Namibian govt. rejects Germany’s genocide reparations offer

President Hage Geingob of Namibia said his government has turned down Germany’s offer of compensation for colonial-era killings, calling it “not acceptable.” Geingob said in a statement that Germany has continued to call efforts to seek redress with the government and those affected in the conflict “healing of wounds” instead of reparations. German troops killed tens of thousands of Herero and Nama people between 1904 to 1908 in response to an anti-colonial uprising. It is thought that 75% of the Herero population and half of the Nama population died. The two countries started negotiations over reparations in 2015 and have so far held eight rounds of talks. President Geingob was on Tuesday briefed about the negotiations by the Namibian negotiating team led by special envoy Zed Ngavirue. “The current offer for reparations made by the German Government remains an outstanding issue and is not acceptable to the Namibian Government,” the president said in a statement. No details of the offer were given in the statement, however, The Namibian reports that an offer of 10 million euros (US$12m; £9m) was rejected earlier this year. In June, Germany agreed to apologise in principle but is yet to formally do so. The Namibian president’s statement appears to indicate that wording has been a sticking point. “While the Namibian Government agreed to negotiate the issue of redress (reparations), which the German Government consistently referred to as ‘healing the wounds’, Germany has declined to accept the term ‘reparations'” it said. (Source: BBC)

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