Namibia wants to renegotiate a 2021 agreement with Germany on compensation for a 1900s genocide perpetrated by the European country.
Namibian Vice President Nangolo Mbumba said the southeast African country has requested that the agreement reached with Germany be reviewed to address undisclosed issues.
“Technical committees of Namibia and Germany discussed the issue and proposed that amendments be made to the joint declaration in the form of an addendum which was submitted to the German government,” Mbumba told a meeting of traditional leaders in Windhoek on Thursday.
He said the Namibian government is waiting for a response from the German government on its proposal.
Germany acknowledged for the first time last year that it committed genocide against Namibia’s Herero and Nama indigenous peoples between 1904 and 1908.
Berlin reached an agreement with Namibian negotiators in May 2021 by proposing a financial programme of 1.1 billion Euros over 30 years for land acquisition, road construction or water supply.
But a few days after the announcement of the agreement, the Namibian opposition and a group of traditional leaders representing the Herero and Nama tribes of Namibia denounced the “cheap deal” compared to the “75 billion Euros in pensions and social benefits paid to Jews” by the Nazi regime since 1949 years after the end of World War II.
The Namibian leaders want reparations of at least US$580 million per year paid over 40 years.
JN/APA