Mbuende says foreign policy ‘work of many’

A SWAPO MP said in the National Assembly on Tuesday that Namibia’s foreign policy had evolved over many years and dated back to the days of the struggle for national independence.

Dr Kaire Mbuende said he was correcting an impression that was created in Parliament, through some contributions made during debate on the White Paper on Namibia’s Foreign Policy and Diplomacy Management, that, prior to the White Paper, Namibia had operated without a foreign policy. He said a number of individuals, including the late Peter Mweshihange and Prime Minister Theo-Ben Gurirab, had contributed significantly to the development of the country’s foreign policy.”The basic elements of our foreign policy are derived from Article 96 of the Namibian Constitution,” he said.Mbuende said the country’s Constitution had been adopted at a time when the world was going through fundamental transformations and paradigm shifts.He said that the end of the Cold War had brought to the fore a need to re-examine fundamental concepts, such as non-alignment, that was a tenet of Namibia’s foreign policy as provided for in Article 96 of the Constitution.- NampaHe said a number of individuals, including the late Peter Mweshihange and Prime Minister Theo-Ben Gurirab, had contributed significantly to the development of the country’s foreign policy.”The basic elements of our foreign policy are derived from Article 96 of the Namibian Constitution,” he said.Mbuende said the country’s Constitution had been adopted at a time when the world was going through fundamental transformations and paradigm shifts.He said that the end of the Cold War had brought to the fore a need to re-examine fundamental concepts, such as non-alignment, that was a tenet of Namibia’s foreign policy as provided for in Article 96 of the Constitution.- Nampa