Namibia's Herero people claim reparations

Namibia was under German rule until World War I

By the BBC's Martin Plaut

The Herero community of Namibia in south-west Africa has lodged a claim for two billion dollars in reparations for what their leaders allege were crimes committed against their people in the period between 1904 and 1907.

Several companies - the best known of which is Deutsche Bank - are accused of forming what is being called a "brutal alliance" with imperial Germany to exterminate more than 65,000 Herero.

Any Herero found within the German borders with or without a gun, with or without cattle, will be shot

The German commander General von Trotha

As one drives north of Namibia's tidy capital, Windhoek, there's nothing much to define the landscape.

The horizon opens up, under vast African skies. Farms slip by mile after mile, with hardly a homestead to be seen.

This is ranching country, where cattle and sheep graze beneath thorn trees, and farmers pray for rain.

Namibia's ranching country

The roads, that once took South African troops northwards towards the Angolan border, and war, are smooth and straight.

The intermittent towns and villages have a flavour of even earlier times.

Here German is frequently the language of choice among shopkeepers.

And no surprise really, for this giant country was ruled from Berlin until World War I.

Imperial dream

It was part of the German plan to claim a place in the sun - to establish an empire that would rival Britain's.

And so the country accumulated Cameroon, Togo, Tanganyika and the odd outpost in the Far East.

Namibia was claimed almost by chance.

In the 1880s German control was extended to the territory at the request of a trader.

German power was gradually reinforced, with the construction of a series of whitewashed stone forts.

Behind the traders and the soldiers came settlers, who gradually eroded tribal control of the land.

At first this process was peaceful, but in 1903 first the Nama and then the Herero rose in revolt.

'Shoot on sight'

The rebellion was put down with the utmost brutality.

The German commander, General von Trotha, issued this chilling proclamation:

"Any Herero found within the German borders with or without a gun, with or without cattle, will be shot. I shall no longer receive any women or children; I will drive them back to their people. I will shoot them. This is my decision for the Herero people."

Poor Namibian farm workers live in dwellings like these

And the general was true to his word. The Herero were machine-gunned and their wells were poisoned.

The last stand of the Herero came at the Waterberg.

Even today it is a striking location. A 200 metre high plateau rises straight from the surrounding plain.

Protected by cliffs of red sandstone, and 50 kilometres long, it must have seemed like an impregnable fortress.

But the Herero reckoned without the discipline and firepower of the imperial troops.

On 11 August 1904, the two sides fought all day, without either side striking a decisive blow.

On the following day, a German signal unit noticed a huge cloud of dust.

Death and despair

The Herero were leaving the Waterberg - trekking off into the sandy wastes that lead towards the border with Botswana.

In the months that followed tens of thousands of men, women and children died of thirst and starvation.

Now the Waterberg is a nature reserve.

Rare breeds have been brought into this sanctuary from across Namibia.

Guides will take you to see gemsbok, kudu, eland and even white rhino.

At the foot of the Waterberg is a small, well kept graveyard. The German troops who died here nearly 100 years ago are still remembered.

When I visited it, there were fresh wreaths from a Windhoek folk dance group, and from a union of former colonial soldiers.

From the top of the plateau one can see the neat graves.

I asked our guide where the Herero were buried.

Herero graveyard

"You see out there," he said, pointing into the distance. "That patch of white sand. That is where they lie."

I asked whether I could go and visit the site. "No," he replied. "Only Herero may go there."

And perhaps it is right that it remains so.

The Herero suffered enough that terrible day, and in the months and years that followed.

Will they get justice now for their claim for compensation in American courts for the wrongs they suffered?

I somehow doubt it. When Germany's president, Roman Herzog, visited Namibia in 1998, he rejected a claim for reparations.

The president argued that rules on the protection of rebels and the civilian population were not in existence at the time of the conflict.

But you can never tell. Perhaps compensation will finally arrive.

And if it does, perhaps the Herero will use a small part of that money to build a suitable memorial.

A memorial to commemorate the day, all those years ago, when their power was finally broken.