Misanet / The Namibian, 12 January - Germany has ruled out any question of compensating the victims of its 1904-07 genocidal campaign, as Namibians begin yearlong activities to mark the centenary of the outbreak of hostilities in the Herero-German War. The German slaughter of Hereros was one of the most brutal episodes in the colonisation of Africa.

Not only did the German Ambassador to Namibia, Wolfgang Massing, yesterday reject the demand for reparations, but he also fell short of offering a formal apology for the genocide.

- It would be not justified to compensate one specific ethnic group for their suffering during the colonial times, as this could reinforce ethnic tensions and thus undermine the policy of national reconciliation which we fully support, Ambassador Massing told a 1,000-strong rally to commemorate the beginning of armed conflict.

A century ago this month, Herero Paramount Chief Samuel Maharero ordered his people to take up arms against the Germans.

Yesterday, his successor as Paramount Chief Kuaima Riruako insisted at the open-air rally in Okahandja - also attended by Ovaherero from Botswana - that reparations would "not open old wounds." He called them an internationally accepted way of helping peoples who had suffered gross historical injuries.

The Ovaherero people have already lodged a US$ 2 billion lawsuit in a US federal court for what the ethnic group claims was the enslavement and genocidal destruction caused by Germany during the early part of the 20th century.

The case targets specific German companies - including Deutsche Bank, Terex Corporation and others - which the Ovaherero say conspired with imperial Germany to exterminate some 65,000 Ovaherero between 1904 and 1907.

- Our claim is directed against the system that perpetrated untold atrocities against us ... It must only be seen as an effort to regain our dignity and help restore what was wrongfully taken away from us, Chief Riruako told the Okahandja rally.

But the German Ambassador reiterated that his government was living up to its historical responsibilities by establishing a special relationship with Namibia, under which the country had received more than 500 million euro worth of development aid since Independence. "It is our commitment that the bilateral co-operation projects should reach all Namibians and not only be geared to one specific group or section," he stressed.

Despite acknowledging his country's dark history in Namibia, the closest Mr Massing came to an apology was when he said "there is a deep sympathy and understanding for the fate of the Herero people among the Germans."

At a second ceremony, organised in Windhoek by an ecumenical committee, where the mood was less emotional, speakers called for unity and reconciliation with their former enemies.

Namibia's Deputy Prime Minister Hendrik Witbooi, emphasising the need for unity, stated that the legacies of the past continued to affect the daily lives of Namibians. "As I am talking now, people are still being dumped by roadsides. That is something hurting, that is something we cannot go with."

According to the Deputy Prime Minister, Namibians - having attained their political freedom - must now mobilise themselves for the economic struggle.

The African Secretary of the Evangelical Church in Germany, Eberhard Hitzler, described Germany's history over the past century as one not to be proud of: "It was a history of terror, wars and colonialism in other countries ... This is a dark side of history which is horrible to face and acknowledge."

In his sermon, Bishop Zephania Kameeta of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Republic of Namibia asserted that present-day evils of dishonesty, favouritism, nepotism and racism in the country had also undermined the struggle for independence.

- Why are we discriminating against one another in a free, democratic and independent Namibia? Does this mean that we were not really honest in our fight against colonialism, exploitation and racism, and this was just a matter of selective morality? the clergyman challenged his listeners.


By Petros Kuteeue ('The Namibian')

By Petros Kuteeue

© Misanet / The Namibian

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