Riruako says dialogue with Germany overdue

HERERO Paramount Chief Kuaima Riruako strongly criticised the German government at the inauguration ceremony of a new building at the Community Cultural and Tourism Centre in Okakarara on Friday.

Riruako told an audience of about 500 that, despite the official apology by German minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul in August last year, no dialogue had taken place between the German government and those who suffered during its colonial rule of Namibia. “The German government should have consulted the victims through a process of dialogue, as was agreed in Bremen [on a genocide conference in November] before deciding on their own to avail the N$160 million which is apparently meant to assist with the reconciliation process.”Riruako urged Germany to prove “that they are caring people who regret the deeds of their forefathers by undertaking to engage us in a serious dialogue to talk about what my people endured, something they are still suffering from, and how their suffering could be relieved through appropriate compensation”.Riruako expressed the view that if the people killed in the war of 1904 to 1908 had been white, “the German government would not have behaved the way they are behaving”.On behalf of the Government, Minister Without Portfolio and Swapo Secretary General Ngarikutuke Tjiriange described last year’s apology by German minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul as a “magnanimous gesture” which was wholeheartedly accepted by the Namibian people.He emphasised that no wounds of history could be wiped out by succeeding generations, but the recognition thereof could be a genuine basis for reconciliation.German Ambassador Wolfgang Massing said the German government had allocated funds amounting to N$2,5 million for the Okakarara Community Cultural and Tourism Centre.He also confirmed press reports that the German government was prepared to allocate an amount equivalent to N$160 million for development and reconciliation in settlement areas of affected communities “in order to heal the wounds left by the brutal colonial wars of 1904 to 1908”.Tjiriange and Massing then cut a ribbon in front of the new exhibition hall and inspected an exhibition of about 100 photographs of the Ohamakari commemoration of August 2004.”The German government should have consulted the victims through a process of dialogue, as was agreed in Bremen [on a genocide conference in November] before deciding on their own to avail the N$160 million which is apparently meant to assist with the reconciliation process.”Riruako urged Germany to prove “that they are caring people who regret the deeds of their forefathers by undertaking to engage us in a serious dialogue to talk about what my people endured, something they are still suffering from, and how their suffering could be relieved through appropriate compensation”.Riruako expressed the view that if the people killed in the war of 1904 to 1908 had been white, “the German government would not have behaved the way they are behaving”.On behalf of the Government, Minister Without Portfolio and Swapo Secretary General Ngarikutuke Tjiriange described last year’s apology by German minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul as a “magnanimous gesture” which was wholeheartedly accepted by the Namibian people.He emphasised that no wounds of history could be wiped out by succeeding generations, but the recognition thereof could be a genuine basis for reconciliation.German Ambassador Wolfgang Massing said the German government had allocated funds amounting to N$2,5 million for the Okakarara Community Cultural and Tourism Centre.He also confirmed press reports that the German government was prepared to allocate an amount equivalent to N$160 million for development and reconciliation in settlement areas of affected communities “in order to heal the wounds left by the brutal colonial wars of 1904 to 1908”. Tjiriange and Massing then cut a ribbon in front of the new exhibition hall and inspected an exhibition of about 100 photographs of the Ohamakari commemoration of August 2004.