After five years of negotiations, Germany and Namibia have reached a compensation deal for the
genocide committed by German colonial troops more than a century ago. But descendants of
victims of the massacres reject the one billion-euro agreement.
DW Africa went to the village in Namibia where a German general gave the order for
his men to kill tens of thousands of Africans. Our correspondent Adrian Kriesch takes up the story.
This is an emotional place for many Herero. Here in the village of Otjinene, they call this
tree Ngauzepo. Hundreds of Herero prisoners of war were hanged here by German troops.
"This would go around the neck, when they hanged them. Sadness, certainly anger, yes, no doubt,
that a human being could actually be doing this,
for what reason? For the reason that our ancestors simply stood up and refused to
give up what belong to them, namely, their land." More than 100 years ago, German soldiers killed
almost 100,000 Herero and Nama in the former colony of German Southwest Africa. In 1904 Lothar
von Trotha gave the so-called extermination order – it included women and children.
Now Germany wants to recognize this as a genocide – and has pledged 1.1 billion
euros for development projects. That's what the governments negotiated – without Rukoro.
"This is a deal between two governments, about development aid. It has nothing
to do with our demand for reparations. They are fooling us. We are not fools."
Rukoro, a former Attorney General in Namibia, and his supporters are still considering legal action.
But previous attempts have already failed in several US courts.
"Paramount Chief Rukoro says that he's representing 95 percent
of the Hereros in the country, but not everybody in Namibia sees it that way."
We are on our way to the village of Okakarara, two hours away by car. Here too,
the majority of the population is Herero and there are several traditional leaders.
"The Paramount Chief is not in existence "So you don't see him as your paramount chief?"
"He is not, it’s not that I’m not seeing it. He is not."
The traditional leaders here don’t share a singular viewpoint. Some support Rukoro’s
legal actions, others are in favor of the deal negotiated by the government.
Some others want a renegotiation – demanding more money for this poor region.
"Unfortunately. The negotiation team did not come back to us to tell us how the German government
arrived at the figures they have, so I am not yet of the opinion that the two governments should go
ahead with the agreement until there is consensus with the affected community."
In the capital Windhoek, Zed Ngavirue led negotiations for
the Namibian government for more than five years. The diplomat is also Herero.
"We would have liked to have had more, but after five years,
it has been demonstrated, this is what seems to them affordable,
financially, politically." Ngavirue
has a list of 27 traditional chiefs of the Herero and Nama who were involved in the negotiations.
"And it’s only three who've said that they don't accept."
"So you say it's a minority basically?" "Obviously. Now there are people of course
who are thinking of their own name, ego, story, so I think one can't worry about what
one, or two or three chiefs and their followers say."
The agreement is supposed to turn the page on a painful chapter of the past. But Paramount
Chief Rukoro and his supporters are against it. They want reparations – and new negotiations.