By Staff Reporter WINDHOEK THE mortal remains of Reverend Markus Kooper, one of the earliest Namibian petitioners to the United Nations will be laid to rest at the National Shrine on Thursday, December 22. Kooper, a veteran nationalist, died at an advanced age of 88 on Friday, December 09. His burial at the Heroes Acre on Thursday will be preceded by a memorial ceremony, which will be held at the Parliament Gardens tomorrow evening. Both the memorial service and the burial will be attended by among many others, President Hifikepunye Pohamba, cabinet ministers, members of the diplomatic corps, members of the judiciary, family members and the general public. Kooper is one of the few national leaders, such as Commander of the Namibian Defence Force Dimo Hamaambo, Maxton Mutongolume and Getrude Kandanga, who died after independence and to be buried at the Heroes Acre. Kooper, who hails from Hoachanas, left Namibia in 1960 to join other petitioners who used the UN platform to advocate the cause of Namibia’s independence. He was forcibly removed from Hoachanas a year before in 1959 and banished to a small settlement hundreds of kilometres away by the South African Apartheid regime. After spending a year at Itsawises, north of Keet-manshoop, Kooper fled into exile. After Independence, President Sam Nujoma decorated the late Kooper with an award for being one of the champions of Namibia’s independence.