Traditional leaders from Namibia have urged their government and Germany to finalize a reconciliation and reparation agreement by December, a deadline that intensifies a dispute over whether the proposed deal sufficiently addresses historical injustices.
The call came in a joint statement issued at the Forum of German-Speaking Namibians on Friday, November 6, as reported by Xinhua. The representatives stand for communities impacted by the 1904-1908 genocide, pressing the two nations to settle technical and legal matters and sign the proposed Joint Declaration immediately. The representatives indicated that the 1.1-billion-euro (about 1.2 billion U.S. dollars) financial package first put forward by Germany was still not enough in light of the extent of the atrocities, historical land dispossession, and their lasting effects.
Dispute Over Nature of Agreement
The negotiations stem from atrocities committed by German colonial forces against the Ovaherero and Nama communities, where an estimated 100,000 people were killed between 1904 and 1908, an event historians widely regard as the first genocide of the 20th century.
In 2021, Germany acknowledged the colonial-era atrocities as genocide and proposed the €1.1 billion (approximately N$20.31 billion) financial package over 30 years for reconstruction and development projects in Namibia, as reported by Namibiansun.
The proposed agreement has faced persistent opposition. The Genocide Reparations Advocacy Forum (Graf) has called on German civil society to persuade its government to abandon the joint declaration, stating it is an unlawful instrument
that should not be considered reparations. The joint declaration has been rejected by many descendants of the survivors of the genocide,
Graf’s statement says.
The Ovaherero Traditional Authority, represented by paramount chief Mutjinde Katjiua, has also rejected the agreement. Speaking in Berlin, Katjiua renewed his stance that development aid cannot substitute for comprehensive reparations
and has challenged the agreement in the Windhoek High Court.
German Parliamentary Debate
The controversy reignited in the German Bundestag on October 14, 2026, when lawmakers debated motions from the socialist Left Party and the environmentalist Greens. Both motions were referred to the Bundestag’s Foreign Affairs Committee for further consideration but were not adopted as government policy, as reported by Anadolu.
The Left Party’s motion called on the government to formally acknowledge full historical responsibility and legal liability under international law
for the atrocities and to pay immediate, comprehensive reparations directly to the descendants of victims. The Greens demanded an official apology from Germany and the return of cultural artifacts and human remains held in German collections.
The debate exposed deep political divisions. Alternative for Germany (AfD) lawmakers dismissed the proposals. Alexander Wolf criticized the motions as an expression of German self-hatred
among left-green ideologues,
while fellow AfD deputy Ronald Glaeser faced a protest from Left Party lawmakers who turned their backs as he addressed parliament.
Namibian Government Position Unclear
The debate in Berlin has rekindled the dispute over genocide reparations. In the National Assembly, National Unity Democratic Organisation parliamentarian Vetaruhe Kandorozu challenged Prime Minister Elijah Ngurare over the government’s position, questioning why Germany was proceeding with parliamentary deliberations while Namibia had yet to establish a united stance on the agreement.
I am protesting. People are excluded from the process. And the whole process is skewed,
Kandorozu said. If they agree and here on the other side we reject it completely, why can they not wait for us to deliberate the whole process, dissect and then they can resolve based on our guidelines?
Prime Minister Ngurare acknowledged he had not been fully briefed on the developments in Berlin, stating, I’m afraid that I’m not thoroughly informed by that. If that is the case, we will follow up to understand it.
He agreed that Namibia needed a common position on addressing the historical injustices.
The traditional leaders’ statement on November 6 welcomed revisions to the proposed declaration that would leave room for additional funding beyond the initial €1.1 billion package. They emphasized that any implementation must result in practical improvements in everyday life: access to land and water, education and skills, stronger livelihoods and opportunities for young people.
The leaders also called for affected communities to play a decisive role in implementing the agreement through an independent, non-profit institution to oversee reconstruction, development, and reconciliation programmes. Will Germany and Namibia agree on terms by the December deadline? And if they do, will the affected communities accept them?
