.  However, events were moving fast and Namibia got freedom in 1990.  I attended the Independence celebrations on behalf of Uganda.  Namibia has been stable.  I thank our brothers of SWAPO for that.  On behalf of the Government and People of Uganda, I salute the contribution of the late H.E. Geingob to the cause of freedom of Namibia and Africa in general.  I extend our condolences to his family and the people of Namibia,” Mr Museveni added.
 
Serving his second term as president, Geingob revealed last month that he was being treated for cancer.
Former vice-president Nangolo Mbumba was inaugurated as Geingob's successor as president on Sunday, along with new vice-president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah.

The pair will serve until presidential and national assembly elections towards the end of the year.
Earlier, Mbumba had announced the death, saying "our beloved Dr. Hage G. Geingob, the President of the Republic of Namibia, has passed on today.
First elected president in 2014, Geingob was Namibia's longest-serving prime minister and third president.

In 2013, Geingob underwent brain surgery, and last year he had an aortic operation in neighbouring South Africa. He had been receiving treatment at Lady Pohamba Hospital in Windhoek.

Last month, Geingob threw his weight behind South Africa's challenge against Israel's military campaign in Gaza, under the Genocide Convention in the UN's top court.