Justicia Shipena
President Nangolo Mbumba’s national speech at the 79th UN General Assembly left feelings that he missed an opportunity to push for meaningful change on the world stage, according to Analyst Henning Melber.
Speaking to Eagle FM recently, Melber described President Mbumba’s speech as unsurprising, aligning with the typical format of annual addresses by most Heads of States whose influence is viewed as secondary to that of global superpowers.
Melber noted that Mbumba covered the standard agenda topics without much deviation, and like many African leaders, he called for reforms to the UN Security Council.
Additionally, Mbumba highlighted the severe impact of climate change on Namibia, a country particularly vulnerable to its harmful effects.
Melber pointed out that Mbumba took the opportunity to reference the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Conference on women’s rights, highlighting Namibia’s achievement of gender equality in the National Assembly.
He added that Mbumba’s expressed hope for a female UN Secretary-General in the near future was possibly the most significant part of the speech. However, Melber noted that Mbumba failed to mention the likelihood of Namibia’s next President being a woman, while the country has not fully honoured its commitments to women’s reproductive rights.
“Abortion is still criminalised in Namibia, same-sex relations are about to be even more criminalised and similar other things like pads for females are not up to standard. It’s not the usual thing to highlight such shortcomings in a speech, so it’s not a surprise that President Mbumba was numb on those critical issues, but he referred to the green industrialisation ecosystems as a very ambitious goal for Namibia and appealed for foreign direct investment,” he explained.
In his speech, Mbumba informed the Assembly that Namibia ranks among the top nine countries worldwide that have closed at least 80% of the gender gap.
He noted that over the past year, Namibia has achieved complete gender parity in the National Assembly, with women making up 50% of the representatives.
“We hope that the United Nations will have a female Secretary-General in the near future,” Mbumba said.
Melber added that, given the very strict time limit on such speeches, there was little time for anything else.
But as usual, before the Namibian President ended with a few remarks on the international situation, he demanded that when it comes to Israel’s violation of international security, the war crimes, the crimes against humanity bordering on genocide and its apartheid system, the ruling of the International Criminal Court and of the international justice system should be recognised and implemented through the organs of the United Nations.
And as in all the years before, on behalf of Namibia, like the late President Hage Geingob, also demanded to lift the sanctions on Cuba and asked for support for this national sovereignty of the Western Sahara.
Melber pointed out that the biggest flaw in Mbumba’s speech came at the very end.
While Mbumba stressed that Namibia is a firm proponent of international solidarity, Melber said he remained in absolute silence on the continued war and invasion by Russia, on the Ukraine as before.
Melber said this is the biggest double standard and selective perception in Namibia’s foreign policy.
“How can you be credible in your support for the Western Sahara, in your support for the Palestine people, while remaining quiet on the right to defend national sovereignty and self-determination by the people in the Ukraine? Sadly, this was missing in the speech, which otherwise and in line with earlier speeches, was more of the same and delivered as expected.”