Berlin did not want the term "reparations for war crimes" to be used, as this could open the door to a chain of individual claims.
Berlin did not want the term "reparations for war crimes" to be used, as this could open the door to a chain of individual claims.
According to this taz article, the 1.1 billion are paid over a period of 30 years and are basically what Namibia would receive in development aid anyway:
https://taz.de/Kolonialverbrechen-an-Herero-und-Nama/!5775510/
Note that this whole "recognition" did not involve the Herero and Nama peoples themselves, either. As in a previous negotiation over the restitution of human remains, the German government insisted from the very start to only discuss the matter with the federal government of Namibia, and the Herero and Nama only make up a minority of the population. Officials who actually do speak for these groups, like Paramount Chief Vekuii Rukoro, have stated that this can be at best a begining of recognizing the genocide.
The whole thing is a farce. Self-congratulatory "we hear you, we see you" bs that does fucking nothing.
illuminating article, thanks!