Genocide Issue: A Call For a Mediator

• JEPHTA NGUHERIMO

THE RECENT AGREEMENT among various OvaHerero traditional authorities to work together on the genocide issue is a welcome development.

One of the crucial objectives of the Okandjoze memorandum of understanding is the adoption of a common front.

It further seeks tripartite and direct negotiations on an equal footing among the three parties (Namibian and German governments and representatives of the descendants of the victims of genocide) as per the 2006 resolution of our National Assembly.

Unity among the OvaHerero and Ovambanderu traditional authorities has been elusive for years.

Therefore, many of us are cautiously optimistic that the Chiefs’ Assembly on Genocide will adopt a joint comprehensive document that encompasses the demands for reparations, an apology, and recognition of the genocide to be presented to the Namibian and German governments.

The importance of such a document should undercut arguments that the OvaHerero people are too divided for their leaders to be included at the negotiating table.

We hope the envisioned outreach to other affected communities and to the Nama people will be successful as it will open a new chapter on this critical and historical matter.

‘OUTSIDE SUPPORT’

While unity among the leaders of Affected Communities is an important first step, we are not unaware of the threat unity might present to both governments.

One cannot rule out that a monkey wrench might be thrown among them to try and sow the seeds of division.

It will be imperative for the traditional leaders who are signatories to the agreement to seek outside support regarding possible mediation between them and the Namibian government.

Both the Namibian and German governments are aware that their Joint Declaration Agreement has been rejected by parliament and the affected communities.

Namibia’s founding president, Sam Nujoma, also reiterated in an interview with New Era that the German government’s reparations quantum of 1,1 billion euros over 30 years “is woefully insignificant”.

While he urged the Namibian government to “return to the table”, his statement fell short of calling on the government and his party to include OvaHerero and Nama leaders in the negotiations.

Despite mass public rejection of the Joint Declaration Agreement, the Geingob administration has not yet pronounced itself on the next step.

Therefore, it is fair to conclude that a stalemate exists between the Namibian government and the communities it is supposed to represent.

There is a lack of trust and confidence among communities affected by the genocide. In particular, their exclusion from the process and total rejection of the Joint Declaration Agreement reached between the two governments in 2021.

WE MUST MEET THE MOMENT

The Chiefs’ Assembly on Genocide must seize the opportunity to make a formal request to the African Union Commission and/or other international bodies to seek mediation.

There are respected retired regional former presidents of Botswana and South Africa, Ian Khama and Thabo Mbeki, who could help mediate a stalemate.

There is a clear need to involve stakeholders in the negotiation process.

We must seek a mediator to help us develop and adopt a common Namibian approach to the genocide of 1904-1908.

Given that we as a country benefited from a mediated political settlement, the Namibian government should be open to an external independent mediator for peace and stability. After all, the AU Commission mediated between the Namibian and German governments on this very issue.

Excluding the communities directly affected by the genocide from future negotiations would fuel their anger because of political marginalisation.

Although our leaders often make much of the peace in the country, as Martin Luther King Jr said, “true peace is not merely the absence of tension, it is the presence of justice”.

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