Windhoek - Namibia''s President, Hage Geingob, stated that Cuba and Fidel Castro are very dear in the country because they defended the people and ''educated other 3,000 when no one else was willing to support us.''

Geingob offered an interview to a British media on his return from Havana, where he attended the funeral rites to the leader of the Cuban Revolution, who passed away on November 25.

Geingob told New Era newspaper that when the Cubans complied with their mission in southern Africa, they 'never asked for anything' and refuted a certain trend to speak of 'dictatorship' in a certain press, when 'in any case, dictators are the ones who helped the South African government from apartheid to gag us.'

He recalled that 'the British, the French and the Americans shared bed with our enemies', determined to ensure that we did not have basic liberties, such as that of the press.

'They are not in a position to speak about human rights when they supported our oppression. Cuba came to our rescue,' he said.

Geingob suggested that the performance of Western nations are hypocritical when they try to blame Cuba or Fidel for human rights violations.

Geingob's predecessors in office, Sam Nujoma, and Hifikepunye Pohamba, were also in Cuba to pay their last respects to the man who helped the SWAPO, then a liberation movement, to get Namibia's independence.

Other African leaders such as presidents Jacob Zuma (South Africa) and Robert Mugabe (Zimbabwe) also attended the massive last respect to the Cuban leader.