Guerrilla Leader Nujoma Back in Namibia for Vote

Sam Nujoma, the black nationalist leader of Namibia’s guerrillas, returned home Thursday after 30 years in exile to the tumultuous welcome of thousands amid heightened fears that his life is in danger.

Only two days after Nujoma’s most senior white adviser was assassinated, apparently by right-wing extremists, Nujoma stepped down from a chartered Boeing 767 jet to lead his South-West Africa People’s Organization (SWAPO) in U.N.-supervised elections that will free this territory from 74 years of South African rule.

After kneeling to kiss the hot tarmac of his home country, the 60-year-old SWAPO president was greeted and hugged by SWAPO’s top leaders and by his 89-year-old mother, Helvi Kondombolo.

‘Freedom and Independence’

“No words may express my happiness at joining my family, friends and comrades,” Nujoma told a news conference. “The years spent abroad have at times been . . . lonely. (But) we never lost sight of our principal objective--freedom and independence for Namibia.”

SWAPO leaders say they have received dozens of telephoned threats on Nujoma’s life from callers claiming to represent the Wit Wolve, or white wolves. The Windhoek airport was ringed with local police and soldiers as well as U.N. officers armed with machine guns and rifles.

On Tuesday, Anton Lubowski, a 37-year-old lawyer and senior SWAPO official, was shot to death outside his home in a wealthy Windhoek suburb. Lubowski, who in 1984 became the first Namibian-born white to join SWAPO, had been a key figure in SWAPO’s attempts to ease the fears of Namibia’s 80,000 whites about a government composed of former rebel fighters committed to Marxism.

Namibian police said Thursday they had arrested a 50-year-old man for questioning in the case and were investigating possible links with the Irish Republican Army, which is fighting for independence from Britain in Northern Ireland.

Killing Increased Tension

The killing has increased tension in this dry territory inhabited by 1.3 million people of a dozen different ethnic groups.

Nujoma’s arrival from exile headquarters in Luanda, Angola, is certain to give impetus to the U.N.-monitored election campaign. At least nine political parties are vying for seats in a constituent assembly that will write a constitution for Namibia.

The white-bearded rebel leader was driven from the airport in a cream-colored Mercedes-Benz past a cheering, singing, flag-waving crowd of more than 2,000. In Katutura, the black township where Nujoma will live, his arrival was greeted by thousands of additional SWAPO members.

Nujoma came just in time to register to vote before today’s deadline. About 41,000 Namibians have returned from exile to participate in the Nov. 6-10 balloting. SWAPO, which waged a 23-year guerrilla war against South African colonial rule, is heavily favored to win at least a majority and perhaps the two-thirds required to approve the constitution.