Germany will also ask Namibia to forgive the “great suffering” caused during the massacre of 1904 to 1908.

Germany admitted for the first time that it committed genocide to Namibia during its colonial rule more than a century ago, and promised to provide financial support worth more than 1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) to fund infrastructure projects in the African country.

From 1904 to 1908, after the tribes rebelled against Berlin’s rule in the colony (then called German Southwest Africa), German settlers killed thousands of Herero and Nama people.

The survivors were driven into the desert, where many eventually concentrated in the camp as slaves, and many died from the cold, malnutrition and exhaustion.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said in a statement on Friday: “From today’s perspective, we now officially call these events genocides.”

He said: “In view of Germany’s historical and moral responsibilities, we will ask Namibia and the victims’ descendants to pardon the atrocities committed.”

He added that as a gesture of “recognizing the tremendous suffering suffered by the victims,” ??Germany will also pass a 1.1 billion euros (1.34 billion U.S. dollars) fiscal plan to support the “reconstruction and development” of Namibia.

According to sources close to the negotiations, this amount will be paid within 30 years and must first benefit the descendants of Herero and Nama.

Maas said that after more than five years of negotiations, the agreed payment did not open the way for any “legal compensation claim.”

Rebellion, revenge

Germany ruled Namibia from 1884 until it lost its colony during the First World War.

In 1904, the Hereros, who were deprived of their livestock and land, rose up, followed by Nama.

General Lothar von Trossa, a German general sent to suppress the rebellion, ordered the destruction of the people.

Between 1904 and 1908, at least 60,000 Jeréros and approximately 10,000 Nama were killed.

Colonial soldiers carried out massacres; exiled men, women and children wandered into the desert, thousands of people died of thirst; and established notorious concentration camps, such as those on Shark Island.

The atrocities have poisoned the relationship between Berlin and Windhoek for many years.

The German government had previously admitted that the killings had a “moral responsibility”, but Berlin avoided a formal apology in order to boycott compensation claims.

In 2015, it began formal negotiations with Namibia on this issue, and in 2018 returned the skulls used to assert European racial superiority during colonial experiments and the remains of other slaughtered tribal people.

On Thursday, Alfredo Hengari, spokesperson for the President of Namibia, told Reuters that the envoys of the two countries issued a joint statement at the end of the ninth round of negotiations on this issue on May 15th, outlining the issue. protocol.

Hengari also stated that Germany is expected to formally apologize, adding: “The implementation can only begin after the president has a dialogue with the affected communities.”

Herero Paramount CEO Vekuii Rukoro told Reuters that the reported settlement was an “over-the-counter transaction.”

The person in charge of compensation who had not successfully sued Germany in the United States said that the agreement was not enough for the two communities, which suffered “irreversible harm” in the hands of the German colonial army.

Rukoro said: “We have questions about this type of agreement, and we think it constitutes a complete sell-off by the Namibian government.”