On 13 January, the President of Namibia, Hage Geingob, criticized Germany for giving its backing to Israel in the genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) brought by South Africa. The President condemned Germany’s own role in committing genocide, a history that is not limited to its Nazi era but includes the internationally recognized genocide that Germany carried out in Africa at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Between 1904 and 1908 Germany waged a military campaign, in its colony of German South West Africa (Namibia), against the indigenous Herero and Nama peoples. The goal of the campaign was to exterminate these peoples and take over their lands. People were driven off their lands into the desert, where there was absolutely no means of survival. Germany killed tens of thousands of people.
It took till 2015 for the German government to even refer to the killings as genocide, but it still refuses to accept that this is genocide in legal terms so it can avoid international legal obligations to make reparations. It was only in 2021 that Germany issued some public expression of apology, but still, today, it will not fully resolve the reparations issues.
President Geingob’s statement about Germany’s support for Israel’s case at the ICJ was released here on X.
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Namibia rejects Germany’s Support of the Genocidal Intent of the Racist Israeli State against Innocent Civilians in Gaza
On Namibian soil, #Germany committed the first genocide of the 20th century in 1904-1908, in which tens of thousands of innocent Namibians died in the most inhumane and brutal conditions. The German Government is yet to fully atone for the genocide it committed on Namibian soil. Therefore, in light of Germany’s inability to draw lessons from its horrific history, President @hagegeingob expresses deep concern with the shocking decision communicated by the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany yesterday, 12 January 2024, in which it rejected the morally upright indictment brought forward by South Africa before the #InternationalCourtofJustice that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in #Gaza.
Worryingly, ignoring the violent deaths of over 23 000 Palestinians in Gaza and various United Nations reports disturbingly highlighting the internal displacement of 85% of civilians in Gaza amid acute shortages of food and essential services, the German Government has chosen to defend in the International Court of Justice the genocidal and gruesome acts of the Israeli Government against innocent civilians in Gaza and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Germany cannot morally express commitment to the United Nations Convention against genocide, including atonement for the genocide in Namibia, whilst supporting the equivalent of a holocaust and genocide in Gaza. Various international organizations, such as Human Rights Watch have chillingly concluded that Israel is committing war crimes in Gaza.
President Geingob reiterates his call made on 31 December 2023, “No peace-loving human being can ignore the carnage waged against Palestinians in Gaza”. In that vein, President Geingob appeals to the German Government to reconsider its untimely decision to intervene as a third-party in defence and support of the genocidal acts of Israel before the International Court of Justice.
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