Nudo joins genocide chorus

The National Unity Democratic Organisation (Nudo) has thrown its weight behind the Nama and the OvaHerero descendants, saying the affected parties cannot be excluded from negotiations on reparations for the 1904-08 genocide. Party president Asser Mbai said it was of paramount importance to involve the two parties to outline what their needs are and how the German government could address their concerns.“The Namibian government therefore must revisit its decision of excluding these affected communities from those committees and be bold enough to request their full participation in all deliberations,” Mbai said. These sentiments follow a string of accusations by Nama Technical Committee chairperson Ida Hoffman and OvaHerero Paramount Chief Vekuii Rukoro that they were being deliberately sidelined by the government. Ester Muinjangue of the Ovaherero-Ovambanderu Genocide Foundation (OGF) this week insisted that the government was still excluding them. She also said the governments of Namibia and Germany must go back to the drawing board as they had started the process wrongly. “The German governments were the killers, they cannot be the judges also. They must start the process all over,” she said. Last this month Rukoro told Namibian Sun that excluding them was part of a “conspiracy” being pursued by the Namibian government.According to him, the government is talking about atrocities committed by colonial forces, as opposed to genocide, for very clear political reasons.“When we talk of genocide, there can be only two communities who were targeted and which Germany sought to wipe out. Germany does not deny this, only the Namibian government is denying this,” he said.Rukoro says their cause would only be intensified because of the “conniving” of the two governments.“We will embark on a major campaign internationally and domestically to raise awareness… Germany can run and hide, but not forever. We will smoke them out,” he said.Hofmann also argued that the Namibian government was deliberately frustrating the situation and had in fact brought in groups of people not recognised by the affected communities. “It is very painful that traditional authorities from affected communities are not involved in talks. For us it is a sacred and noble cause. Did we really handle it with dignity and respect?” she asked.JEMIMA BEUKES

Nudo joins genocide chorus

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Namibian Sun 2026-02-18

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Nudo joins genocide chorus

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Namibian Sun 2026-02-18

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