The Namibian president has said a German offer of compensation for colonial-era mass killings needs to be “revised.” Among other things, he objected to the terminology used by Berlin.
President of Namibia, Hage Geingob has turned down Germany’s offer of €10 million ($11.7 million) in reparations for the genocide committed by the German Empire at the start of the 20th century.
In a statement made available to newsmen, he said “The current offer for reparations made by the German government remains an outstanding issue and is not acceptable to the Namibian government”.
He added that the government’s special envoy, Zed Ngavirue, would continue to negotiate for a “revised offer.”
The President also took exception to Germany’s use of the term “healing the wounds” in place of the word reparations, saying the terminology would be debated further.
It would be recalled that the two countries began negotiating an agreement in 2015 that would see Germany give an official apology and development aid as compensation for the killing of tens of thousands of indigenous Herero and Nama people by German occupiers in 1904-1908.
President Geingob had in June, suggested that Germany would offer an unreserved apology but Berlin is yet to do so, despite acknowledging that its colonial authorities perpetrated the atrocities.
It was gathered that Germany has repeatedly refused to pay direct reparations, instead pointing to the millions of euros it has given to Namibia in development aid so far.
Local reports have it that historians said some 65,000 of the 80,000 Herero and at least 10,000 of the 20,000 Nama died in what is widely accepted as the first genocide of the 20th century.
It should be noted that Germany ruled the colony from 1884 to 1915. Namibia then came under South African rule for 75 years, before gaining independence in 1990.
