Botswana High Commissioner to Namibia Claurinah Modise says the government of Botswana will not intervene in the genocide negotiations currently underway between the Namibian and German governments.
This is despite a number of Ovaherero and Ovambanderu who fled from the war of extermination perpetrated against them by the Germans in 1904/1905 residing in Botswana, where they fled to after the genocide.
“I want to make it clear that the government of Botswana views the on-going negotiations to be a matter between the German and Namibian government,” Modise said, and added the two entities could make an informed determination of who should form part of the deletion to the negotiations.
Modise says Botswana considers the genocide issue as a domestic matter best left to the nationals of Namibia and Germany.
She said she has followed reports and debates around the possible payment of reparations to the descendants of victims of the genocide.
“I can attest to the fact that it is a very emotive issue and I can also confirm that the leadership in this country is committed to finding an amicable solution to the issue,” she said.
According to historians, in 1904, about 80,000 Hereros children, women men out of a population of 100,000 were massacred, deported and exterminated on the order of General Lothar von Trotha. To save their lives, many native people fled to neighbouring Botswana.
