BERLIN,Germany, May 28 – For the first time, the German government has recognized and accepted that it committed genocide between 1904 and 1908 in Namibia during its colonial rule.
Germany killed thousands of Herero and Nama people in its colonial conquest in the German South West Africa colony, present day Namibia.
“We will now officially refer to these events as what they are from today’s perspective: genocide,” German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said in a statement.
German settlers killed thousands as surviving members of the tribes were driven into the desert, where they ended up in concentration camps to be used as slave labour.
A campaign led by General Lothar Von Trotha to suppress a Herero rebellion led to the deaths of as many as two-thirds of the estimated 80,000 Herero population through murder, disease and forced starvation, according to the German History Museum.
“In light of the historical and moral responsibility of Germany, we will ask forgiveness from Namibia and the victims’ descendants for the atrocities committed,” he said.
Germany ruled Namibia from 1884 until it lost the colony during World War I.
Germany has in the past acknowledged “moral responsibility” for the killings,however, it had avoided making an official apology for the massacres to avoid compensation claims.
In 2015, it began formal negotiations with Namibia over the issue and in 2018 it returned skulls and other remains of massacred tribespeople that were used in the colonial-era experiments to assert claims of European racial superiority.
In the latest agreement however, the German government is now set to pay the Namibian government €1.1billion to fund and support the “reconstruction and development” of the country as a gesture to recognize the, immense suffering inflicted on victims“ said the German Foreign Minister.
The agreement further states that the funding will directly benefit the genocide-affected communities.
On Thursday, Namibian presidential spokesman Alfredo Hengari told the Reuters news agency that a joint declaration outlining the agreement was made by special envoys of both countries on May 15, at the end of the ninth round of negotiations over the issue.
Hengari also said an official apology from Germany was expected, adding that “implementation modalities can only commence after the president has spoken to affected communities”.
Herero Paramount Chief Vekuii Rukoro told Reuters the reported settlement was a “sellout”.
The chief, who unsuccessfully sued Germany for compensation in the United States, said the agreement was not enough for the two communities, which had suffered “irreversible harm” at the hands of German colonial forces.
“We have a problem with that kind of an agreement, which we feel constitutes a complete sellout on the part of the Namibian government,” Rukoro said.
Source: News Agencies
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