AFRICA/NAMIBIA - Brief Overview of the Country

Rome (Agenzia Fides) – Namibia was one of the last African countries to become independent. It was a German colony until the First World War and in 1915 was occupied by South Africa as a territory administered under a mandate from the then League of Nations. After the Second World War, South Africa annexed the country, but the UN did not recognize the decision of South Africa. In 1966 began the armed struggle by SWAPO (South West African People's Organization) to achieve independence. In 1988, just before the end of the Cold War, South Africa agreed to end its administration in accordance with a UN plan for all Southern Africa. On March 20, 1990 Namibia celebrated its independence. The first President of the country was Sam Nujoma, who was succeeded in November 2004 by Hifikepunye Pohamba.
Namibia is bordered to the north by Angola, the east by Botswana and Zambia, and south by South Africa and overlooks the Atlantic Ocean to the west. It has an area of 825,000 square kilometers, a population of just over 2 million people who have an average life expectancy of about 44 years. The majority of the population (about 80 to 90%) is Christian. Lutherans are the largest denomination in the country. The remainder adhere to traditional African religions.
The area is mostly desert. The main resources of the country are diamonds, copper, gold, uranium, cadmium, zinc along with hydraulic and fishing. Mining activity accounts for 20% of Gross Domestic Product.

The Catholic Church
The are 408,000 Catholics, distributed in 3 dioceses with 96 parishes. There are 3 bishops, 19 diocesan priests, 78 religious priests, 19 professed brothers, 514 religious, and 1339 catechists. The Catholic Church operates 68 nursery schools with 6367 pupils, 18 primary schools with 7586 pupils, 8 middle and high schools with 2840 students. The Catholic Church also operates 7 hospitals, 7 clinics, a leper colony, 4 houses reception, and 2 orphanages (from the most recent edition of the Statistical Yearbook of the Church). (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 27/11/2009)