African state remembers first genocide of 20th century
Namibia will never forget the brutal massacre of thousands of its people by German soldiers during colonial rule, the Southern African country's president, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, has declared.
President Nandi-Ndaitwah made the remarks in an emotional speech on Wednesday, the country's first Genocide Remembrance Day.
German colonial forces massacred an estimated 100,000 OvaHerero and Nama people between 1904 and 1908 in what was then known as German South West Africa. Launched in response to a series of uprisings against German rule, the killings are recognized by the UN as the first genocide of the 20th century.
'Many people from the two communities were forced into concentration camps where they were starved to death and their skulls were taken to Germany for so-called scientific research,' Nandi-Ndaitwah said at the commemoration event held at Parliament Gardens in Windhoek, the capital.
She said while Namibia is now free and focused on building the nation, it 'shall never forget the emotional, psychological, economic, and cultural scars' left by the colonial-era atrocities.
In 2021, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier apologized for the colonial-era crime and pledged €1.1 billion ($1.2 billion) in development aid to Namibia. This offer, however, fell short of the reparations demanded by leaders of the affected communities.
President Nandi-Ndaitwah noted that while Berlin's response may not fully satisfy the demands for justice, its formal admission of having perpetrated the genocide is a meaningful and necessary step forward.
'We may not agree on the final quantum, but that is part of the complex negotiations we have been engaged in with the German Government since 2013. We must remain committed that as a nation, we shall soldier until the ultimate conclusion is reached,' she said.
In a statement released ahead of the Windhoek event, Berlin described the 'crimes of German colonial rule' as the 'darkest chapter' in German–Namibian relations.
'The German government acknowledges Germany's moral and political responsibility and emphasizes the importance of reconciliation,' it stated on Wednesday.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Russia Today
20 hours ago
- Russia Today
Defeating Russia impossible
It has been clear from the very beginning of the Ukraine conflict that Russia cannot be defeated, particularly due to its nuclear status, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul has told the SZ newspaper. Kiev's Western backers, including top officials in Germany, France, and the UK, as well as the US under former President Joe Biden's administration, repeatedly stated the intent to inflict a 'strategic defeat' on Moscow in the Ukraine conflict, or at least to ensure that it does not emerge victorious. That justification has been used to support continued military assistance to Kiev. Wadephul admitted on Friday that it was obvious the conflict between Moscow and Kiev can only be resolved in a diplomatic way. 'It was clear from the beginning that this war would most likely end through a negotiated settlement,' Germany's top diplomat told SZ in a lengthy interview. 'One thing is true: a complete defeat in the sense of a capitulation by nuclear-armed Russia could not have been expected,' the minister stated, adding that 'we have now become a little more honest' in this regard. He still maintained that Kiev's troops have been 'successfully defending' against Moscow's forces, although the Ukrainian military has been losing ground along the entire front over the past several months. The foreign minister maintained it was important to help Kiev get a 'strong negotiating position' at peace talks and claimed that Russia was 'threatening' Germany as he justified a planned military buildup and increase in defense expenditures. He also said that relations between Moscow and Berlin could no longer be described as a 'clear peace situation.' Berlin has taken an even more hardline position on Russia under new Chancellor Friedrich Merz. In the weeks since taking office, Merz has lifted range restrictions on Ukrainian strikes with German-supplied missiles and hinted at the possibility of providing Kiev with Taurus missiles, which have a range of 500km and could reach Moscow. Germany has also announced a new military aid package for Kiev worth €5.2 billion ($5.6 billion), which Berlin says would be allocated mostly to long-range weaponry production inside Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reacted to Merz's statements by saying that Berlin's 'direct involvement in the war is now obvious.' Germany already followed a similar 'slippery slope' a couple of times in the last century 'down toward its own collapse,' he added.
Russia Today
2 days ago
- Russia Today
Russian security chief reacts to German missile claims
Moscow has the means to respond to Berlin's decision to lift the range restrictions on Ukrainian strikes with missiles provided by Germany, Russian Security Council Secretary Sergey Shoigu has said. Earlier this week, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz claimed that 'there are no longer any range restrictions on weapons supplied to Ukraine, neither from the British nor the French, nor from us, nor from the Americans.' In a separate interview on Wednesday, Merz said deliveries of German Taurus missiles – which have a range of 500km and could potentially reach Moscow – to Kiev is 'in the realm of possible.' Speaking at a conference on Thursday, Shoigu highlighted the inconsistency of Ukraine's Western backers regarding the use of long-range weapons. The administration of former US President Joe Biden lifted the restrictions on long-range attacks last November, with the UK and France following suit shortly afterwards. Since then, the Russian military has repelled a number of strikes against its territory, which included US-supplied ATACMS and British Storm Shadow missiles. Former German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was reluctant to approve deep strikes into Russia or to supply Ukraine with Taurus missiles over fears of escalation. 'There are many statements. They are all different. First, they say that they had lifted it, then they say that they did not. Then they say that they did it long ago… So, did you lift it or not?' Shoigu said, adding: 'we can also lift limitations on some things. I will not expand on this, but we have our own restrictions that we can remove in response.' The chancellor, who welcomed Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky in Berlin on Wednesday, also said Germany will help Kiev with the production of long-range weaponry inside Ukraine. According to the German Defense Ministry, a large part of the country's newly announced €5.2 billion ($5.6 billion) military aid for Ukraine will be allocated for the project. High-ranking Russian diplomat Rodion Miroshnik stressed on Friday that any weapons production facilities in Ukraine are legitimate targets for the Russian military, and are subject to 'unequivocal destruction.' Miroshnik, the Russian Foreign Ministry's ambassador-at-large tasked with documenting Kiev's alleged war crimes, also said Berlin's recent moves show that they 'are not looking for peace, [but are] trying in every possible way to continue the Ukraine conflict, to continue the bloodshed' in order to distract the people from the problems in their own country.
Russia Today
2 days ago
- Russia Today
Importing crime: Angela Merkel started the EU's migrant crisis, and she wants it to continue
The former chancellor is back in the news, lecturing her fellow citizens to allow more asylum seekers into their country even as Germany is plagued by rampant crime and dismal economic factors. If it is true that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results, then we can say with some degree of certainty that Angela Merkel is suffering severely on the mental front. The four-term leader of the Christian Democratic Union (2005-2021) has gone down in the history books as the person most responsible for the greatest upheaval of German society in modern times, and she shows no sign of letting up. Without ever asking the German electorate what they wanted, Merkel in 2015 opened her country's borders to over one million illegal immigrants, while holding out cash incentives and other handsome benefits for those who made the difficult journey. Merkel was of the opinion that Germany had the economic strength to handle the influx of migrants and reiterated that there was no legal maximum limit on the number of migrants the country could take. Unfortunately, she was seriously mistaken. And her views on the matter – despite serious cultural, societal and political repercussions – have not changed. During this week's presentation of her memoir, 'Freedom,' Merkel, 70, spoke out on migration, warning that without it 'we could see Europe destroyed.' 'I do not believe we can decisively combat illegal migration at the German-Austrian or German-Polish border… I have always advocated European solutions,' Merkel said when asked about the latest measures adopted by Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who faces an uphill battle in the Bundestag, the federal parliament, to incorporate more anti-immigration policies. As for Merkel the diehard globalist, who once lamented the failure of multiculturalism, she fails to understand that the German people are desperately holding out hope for a real change of political course. The fact is Germany is no longer a safe place to do simple everyday things, like take a casual stroll down the street or to raise a family, without an unhealthy degree of fear and apprehension. That is because an entirely new phenomenon of knife attacks is now plaguing the streets of every German city as the migration crisis has spiraled into a crime crisis. Statistics show that such heinous criminal acts, overwhelmingly committed by individuals of foreign origin, are getting worse, with a shocking 79 knife attacks per day on average now recorded, according to some German media. Last year, there were 29,014 cases involving a crime where a knife was used, of which, 15,741 were knife attacks. Physical harm involving a knife surged by 10.8 percent in 2024 compared to 2023. Here is just a glimpse of the recent violence that has plagued Germany. In January, a two-year-old boy and a 41-year-old man were killed in a stabbing in a park in Aschaffenburg, with several others wounded. One month later, a Spanish tourist was stabbed at Berlin's Holocaust Memorial. This month, a 35-year-old Syrian asylum seeker stabbed five youths in an unprovoked knife attack outside a popular student bar in Bielefeld, Germany. Not all of the migrant violence was the result of a knife attack. Last December, six people were killed and hundreds were injured after a car plowed into a crowd at a Christmas market in the eastern city of Magdeburg. Such indiscriminate attacks must be taking a heavy toll on the German psyche. Meanwhile, other statistics reveal the state of mind of the average German voter and the real consequences of Merkel's reckless policies. Die Welt has reported, citing a new survey by YouGov, that 31% of those surveyed said they would 'definitely' move abroad if they were entirely free to choose. Another 27% of respondents said they would 'probably' leave. Within this group, 61% identified the country's immigrant situation as a major factor influencing their decision, while 41% cited Germany's ongoing economic recession. Speaking of the economy, Merkel's continual promotion of open borders is coming at a time when Germany has been enduring its longest phase of economic stagnation in post-war history. The country's struggling economy shrank for a second year in a row in 2024, as gross domestic product (GDP) declined by 0.2% compared to the previous year. Germany's central bank, the Bundesbank, has lowered its forecast for the economy and only expects very modest growth of 0.2% for 2025. In other words, it may be simply asking too much of the German people to continue supporting asylum seekers at a time when so many are feeling the sting of economic uncertainty. For many Germans, their only hope is for a major change in the political landscape. Thus, many citizens have thrown their support behind the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), the biggest opposition party, which came in second in the February general election with just over 20% of the vote. That was the best national result for a hard-right party in Germany since the Second World War, and despite being designated as an 'extremist' organization by Germany's domestic intelligence service. US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, described the ruling as 'tyranny in disguise'. Posting on social media, Rubio said: 'What is truly extremist is not the popular AfD – which took second in the recent election – but rather the establishment's deadly open border immigration policies.' Angela Merkel would do well to heed the opinion of the average German voter, who seems to be running out of patience, and support a pause in the influx of asylum seekers at this dangerous juncture.
