THE leader of Namibia’s largest opposition party has said that he had called on Germany to renegotiate the agreement it struck with Windhoek
admitting its role in genocide during its rule of the southern African nation.
Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) party leader McHenry Venaani told AFP news agency on Tuesday he had written to German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock last week, and has not received a response.
Germany last year acknowledged it had committed genocide in colonial-era Namibia and promised a billion euros in financial support to descendants of the victims.
The opposition says the deal is flawed.
‘Reparations were not acknowledged as a consequence of the admission of genocide,’ Venaani said, calling on Germany ‘to return to the negotiating table and re-engineer an accord that would satisfy both groups.’
Poisoned relations
The agreement was a result of more than five years of negotiations between the two countries over events in the ter
ritory held by Berlin from 1884 to 1915.
German colonial settlers killed tens of thousands of indigenous Herero and Nama people in 1904-1908 massacres – labelled by historians as the first genocide of the 20th century.
The atrocities have poisoned relations between Namibia and Germany for decades.
The agreement between the two governments was tabled in Namibia’s parliament 12 months ago and is yet to be passed.
