Around about a 136 years ago....Germany arrived in the region of Namibia, Africa....set up a colony, and in fairly quick fashion....got into the atrocities business (against the tribes of the Nama and Herero folks).
Total killed in this period? Around 75,000.
The colony effort? Well....shortly after WW I, the colony was dissolved, and was attached for several decades to South Africa.
MDR had an interesting update to the whole story.
This week...the governments of Namibia and Germany came to this mutual agreement. Germany did finally agree that atrocities happened, and a serious amount of money was put on the table (one-billion Euro) to compensate for the crime of hundred years ago. Curious part of the story? It's to be paid out slowly, over thirty years.
The end of this whole mess? Well....no.
You see....the Herero elements have stood up and said that it was highly unfair that they weren't allowed at the government table in these talks. It reached a point where a court was drawn into the discussion.
What's generally said? The Germans were talking mostly (only) to the government itself. In the minds of the Herero folks, they were the injured party....not the current government.
The Herero tribal numbers? If you go by the Wiki folks, the tribe only makes up 7-percent of national numbers. To be honest, the Nama folks only make up 5-percent.
The Ovembo tribe? Well....they make up fifty percent of the population, so they kinda control the voting and the government functions.
All of this leading to tribal conflict, and a civil war? No one is really suggesting that (at least not yet). I think by parring this billion Euro sum down to around 33-million Euro a year....they might discourage conflict over the 'cash'. As for the Herero folks not having any say over the spending of the 'cash'? Well....yeah, that might turn into an interesting long-term mess.
I admit, it would be interesting to wake up in five years...in the midst of a Namibia civil war over the German settlement money, and the Germans having been gone for almost a century.....recreating conflict once again.
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