EDITORIAL: Namibia’s diplomacy of cowardice
As has become a norm with faraway political turmoil, Namibia’s wobbling diplomacy was on display again this week when government condemned the coup d’état that culminated in the arrest of Alpha Condé, president of Guinea.
The coup came less than a year after Condé won a third presidential term in a violently disputed election last October following the adoption of a new constitution in March 2020 that allowed him to sidestep the country’s two-term limit, provoking mass protests.
For Namibia, statements of this nature are only issued for distant situations in countries like Mali, Western Sahara, Palestine and even America (against Donald Trump’s derogatory remarks against Africans).
But even so, what was Namibia’s public stance on dozens of people killed during demonstrations against Condé’s controversial third term?
Namibia likes hugging and kissing repressive regimes – as if to say we endorse their behaviour.
More cowardly, the country maintains deafening silence on happenings within its radius in southern Africa – although there has been no shortage of political drama in the region.
Instead of condemning abusive acts of our neighbours, we have often rolled out red carpets for them and scrambled for photo opportunities as we if we no principles, nor our own definition of what is right and wrong.
The coup came less than a year after Condé won a third presidential term in a violently disputed election last October following the adoption of a new constitution in March 2020 that allowed him to sidestep the country’s two-term limit, provoking mass protests.
For Namibia, statements of this nature are only issued for distant situations in countries like Mali, Western Sahara, Palestine and even America (against Donald Trump’s derogatory remarks against Africans).
But even so, what was Namibia’s public stance on dozens of people killed during demonstrations against Condé’s controversial third term?
Namibia likes hugging and kissing repressive regimes – as if to say we endorse their behaviour.
More cowardly, the country maintains deafening silence on happenings within its radius in southern Africa – although there has been no shortage of political drama in the region.
Instead of condemning abusive acts of our neighbours, we have often rolled out red carpets for them and scrambled for photo opportunities as we if we no principles, nor our own definition of what is right and wrong.
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Namibian Sun
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