The German government initially offered Namibia Euro 298 million (approximately N.dollars 5 billion) as ‘compensation’ for the Herero and Nama genocide in 1904 to 1908, Bank of Namibia Deputy Governor Edson Uanguta has said.

He made the revelation on Friday during a media conference where government provided an update on the outcome of the genocide negotiations between the Namibian and German governments.

At least 100 000 Hereros and 10 000 Namas were killed by colonial Germany when they resisted colonial occupation.

Uanguta, who is also part of the genocide negotiation team, said before starting the negotiation process in 2016, the team came up with a narrative which included a calculation of cost and losses that have been incurred by the affected communities during the 1904-1908.

He said the calculations looked at loss of life, loss of land, loss of livelihood, as well as loss of other properties as result of genocide, which brought them to an amount of N.dollars 1.1 trillion (about Euro 70 billion) which was submitted to the German government.

“The Germans sat with that for possibly six to nine months, without us hearing anything from them. They came back to us and offered us an amount of Euro 289 million. Of course, it was rejected,” he said.

Uanguta added that the German government initially increased their offer to Euro 300 million before increasing it to Euro 700 million, both offers which he said were a mere drop in the ocean.

The government later offered an additional concessional loan of about Euro 780 million meant for water desalination at an interest rate of two per cent.

Uanguta further recounted that initially the issue of land was not favoured by the German government, and it was pushed by Namibian leaders and the negotiating team. It was the inclusion of land that later brought the amount to Euro 895 million, which was eventually pushed to Euro 1.1 billion this year.

On whether the German government will offer more money, government and the negotiating team is in the dark.

However, the two countries are now looking at elevating their bilateral cooperation and bi-nation relations, where the two heads of state will handle any discussion that may have been left out now or may emerge in the future.

Source: Namibia Press Agency