Genocide wounds are still raw - Rukoro
OvaHerero paramount chief Vekuii Rukoro has called on the German community in Namibia to wake up and smell the coffee.
Rukoro yesterday said the local community can no longer ignore that they are beneficiaries of a “bloody genocide” of the Nama and OvaHerero a century ago.
“Do not provoke us anymore,” Rukoro charged yesterday when he related that a New York-based journalist reporting on the genocide issue received death threats from local Germans. “We are calling on the Namibian government to please talk to your right wing people, because our wounds are still raw and are not yet treated and our land is not given back yet,” he said. Rukoro was, however, quick to add that there are no deliberate intentions by the two affected communities to invade German-owned farms. Descendants of the Nama and OvaHerero filed a federal class action lawsuit in January this year against Germany in New York in the United States seeking restorative justice for the 1904-08 genocide. The case was filed under the Alien Tort Statute and the first hearing was heard by Judge Laura Taylor Swain. However, to date, Germany has not been officially served with any court papers and has therefore not made any appearance in the New York court. According to Rukoro, the German embassy in the US has rejected court papers and instead referred lawyers to its government headquarters in Berlin.
“And so we employed an international organisation that assisted us to serve the court papers in Berlin at their justice ministry. However, they refused to accept it in Berlin and said they want it through diplomatic service through the Hague Convention,” related Rukoro. The group has eventually managed to enlist the US government as a sovereign state although Rukoro pointed out this process was “cumbersome” and very “costly”. “They told us to get another sovereign country and through its foreign affairs department we could hand over our court documents to the German foreign affairs minister. On top of that we must translate our papers into the German language,” said Rukoro. He added that choosing the US was not a coincidence but a deliberate move as it is a world superpower and “Germany cannot ignore it for too long”. By the time the group appeared in the New York court last week, Germany was yet to be served with court papers, and was once again a no-show. “Germany is using delaying tactics because they know they have no case to answer. They day they appear in that court room and see each other eye to eye, then Germany will be found guilty as charged and hit with a heavy monetary bill. “And it will be the first time that it will be exposed for the criminal state it is and the brutal and uncivilised killer it was or perhaps it still is, judging from its refusal to apologise,” he said. He claimed the Germans appropriated the cattle and land of the OvaHerero in Namibia. The case has since been postponed to 25 January next year.
JEMIMA BEUKES
Rukoro yesterday said the local community can no longer ignore that they are beneficiaries of a “bloody genocide” of the Nama and OvaHerero a century ago.
“Do not provoke us anymore,” Rukoro charged yesterday when he related that a New York-based journalist reporting on the genocide issue received death threats from local Germans. “We are calling on the Namibian government to please talk to your right wing people, because our wounds are still raw and are not yet treated and our land is not given back yet,” he said. Rukoro was, however, quick to add that there are no deliberate intentions by the two affected communities to invade German-owned farms. Descendants of the Nama and OvaHerero filed a federal class action lawsuit in January this year against Germany in New York in the United States seeking restorative justice for the 1904-08 genocide. The case was filed under the Alien Tort Statute and the first hearing was heard by Judge Laura Taylor Swain. However, to date, Germany has not been officially served with any court papers and has therefore not made any appearance in the New York court. According to Rukoro, the German embassy in the US has rejected court papers and instead referred lawyers to its government headquarters in Berlin.
“And so we employed an international organisation that assisted us to serve the court papers in Berlin at their justice ministry. However, they refused to accept it in Berlin and said they want it through diplomatic service through the Hague Convention,” related Rukoro. The group has eventually managed to enlist the US government as a sovereign state although Rukoro pointed out this process was “cumbersome” and very “costly”. “They told us to get another sovereign country and through its foreign affairs department we could hand over our court documents to the German foreign affairs minister. On top of that we must translate our papers into the German language,” said Rukoro. He added that choosing the US was not a coincidence but a deliberate move as it is a world superpower and “Germany cannot ignore it for too long”. By the time the group appeared in the New York court last week, Germany was yet to be served with court papers, and was once again a no-show. “Germany is using delaying tactics because they know they have no case to answer. They day they appear in that court room and see each other eye to eye, then Germany will be found guilty as charged and hit with a heavy monetary bill. “And it will be the first time that it will be exposed for the criminal state it is and the brutal and uncivilised killer it was or perhaps it still is, judging from its refusal to apologise,” he said. He claimed the Germans appropriated the cattle and land of the OvaHerero in Namibia. The case has since been postponed to 25 January next year.
JEMIMA BEUKES
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