Nama and Herero reject Germany, Namibia genocide deal
The Landless People’s Movement to lead protests next week
The Landless People’s Movement ( LPM), an opposition party in the Namibian Parliament, is next week expected to protest against the Namibian and German governments’ resolution to pass through Parliament “The Bilateral Joint- Reconciliation Agreement”.
An amount of about P18.1 billion ( 1.1 billion Euro) offered by Germany in the form of development projects over a period of 30 years is intended to apparently compensate the European country’s responsibility towards the mass killings of over 80 000 Ovaherero and 10 000 Nama in the 19041908 genocide.
Now, the Namibian government is accused of wanting to hastily pass the motion through Parliament and has been reportedly visiting traditional leaders of the Nama and Ovaherero ethnic groups to try and coerce them to buy into the flawed deal.
The leader of the LPM, Bernadus Swartbooi rejected the deal, saying that no one has appointed the Namibian government to be the sole representative of the affected communities and their extended families in the Diaspora.
“When you identify seven regions in the Republic of Namibia and decide that genocide resources will be deployed in the seven regions, you invariably already exclude the Diaspora – those colleagues in Botswana, South Africa, the USA and the UK and in many other countries who are excluded from the benefits that will come through reparation,” he said in an interview.
The projects are to be implemented in seven identified regions in Namibia where the affected communities predominantly reside, namely Kharas ( south), Hardap ( south), Khomas ( central), Kunene ( north- east), Omaheke ( east), Otjozondjupa ( central- north) and Erongo ( west).
Germany has officially acknowledged that it committed genocide during its colonial- era occupation of Namibia, and pledged $ 1.3 billion to be spent on infrastructure, health care and training programmes to benefit the Herero and Nama communities.
The money will apparently be paid out over 30 years through spending on infrastructure, healthcare and training programmes benefiting the impacted communities.
Germany has previously acknowledged the atrocities but ruled out paying reparations. The latest deal was reportedly agreed during a round of negotiations held by special envoys in mid- May.
The Nama and Herero communities are not accepting that offer, arguing that people have lost lands, culture and a lot of them have fled to countries such as Botswana and South Africa.
Germany’s guarded “admission” that the 1900s mass killing of about 100,000 Namibian tribesmen was an act of genocide and the accompanying $ 1.3 billion development aid offer has only served to infuriate Namibians.
Namibia, formerly German South West Africa, was a German colony from 1884 to 1915. But after Germany’s defeat in World War I, Berlin lost all its overseas colonial territories, resulting in Namibia becoming mandated to South Africa by the League of Nations ( 1919- 1990).
The genocide took place between 1904 and 1908, when the Herero and Nama tribesmen revolted against the occupation of their land by German colonial forces.
Following an extermination order issued by General Lothar Von Trotha, an estimated 100,000 Herero and Nama people were killed in a fouryear campaign that became the first genocide of the 20th century.
Survivors were put in labour camps where they were made to work to death, while others were driven into deserts where they died from hunger, dehydration and disease.
The execution of the extermination order saw the death of 80 percent of the Herero, and 50 percent of the Nama, populations.
“There is no evidence they have spoken to the communities to verify if those are actually the needs of the people. What if the people in urban and peri- urban areas would probably also have wanted to sit down and give a listing of the things they want done in their lifetime?” asked the LPM leader.
He said that the money would, for instance, also benefit the Germans who are descendants of those who committed these atrocities.
“What it tells you is that the affected communities will never be able to gain the full reparations that they deserve because the structure and content of the reparations do not look at the methodology in which the descendants of the affected communities will be fully repaired,” Swartbooi said.