Hereros insist apology must come with compensation

THE Herero people suing Germany for the 1904 atrocities have vowed they will not withdraw the case as a precondition for dialogue with Berlin.

The tribe has however hinted that it will consider suspending the lawsuit if the former colonial power enters into “serious” talks with them. “To withdraw the case is an issue that is non-negotiable… until we see that we are in serious business,” Herero Paramount Chief Kuaima Riruako told a media conference yesterday.”There could only be a possibility of suspending the case, and this will only depend on how serious the Germans are with the issue of negotiations,” added a senior member of the Herero People Reparations Corporation, Arnold Tjihuiko.The comments come in the wake of growing calls from the German government for the Hereros to withdraw the N$20 billion lawsuit they have filed in a US federal court against Berlin and some German companies the say benefited from their exploitation and enslavement.”They [the Germans] are guilty.A guilty person is not supposed to give us lecture on how to deal with our case… it’s like adding insult to our injury,” Riruako fumed when a journalist told him that Germany wanted the case to be withdrawn before talks could start.On Saturday, German Minister for Economic Co-operation and Development, Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, apologised for the first time for the killing of about 65 000 Hereros by German colonial troops.While accepting the German minister’s apology, the Herero leader cautioned that a verbal utterance alone was not enough to appease his people’s aspirations towards a conclusion to the matter.”The verbal apology is a necessary aspect of progression towards reconciliation and reconstruction,” he stated.”… we must not lose sight of the reality of our circumstances.For the Herero to feel a sense of closure, material and economic redress must be forthcoming.”Riruako claimed that Germany today stands among the world’s top eight economies because of the benefits it reaped from the near demise of the Herero people and “the government of Kaiser Wilhelm II and his expansionist campaign.””It is therefore fair and appropriate for the government of Germany to include compensation with the apology,” he demanded.Germany has resisted mounting calls from the Herero for it to pay reparations for the massacres, but has given Namibia, home to some 25 000 white German-speakers, 500 million euros (600 million dollars) in aid since 1990.Despite this, some 200 Herero filed a lawsuit in a US court in Washington in 2001 demanding compensation from the Berlin government for the atrocities committed under colonial rule.Germany ruled Namibia, then called German South West Africa, between 1884 and 1915 before losing the territory to South Africa after its defeat in World War I.Namibia won its independence in 1990.”To withdraw the case is an issue that is non-negotiable… until we see that we are in serious business,” Herero Paramount Chief Kuaima Riruako told a media conference yesterday.”There could only be a possibility of suspending the case, and this will only depend on how serious the Germans are with the issue of negotiations,” added a senior member of the Herero People Reparations Corporation, Arnold Tjihuiko.The comments come in the wake of growing calls from the German government for the Hereros to withdraw the N$20 billion lawsuit they have filed in a US federal court against Berlin and some German companies the say benefited from their exploitation and enslavement.”They [the Germans] are guilty.A guilty person is not supposed to give us lecture on how to deal with our case… it’s like adding insult to our injury,” Riruako fumed when a journalist told him that Germany wanted the case to be withdrawn before talks could start.On Saturday, German Minister for Economic Co-operation and Development, Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, apologised for the first time for the killing of about 65 000 Hereros by German colonial troops.While accepting the German minister’s apology, the Herero leader cautioned that a verbal utterance alone was not enough to appease his people’s aspirations towards a conclusion to the matter.”The verbal apology is a necessary aspect of progression towards reconciliation and reconstruction,” he stated.”… we must not lose sight of the reality of our circumstances.For the Herero to feel a sense of closure, material and economic redress must be forthcoming.”Riruako claimed that Germany today stands among the world’s top eight economies because of the benefits it reaped from the near demise of the Herero people and “the government of Kaiser Wilhelm II and his expansionist campaign.””It is therefore fair and appropriate for the government of Germany to include compensation with the apology,” he demanded.Germany has resisted mounting calls from the Herero for it to pay reparations for the massacres, but has given Namibia, home to some 25 000 white German-speakers, 500 million euros (600 million dollars) in aid since 1990.Despite this, some 200 Herero filed a lawsuit in a US court in Washington in 2001 demanding compensation from the Berlin government for the atrocities committed under colonial rule.Germany ruled Namibia, then called German South West Africa, between 1884 and 1915 before losing the territory to South Africa after its defeat in World War I.Namibia won its independence in 1990.