Namibia to hold first commemoration of German genocide

Namibia will on Wednesday hold its first national commemoration for victims of mass killings by German occupiers in what is widely recognised as the first genocide of the 20th century, the government said.

Colonial-era German troops massacred tens of thousands of indigenous Herero and Nama people who rebelled against their rule in the southern African country between 1904 and 1908.

The Genocide Remembrance Day will be celebrated in the gardens of parliament and feature a candlelight vigil and minute of silence, according to a government programme released Monday.

The day has been declared a national holiday and members of the diplomatic community are expected at the event, where President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah will deliver a keynote address.

The commemoration, to be held annually, marks "the beginning of a national journey of healing", the government said. It "serves as a moment of national reflection and mourning", it said.

May 28 was chosen for the annual commemoration as it was the day in 1907 when German authorities ordered the closure of concentration camps following international criticism over the brutal conditions and high death rates.

Germany long refused to take the blame for the episode and only in 2021 recognised its settlers had committed the genocide.

It has not issued a formal apology or offered reparations but in 2021 pledged more than one billion euros ($1.1 billion) in development aid over 30 years, which was rejected in Namibia. Negotiations are continuing.

Germany ruled what was then called German South West Africa as a colony from 1884 to 1915. Its settlers took local women, land and cattle, leading the Herero tribe to launch a revolt in January 1904, in which more than 100 German civilians were killed over several days. The smaller Nama tribe joined the uprising in 1905.

The Germans responded ruthlessly and an estimated 60,000 Herero and 10,000 Nama people were killed. Hundreds were beheaded after their deaths and their skulls handed to researchers in Berlin for experiments attempting to prove the racial superiority of whites over blacks.