Namibian President Hifikepunye Conferred With Mo Ibrahim prize

The outgoing Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba has won the world's most valuable individual award, the Mo Ibrahim prize for African leadership

Hifikepunye Pohamba(79) was named recipient of the 2014 Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership at a ceremony in Nairobi, Kenya

Mo Ibrahim is a British-Sudanese mobile communications entrepreneur and philanthropist who made billions from investing in Africa.

Mo Ibrahim launched the prize to encourage African leaders to leave power peacefully

The prize was meant to be awarded annually but only three leaders have been deemed worthy of it since it was instituted, in 2007

The $5m (£3.2m) award is given each year to an elected leader who governed well, raised living standards and then left office

The inaugural prize in 2007 was given to Joaquim Chissano, Mozambique's former president, who has since acted as a mediator in several African disputes.
The $5m prize is spread over 10 years and is followed by $200,000 a year for life.


Hifikepunye Pohamba, a former rebel who fought for his country's independence, has served two terms as Namibian president. He was first elected in 2004, and again in 2009

Hifikepunye Pohamba was a founding member of the South West Africa People's Organisation (Swapo), an armed movement that waged a decades-long campaign against South African rule.

Since the country won independence in 1990, Swapo has dominated politics, usually winning huge majorities in elections.

Before becoming president, Mr Pohamba served as a minister for land affairs.


Who is Hifikepunye Pohamba?

• Born in 1935 in northern Namibia - a region that would become a base for the Swapo liberation movement
• Educated by missionaries and employed in a copper mine as a young man
• Co-founder of Swapo and close ally of Namibia's first President, Sam Nujoma
• Jailed for political activism by South African-backed authorities, later left to study in the Soviet Union
• Worked on land reform as minister in post-independence Namibia
• Was chosen by Mr Nujoma to succeed him as president in 2004
• Gradually emerged from Mr Nujoma's shadow as a soft-spoken consensus builder