Namibia-The Value Of Life

 

NAMIBIA

The Value of Life

Hundreds of Namibians protested in front of the country’s parliament this week as lawmakers prepare to vote on an agreement with Germany that the European nation hopes will provide a degree of compensation for the genocide committed during its colonial occupation of Namibia, Al Jazeera reported.

In May, Germany acknowledged it had committed genocide against the Herero and Nama people between 1904 and 1908. It promised to pay $1.3 billion in financial support to the descendants of the victims.

Under the deal, the sum will be paid across three decades and will primarily benefit the Herero and Nama descendants.

However, some of the victims’ descendants and opposition parties rejected the offer as a “fake genocide deal” and said that the amount was insufficient.

Defense Minister Frans Kapofi noted that the government had raised concerns about the amount but described the offer as “an achievement, of some measure, to get the Federal Republic of Germany accepting responsibility” for the genocide.

Germany had ruled Namibia from 1884 until it lost the colony in World War One. The 1904-1908 genocide began when the Herero and the Nama rebelled against their colonial rulers.

Historians estimate that up to 65,000 of the 80,000 Herero and at least 10,000 of the 20,000 Nama were killed.

The German government had previously acknowledged “moral responsibility” for the killings, but to avoid compensation claims it had never issued a formal apology.