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Namibia proposes genocide remembrance day

Xinhua, May 7, 2017 Adjust font size:

Consultations on whether Namibia should set aside May 28 as a day of remembering the 1904-1908 genocide committed by German forces on the Nama and Herero tribes will start Monday.

German forces killed about 100,000 Namas and Hereros who resisted occupation, while many others were sent into concentration camps.

A Parliamentary Standing Committee on Constitution and Legal Affairs will consult traditional leaders across the country on the proposed National Genocide Remembrance Day.

The motion to declare a remembrance day was moved by the leader of the South West African National Union party Usutuaije Maamberua in April 2016.

May 28 was proposed because this was the day when the Germans released the tribesmen from concentration camps.

The standing committee will report its finding to the National Assembly.

Both the Nama and the Herero have taken the German government to court in the United States, demanding an apology and reparations.

The Government of Namibia has also started proceedings that could see them demanding billions from the German government. Enditem