The SWAPO liberation movement had the support of Eastern Bloc countries, including Czechoslovakia.
In November 1989, the communist regime in Czechoslovakia ended and Namibia declared independence four months later.
The newly ruling SWAPO movement began to strongly urge the Czechoslovak government to return the children.
The matter even escalated into a diplomatic row, with the Windhoek government threatening to have Czechoslovakia declared a terrorist state at the United Nations for detaining their citizens.
A documentary film called Černí Češi ("Black Czechs") was subsequently created on the same topic.