From: wsargeant@igc.apc.org (Winslow L. Sargeant)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african
Subject: IPS:Namibia, prime minister seeking aid'
Date: 27 Jul 92 14:22:06 GMT

/* Written 12:05 am  Jul 27, 1992 by newsdesk in cdp:ips.englibrary */
/* ---------- "NAMIBIA: Prime Minister seeking aid" ---------- */
Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Area: Africa, southern
Title: NAMIBIA: Prime Minister seeking aid, but only getting 'goodwill'


an inter press service feature

by moyiga nduru

london, jul 24 (ips) -- ''goodwill alone will not keep democracy
in namibia alive,'' lamented prime minister hage geingob,
referring to the feedback he has so far received from the united
states and britain to appeals he has made for aid.

according to geingob, who has just arrived from the united
states, so far all he had to show for his two visits is
''goodwill'', and although he appreciates the gesture, he fears
that he will need more than that to take back home to windhoek.

namibia, a multi-party democracy which achieved its independence
in march 1990, is hoping for a large injection of foreign
investment to boost the economy and provide badly needed jobs.
unemployment is now running at 30 percent.

''one worry has to do with the plight of the 40,000 returnees,
most of whom have high education qualifications, but have no
jobs,'' says patricia hayes of cambridge university.

''the sad thing about them is that they were in exile and, when
they returned home after the war, they could not be employed in
their own country,'' she said.

and while geingob had started out his mission with high hopes, he
is becoming more and more despondent, adding that the business
community seemed reluctant to make the investment.

''they (businessmen) have been asking me about what namibia, with
a tiny population of 1.4 million people, can offer for
investment,'' geingob said. his answer: namibian producers have
free access to a market of more than 40 million consumers in the
region.

together with botswana, south africa, lesotho and swaziland,
namibia is a member of the southern african customs union, giving
it free access to the other member nations. furthermore, given
it's geographical position, namibia is well positioned to service
the potential markets in countries such as angola, zambia,
zimbabwe and zaire
similarly, it is anticipated that the southern african region,
which produces about 28.8 per cent of the continent's gross
domestic product (gdp), is well set to spur economic growth on the
continent.

however, with the ending of communism, international investors
have been switching attention to the emerging eastern european
states which are made more attractive by already available
infrastructure. (more/ips)

namibia: prime minister seeking aid, but only getting 'goodwill'(2-e)

namibia: prime minister (2)

''i can only see some small opening, but nothing dramatic from
british investors,'' said hayes.

john parker of the namibian support committee said that namibia's
inability to attract foreign investors is mainly because of the
country's small manufacturing base which was never developed
during the era of apartheid rule from 1920 to 1990. namibia gained
independence from south africa just over two years ago.

another problem is the still perceived link between namibia and
south africa, which is yet to shake off the stigma of apartheid.
to this end, namibia, which is still using the south african rand,
will introduce its own currency -- the namibian dollar -- in 1993.
initially, it will have the same value as the rand.

the idea is to allow namibia to formulate, determine and
implement its own monetary policy. according to geingob: ''except
for last year, namibia's inflation rate was in essence an imported
south african inflation rate. interest rates were determined in
pretoria, and not in windhoek.''

in the meanwhile, the prime minister is trying to make his
country more accessible to foreign businessmen and to this end
namibia earlier this year opened a tourism office in the british
capital, and also established a direct flight link between
windhoek and london.

during his london visit, he held talks with the overseas
development administration (oda) minister baroness chalker and
with the officials in the trade and industry department and of the
confederation of british industries (cbi).(end/ips/ip/mn/cpg/92)