Germany agreed in May 2021 to fund projects worth 1.1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) over 30 years to make up for the property seizures and killings by German colonial forces between 1904 and 1908, after the tribes rebelled against German rule. Germany also apologized for its role in the slaughter, officially describing the massacre of some 65,000 Herero and 10,000 Nama people as genocide for the first time.
But critics have said Germany should not have directed its apology to the Namibian state, which did not exist at the time of the genocide and had no mandate to speak to Germany on behalf of traditional Herero and Nama authorities.
FILE —People protest in Windhoek, Namibia, May 28, 2021. Germany reached an agreement with Namibia that will see it recognize as genocide the colonial-era killings of tens of thousands of people and commit to spending $1.3 billion, largely on development projects.
Mutjinde Katjiua, leader of a faction of the Ovaherero Traditional Authority, said the exclusion of descendants of the affected communities from the talks deviated from a 2006 parliamentary resolution that stated negotiations should be between those communities and the perpetrator government. The communities also argue that the issue of land ownership was not addressed in the 2021 joint declaration, noting that ancestral land taken by German forces has not be returned.
"What we have now is a bilateral agreement to fund development aid. It's not even reparations and something to do with genocide," Katjiua told Reuters. "Germany must come to the table, discuss with us, negotiate with Hereros and Namas, and together we agree on what is appropriate to repair the damage(caused)."
"If nothing works out, the only thing that we can lay our hands on is the land because we know where that is, we know the names of the rivers, we know the names of the farms," he added. Germany, which lost all its colonial territories after World War One, was the third biggest colonial power after Britain and France. However, its colonial past was ignored for decades while historians and politicians focused more on the legacy of Nazi crimes, including the Holocaust.
FILE — A human skull from the Herero and ethnic Nama people is displayed during a ceremony in the auditorium of Berlin's Charite hospital September 30, 2011.
The joint declaration was subject to ratification by the Namibian parliament but the process has been put on hold as the two governments discuss amending the document, said Harald Hecht, chairman of the Forum of German-speaking Namibians. The proposed amendments include reducing the 30-year period in the agreement to five or 10 years, Hecht said.
"It (the joint declaration) is not the perfect model because the amount of compensation offered doesn't amount to reparations, but there is at least an offer on the table," Hecht said. "In the absence of anything else, I think we need to support it."
The foreign ministry in Berlin did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Ambassador Tonateni Intenge-Envula, chair of Namibia's technical committee on genocide, said all affected parties were invited to join the negotiations.
"The Office of the Vice President deals with the issue. As far as I know that office is open and has had discussions with the affected community," she told Reuters.White people make up 5% of Namibia's population but control more than 70% of prime agricultural land.
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