Namibia turns down German genocide reparations offer

Namibia's President Hage Geingob has said the offer for reparations made by Germany for mass killings in its then colony was "not acceptable".

German troops killed tens of thousands of Herero and Nama people between 1904 to 1908 in response to an anti-colonial uprising.

It is thought that 75% of the Herero population and half of the Nama population died.

The two countries started negotiations over reparations in 2015 and have so far held eight rounds of talks.

President Geingob was on Tuesday briefed about the negotiations by the Namibian negotiating team led by special envoy Zed Ngavirue.

"The current offer for reparations made by the German Government remains an outstanding issue and is not acceptable to the Namibian Government," the president said in a statement.

Today, I received a briefing from Amb. Zed Ngavirue on negotiations with Germany about Genocide, Apology and Reparations. Diplomacy is about compromise and I commend Amb. Ngavirue on progress regarding the task assigned to him. We remain resolute in completing this key mission. pic.twitter.com/UZzxsjsr8u

— Hage G. Geingob (@hagegeingob) August 11, 2020

No details of the offer were given.

In June Germany agreed to apologise in principle but is yet to formally do so.

The Namibian president's statement appears to indicate that wording has been a sticking point.

"While the Namibian Government agreed to negotiate the issue of redress (reparations), which the German Government consistently referred to as 'healing the wounds', Germany has declined to accept the term 'reparations'" it said.

The president's office tweeted photos of the meeting between President Geingob and Mr Ngavirue.