After around six years of negotiations, Germany formally recognised colonial-era crimes committed between 1904 and 1908 against the Herero and Nama tribes in Namibia as genocide, and pledged $1.3 billion in financial compensation.
Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on Friday apologised for the “crimes of German colonial rule.” He declared: “Our aim was and is to find a joint path to genuine reconciliation in remembrance of the victims,” the German foreign minister, Heiko Maas, said in a statement. “That includes our naming the events of the German colonial era in today’s Namibia, and particularly the atrocities between 1904 and 1908, unsparingly and without euphemisms. We will now officially call these events what they were from today’s perspective: a genocide.” He further said, “In light of Germany's historical and moral responsibility, we will ask Namibia and the descendants of the victims for forgiveness.”
Namibian presidential press secretary Alfredo Hengari told CNN that these are “very positive developments” and an “important process in terms of healing […] wounds.”
The $1.3 billion will be directed towards land reform, water supply, agriculture, rural infrastructure, healthcare, and training programs over the next 30 years, particularly in regions where descendants of the Herero and Nama tribes are concentrated. Maas noted, however, that “legal claims to compensation cannot be derived from this.”
This is in line with the comments made by Germany last week, when it dismissed the possibility of offering financial reparations to Namibia as part of its atonement for colonial atrocities. Berlin insisted that it will only offer a formal apology, arguing that offering “individual compensations” after over 100 years “would be unprecedented” and that the 1948 convention on genocide “does not apply retrospectively and cannot be the basis for financial claims.”
It is thus no surprise that the tribes have rejected the deal struck between the Namibian government and Germany, saying that Windhoek had ‘betrayed’ them, and denouncing the fact that they were not adequately consulted or involved in the negotiation process.
The Ovaherero Traditional Authority and the Nama Traditional Leaders Association have called on the United Nations and the African Union to “reject this gimmick” and “public relations coup by Germany,” which they see as a “cover-up for continued German funding of Namibian government projects under its fifth National Development Plans and Vision 2030.”
Likewise, the Paramount Chief of the Herero tribe, Vekuii Rukoro, dismissed the agreement as a ‘public relations’ act and a “sellout.” While Germany has also said that President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will offer a formal and public apology, Rukoro said that the German official is a “persona non grata” for the victim communities.
Some Herero activists have said that even if Germany did not offer individual financial compensation, it should have at least bought back the ancestral lands of the tribes that are currently owned by German-speaking communities and given them back to the Herero and Nama people.
Between 1904 and 1908, more than 100,000 people were killed in the former German colony. During that period, the Herero and Nama ethnic groups defied German colonialism, opposing the expropriation of their land and cattle. In response, Lothar von Trotha, who headed Germany’s military in the region, ordered a genocide on tens of thousands of people. While many were killed, others were placed in brutal concentration camps. The massacre wiped out 75% of the Herero population and roughly 50% of the Nama population. The Herero population dropped from 80,000 to roughly 15,000, while the Nama population fell from about 20,000 to 10,000.
Germany Agrees to Pay Namibia $1.3 Billion, Formally Apologises for Colonial-Era Genocide
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said, “We will now officially call these events what they were from today’s perspective: a genocide
May 29, 2021
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas SOURCE: AFP