Historical independence

Timeline: Namibia

Dated events associated with this case. Each event is a shared record: the same event appears identically wherever it is relevant.

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  1. · Agreement

    League of Nations mandate over South West Africa, 1920

    South Africa received a League of Nations mandate over South West Africa on 17 December 1920 and, after refusing to place the territory under UN Trusteeship following the Second World War, continued to administer it; the International Court of Justice ruled in 1971 that this continued occupation was illegal.

    Significance here: Established the disputed legal status of South African administration that the 1978 settlement plan and 1966-1989 insurgency were fought over.

  2. · Conflict episode

    South African Border War begins, 1966

    SWAPO's armed wing began an insurgency against South African rule in 1966, opening a war that continued until the 1988 tripartite agreement and 1989 settlement implementation.

    Significance here: The armed conflict whose disputed casualty figures are not resolved to a single count and overlap with the Angolan Civil War.

  3. · Agreement

    UN settlement plan for Namibia (Resolution 435), 1978

    The Security Council approved a UN plan for Namibian independence and established the UN Transition Assistance Group (UNTAG) to supervise a transition to independence through free elections.

    Significance here: The framework under which Namibia eventually became independent, though implementation was delayed over a decade.

  4. · Agreement

    Implementation of the Namibia settlement plan begins, 1989

    The Security Council set 1 April 1989 as the date on which implementation of the 1978 settlement plan would begin, deploying UNTAG to supervise a cease-fire and the transition to elections.

    Significance here: The start of the process that led directly to the 1989 election and 1990 independence.

  5. · Election

    Namibian Constituent Assembly election, 1989

    Namibians elected a 72-member Constituent Assembly from 7 to 11 November 1989, in a UN-supervised vote with turnout above 97%; SWAPO won 57.33% of the vote and 41 seats, and the Secretary-General's Special Representative certified the process free and fair.

    Significance here: The election whose result produced the body that drafted Namibia's independence constitution.

  6. · Declaration

    Independence of Namibia, 1990

    The Constituent Assembly adopted Namibia's constitution without opposition on 9 February 1990, and Namibia became independent shortly after midnight on 21 March 1990, when the South African flag was lowered, the Namibian flag was raised, and the UN Secretary-General administered the oath of office to President Sam Nujoma.

    Significance here: The culmination of the UN-supervised transition begun in 1978 and implemented from 1989.

  7. · Recognition

    Admission of Namibia to the United Nations, 1990

    Following the Security Council's recommendation, the General Assembly admitted the Republic of Namibia as the 160th member of the United Nations.

    Significance here: Formal international recognition of Namibian statehood following independence.

Dates show their real precision. Approximate or uncertain dates are labelled and never converted into an exact day.