Foreign Minister Heiko Maas announced that Germany will acknowledge colonial-era mass killings in Namibia as genocide and will offer 1.1 billion euros ($1.3 billion) in aid as an act of reparation.
After more than five years of negotiations, German and Namibian officials reached an agreement on Friday. Between 1904 and 1908, Namibia has charged German colonial officials of genocide against the Herero and Nama people.
“We will now describe these events officially as what they were from today’s perspective: genocide,” Maas said in a statement. While the accord doesn’t open the door to reparation claims, the communities affected by the genocide will have a say in the aid program, Maas said.
From 1884 to 1915, Germany dominated Namibia, which was then known as German Southwest Africa. After its troops overcame German soldiers defending the territory during World War I, the League of Nations ceded authority to South Africa. Namibia obtained independence from the United Kingdom in 1990.
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