GERMANY: Germany has expressed "regret" for the massacre of tens of thousands of ethnic Hereros in Namibia exactly a century ago but has ruled out paying compensation to descendants of survivors.
Around 600 Herero came together yesterday to mark the genocide by German colonial troops 100 years ago in their former capital, Okahandja.
"History cannot be undone but we can give back to the victims and their descendants the dignity and honour of which they were robbed," said Mr Wolfgang Massing, the German ambassador to Namibia, reading a statement from Berlin.
For 31 years until 1915, Namibia was a German colony known as German South-West Africa. In early 1904, after Hereros murdered German settlers who had seized their land, Kaiser Wilhelm dispatched an army headed by Gen Lothar von Trotha.
His troops used machine guns to massacre about 60,000 Here- ros, three quarters of the population, while others were driven into the desert to die. Troops poisoned water holes and bayoneted anyone who tried to leave the desert. Gen von Trotha then issued an infamous "Extermination Order" stating: "All Hereros must leave this land . . . any Herero found within the German borders with or without a gun, with or without cattle, will be shot."
Survivors were put into camps where many died of smallpox and typhus. Other camp inmates were used as guinea pigs in experiments conducted by Dr Eugene Fischer, the author of the Nazi standard text on "racial hygiene" and the teacher of Dr Josef Mengele, the Auschwitz "Angel of Death".
Yesterday's statement is the closest Germany has come to apologising for the massacre, still an unknown episode in German history. Herero leaders who have campaigned for an apology and compensation say they are not satisfied.
"The wounds of the past must be healed. Our reparation claim must only be seen as an effort to regain our dignity and help us restore what was wrongfully taken away from us," said Herero Paramount Chief, Kuaima Riruako. "I once again invite the German government to accept the genocide of my people and engage in a dialogue with the Herero to iron out issues of mutual interest." The Hereros are seeking compensation from the Berlin government and German companies including Deutsche Bank through the Herero People's Reparation Corporation, based in Washington.
Today, much of the former Herero land comprises huge ranches owned by German-speaking descendants of the settlers.
Mr Roman Herzog, the former German president, said during a 1998 visit that the massacre was "a dark chapter in our bilateral relations" but he refused to apologise saying "too much time has passed for a formal apology to the Hereros to make sense".
Mr Massing said yesterday that a portion of German aid to Namibia - €500 million since 1990 - should be used to preserve Herero traditions and culture.