Namas, Hereros sign compensation deal

NAMA and Herero traditional leaders have agreed on a compensation package for the suffering inflicted by German colonial forces during 1904 to 1908 war.

It is estimated that 80 per cent of the Ovaherero and 60 per cent of the Nama population were killed in a brutal repression of an uprising against German rule. While addressing a Herero audience in 2004, German Minister of Economic Co-operation and Development Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, admitted the atrocities and expressed regret on behalf of the German government.Following a two-day meeting at Mariental, Herero Paramount Chief Kuaima Riruako and !Aman Nama Chief Dawid Frederick on Friday signed a compensation package offered by the German government.The package would soon be submitted to the federal government of Germany, the Namibian Government and the National Assembly, it was greed at the meeting.The details of the compensation package will only be disclosed at a press conference planned for Wednesday.However, The Namibian has established that it includes the building of educational and health centres in designated areas and the purchase of land to resettle those who were displaced and disinherited during the German war.The meeting’s aim was to formulate a common position by the Herero and Nama communities on the issue of reparations.Riruako said the meeting also served to cement the ties between the Nama and the Herero communities.He said the Ovaherero had joined forces with the Nama on the reparations issue because the Namas too had suffered under the “extermination order” executed by General Lothar Von Trotha on behalf of the imperial government of Kaiser Wilhelm II.”It’s important for us to find a common ground on the reparations issue to avoid backstabbing,” Riruako said.Chief Markus Kooper of the Rooinasie Nama clan said the gathering of the Nama and Ovaherero communities should not be seen as promoting ethnicity.”We share a common colonial experience and history, therefore let politics and church affiliations not divide us,” he said.”We [Nama and Ovahehero] need to speak as one voice to get redress for the wrongs of the past,” he added.While addressing a Herero audience in 2004, German Minister of Economic Co-operation and Development Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, admitted the atrocities and expressed regret on behalf of the German government.Following a two-day meeting at Mariental, Herero Paramount Chief Kuaima Riruako and !Aman Nama Chief Dawid Frederick on Friday signed a compensation package offered by the German government.The package would soon be submitted to the federal government of Germany, the Namibian Government and the National Assembly, it was greed at the meeting.The details of the compensation package will only be disclosed at a press conference planned for Wednesday.However, The Namibian has established that it includes the building of educational and health centres in designated areas and the purchase of land to resettle those who were displaced and disinherited during the German war.The meeting’s aim was to formulate a common position by the Herero and Nama communities on the issue of reparations.Riruako said the meeting also served to cement the ties between the Nama and the Herero communities.He said the Ovaherero had joined forces with the Nama on the reparations issue because the Namas too had suffered under the “extermination order” executed by General Lothar Von Trotha on behalf of the imperial government of Kaiser Wilhelm II.”It’s important for us to find a common ground on the reparations issue to avoid backstabbing,” Riruako said.Chief Markus Kooper of the Rooinasie Nama clan said the gathering of the Nama and Ovaherero communities should not be seen as promoting ethnicity.”We share a common colonial experience and history, therefore let politics and church affiliations not divide us,” he said.”We [Nama and Ovahehero] need to speak as one voice to get redress for the wrongs of the past,” he added.