- When German Ambassador to Namibia Wolfgang Massing laid a wreath at Samuel Maharero's grave in Okahandja at the weekend, he became the first senior official of the Berlin government to do so - his predecessors all rejected the idea.
Herero Paramount Chief Kuaima Riruako has hailed Massing's unprecedented move as the dawning of a new era in the relationship between his people and Germany.
The late Maharero led the Ovaherero uprising against German occupation in 1904, before fleeing to Botswana where he died in 1923. His remains were repatriated and reburied at Okahandja in the same year.
- The Ambassador's gesture means a lot to Ovaherero ... it opens the way forward in our relationship, Chief Riruako said.
Hundreds of Ovaherero gathered at Okahandja on Sunday to begin year-long activities to mark the centenary of the outbreak of the hostilities in the German-Herero war of 1904-07.
Close to 65 000 Ovaherero were slaughtered by German colonial troops. The German Ambassador has expressed his country's "regret" over the genocidal campaign.
Speaking in a conciliatory tone, Mr Massing told the commemoration that while history could not be undone: "We can give back to the victims and their descendants the dignity and honour of which they were robbed".
He pledged to support activities linked to the commemoration of the genocide, as well as some specific projects which will help to preserve the tradition and culture of the Ovaherero people.
The German envoy, who also stressed his government's resolve to support reconciliation in Namibia, expressed disappointment over the conspicuous absence of senior Namibian government officials at the Okahandja commemoration.
- I would have liked to see Government attend, said Mr Massing, "it would be a gesture of recognising what happened in 1904, it would also be a gesture of strengthening the policy of national reconciliation," the German envoy told The Namibian.
Mr Riruako criticised the absence of government and, in particular, President Sam Nujoma. He charged: "The Herero people helped Sam Nujoma to slip the border into Botswana for exile. Now he is not here, that is telling us something."
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