Following the recent Namibian elections, Henning Melber discusses the results of the National Assembly and presidential votes. With President Hifikepunye Pohamba achieving re-election, long-time dominant political force Swapo (South West Africa People's Organisation) has retained the reins of power, a power that it will need to exercise in the interests of peace and stability, Melber cautions.

Namibia’s National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) condemns, in the strongest possible terms, the alleged scheming to assassinate a number of ruling party critics. Those targeted for physical elimination include NSHR executive director Phil ya Nangoloh and Max Hamata, one the country’s top investigative reporters.

Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba has been re-elected for a second term after winning 76.4% of the vote in last week's poll, official results show. Mr Pohamba's governing Swapo party got 74% of the parliamentary vote, maintaining its two-thirds majority.

The ruling Swapo has taken a comfortable lead as results of last weekend's national elections continued to trickle in. Also, the opposition Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) is fast emerging as the new official opposition.

A court in Namibia has ruled that the National Society for Human Rights must have its status as an election observer reinstated, hours after polls opened. The electoral commission withdrew the group's status days before the vote, saying it was not impartial.

With Namibia's parliamentary and presidential elections fast approaching on 27–28 November, Henning Melber discusses the paranoia currently gripping many within the ruling SWAPO (South West Africa People's Organisation) party. Many in the party seem to regard any form of political dissent as unpatriotic at best and as the act of an agent of outside imperialism at worst Melber notes, an all-consuming sentiment that is severely jeopardising the very liberation the party ostensibly once sought.

Latest analysis by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), has revealed that for the week of 30 October 2009 to 5 November 2009, a whopping 82 percent of the national broadcaster, the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC)’s election campaign news coverage was devoted to the ruling South West Africa People’s Organization (SWAPO) rallies, while the next highest party coverage was a mere four percent.

Namibia President Hifikepunye Pohamba, earlier this week likened the European Union's trade negotiations with Namibia to the days of apartheid, saying the powerhouse is refusing to treat the country as an equal and listen to its concerns about the controversial economic partnership agreement (EPA).

As Namibia approaches its parliamentary and presidential elections at the end of November, Henning Melber assesses the country's political landscape. Through comparison with the evolution of support for South Africa's African National Congress (ANC) in the post-apartheid period, Melber considers the ability of the opposition Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) to chip away at some of the longstanding support for liberation-era party Swapo (South West Africa People's Organization).

Ten years ago, a move to legalise abortion in Namibia failed. The number of unwanted pregnancies remains high, with many people unwilling or unable to use contraception. Despite the risks, illegal abortions remain common. Misoprostol - a drug used to control ulcers, more usually known by the brand name Cytotec - has become a favoured method for inducing abortion.

Namibia’s National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) and the Namibian Chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA-Namibia) have registered a strong protest at the Electoral Commission of Namibia (ECN) for the reported exclusion of certain media houses and, by extension, for withholding voter vital information from a large number of potential voters.

Large-scale tree planting on agricultural land can save those primary forests, agroforestry experts argue. But the new plantations are detrimental to biodiversity and indigenous people, critics respond. Professor P K Nair, director of the Centre of Subtropical Agroforestry at the University of Florida, believes planting trees on farmland is the way to conserve what's left of the world's rainforests.

Preparations for elections in Botswana, Namibia and Mozambique are now at an advanced stage with the respective electoral commissions announcing polling dates. Botswana and Mozambique will go to the polls on 16 and 28 October respectively, while Namibia will hold its elections on 27 and 28 November. Botswana is holding general elections to choose new parliamentarians. The Parliament will then act as an electoral college to choose the President.

The Namibian government has expressed frustration with the slow pace of the land reform programme, saying at the current pace of land resettlement, government will not meet its 2020 target of addressing the skewed land ownership pattern. In a startling revelation, the Ministry of Lands and Resettlement said that the land reform programme in Namibia had been slow.

While a number of countries in southern Africa have made great strides in improving access to antiretroviral (ARV) treatment for HIV-infected adults, progress in rolling out treatment for HIV-positive infants and children has lagged behind. Namibia is a notable exception. Over 7,600 children are receiving ARV treatment - 100 percent of those estimated to be in need of the life-prolonging medicine - according to Dr Angela Mushavi of the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a technical advisor to Namibia's prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT) programme.

Namibia may perform well in rankings on human rights and democracy, Henning Melber tells Pambazuka News, but its response to the secession attempt in the Caprivi region ten years ago remains a black spot on the country’s record. Setting the case against its historical backdrop and presenting a range of viewpoints, from those of the government to an international NGO, Melber asks whether resolution of the Caprivi conflict is possible.

The Namibian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and local civil society organisations are united in their support of the government’s reluctance to sign an interim Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union (EU). Wallie Roux tells Pambazuka News why he thinks Namibia is right to be wary of the agreement.

Namibia's Anti-Corruption Commission has requested an interview with the son of Chinese leader Hu Jintao to glean information about a deal involving a Chinese scanner company, the head of the anti-graft body has said.

cc Two decades after their country's independence, Namibians inhabit a society that remains one of the world's most unequal, writes Henning Melber. The country's common people are the victims of a rapacious, self-serving elite group which is all too happy to cooperate with foreign corporations to exploit Nambia's natural resources for mutual gain. With Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) earmarked in official thinking as the new means towards 'trickle-down' benefits for all, Melber argues that such schemes are nothing more than a strategy for allowing private capital to generate profit from public property at the wider population's expense.

A UN assessment has revealed that flooding in northern Namibia during March severely disrupted HIV and AIDS treatment, care and prevention services. The floods, caused by heavy rains, affected more than 350,000 people in six regions with some of the highest HIV-prevalence rates in the country. The north is also one of the poorest and most isolated parts of Namibia, with limited social services, employment opportunities and infrastructure.