born May 12, 1929, Owambo, South West Africa
First president (from 1990) of independent Namibia.
In the late 1950s Nujoma helped found the Ovamboland People's Organization, forerunner of the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO). He became SWAPO's first president in 1960, and, after years of petitioning the UN to compel South Africa to release control of South West Africa, he authorized armed resistance (1966). In 1989, after some 30 years in exile, he led SWAPO to victory in the UN-supervised elections.