Namibia commemorates German genocide for the first time

Namibia will for the first time commemorate the killing of 70,000 Africans by Germany, a genocide that took place decades before the Holocaust.

German forces used concentration camps in the early-20th century to torture and kill local communities who refused to give up their property in what was then South West Africa.

In recent years, Windhoek has pressured Berlin to pay reparations for the mass slaughter, with Germany so far offering about $1.3 billion in development aid to be paid over 30 years, albeit without describing the sum as reparations.

Today’s Genocide Remembrance Day, a national holiday, will be marked by a minute’s silence and candlelight vigil outside Namibia’s parliament.