(MENAFN) Namibia’s president, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, has reaffirmed the country’s enduring remembrance of the horrific slaughter of thousands of its people by German colonial forces.

In a heartfelt address delivered on Wednesday during Namibia’s inaugural Genocide Remembrance Day, President Nandi-Ndaitwah honored the victims of one of the earliest genocides of the 20th century.

Between 1904 and 1908, German troops killed roughly 100,000 members of the OvaHerero and Nama communities in what was then German South West Africa. These mass killings followed a series of rebellions against German domination and have been recognized by the United Nations as the first genocide of the century.

“Many people from the two communities were forced into concentration camps where they were starved to death and their skulls were taken to Germany for so-called scientific research,” Nandi-Ndaitwah stated at the solemn event held in Parliament Gardens, Windhoek.

She stated that although Namibia is now independent and dedicated to nation-building, it “shall never forget the emotional, psychological, economic, and cultural scars” caused by the colonial-era atrocities.

In 2021, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier formally apologized for the atrocities and committed €1.1 billion ($1.2 billion) in development aid to Namibia. However, this pledge did not meet the full reparations demands of the descendants of the victims.

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