Genocide descendants want N$17 trillion

Ovaherero and Nama genocide descendants are demanding N$17 trillion in reparations, rejecting the current Namibia-Germany negotiations as inadequate and exclusionary.

The Okandjoze Chiefs Assembly for Genocide says the current negotiations between Namibia and Germany have failed to deliver justice.

Reverend Ebson Kaapama, a member of the Maharero Royal Traditional Authority and technical committee member of the Okandjoze Chief Assembly, said this at a high-level conference in Ghana yesterday.

“A quantum of N$17 trillion is a reasonable and just compensation for the lives lost, the ancestral land stolen, the cattle confiscated, the forced labour endured, and the generational underdevelopment intentionally inflicted upon our tribes,” he said.

Kaapama said Germany has not fully accepted legal responsibility for the genocide under international law and its reference to the genocide is viewed as “from today’s perspective”, avoiding legal accountability and meaningful reparations.