Germany’s president was urged during a memorial service in Namibia on Saturday to speed up talks on reparations for a colonial-era genocide.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier was in Windhoek to pay tribute to his counterpart Hage Geingob, who died February 4 and is to be laid to rest on Sunday.
But he was reminded during Saturday’s memorial that Germany has yet to agree on reparations for the massacre of the Herero and Nama peoples from 1904 to 1908.
In May 2021, Germany acknowledged that the killings by its troops amounted to a genocide and has offered to fund development projects to a cost of 1.1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) over 30 years.
For many Namibians, including some senior officials, the offer isn’t enough and does not amount to formal reparations. Negotiations are ongoing.
Germany has also faced criticism from Namibia over its support for Israel, despite the enormous civilian death toll from its ongoing operations in Gaza.
One of Geingob’s last acts in office before his death at age 82 was to lament what he called “Germany’s inability to draw lessons from its horrific history.”
At Saturday’s memorial, McHenry Venaani, the leader of Namibia’s official political opposition, the Popular Democratic Movement (PDM), directly addressed Steinmeier.
“Our people are expecting to see the Namibian German case of genocide be settled,” he said,
“We plead to you when you go back, what is on the negotiating table creates a respectable deal on behalf of our people. Creates an honourable deal so that we close this chapter.”
Germany’s head of state, unlike Namibia’s, is not an executive president and would not be directly involved in setting a compensation sum. But Steinmeier said Germany was committed to improved ties.
“The path of reconciliation that we have embarked upon almost ten years ago has not been an easy one but together we have gone very far and we want to go further,” he said.
Steinmeier said Geingob told him late last year that he wanted to be able to sign a joint German-Namibian declaration to draw a line under the genocide.
“And you know, reconciliation is not about closing the past, it is about taking responsibility for our past and it is a commitment to a better future,” Steinmeier said during his tribute to the late president.
“I hope I will be able to return to this country very soon and under different circumstances because I am convinced that it is high time to tender an apology to the Namibian people.”