German soldiers killed more than 60,000 indigenous Herero and Nama tribes people between 1904 and 1908 amid an uprising against German colonial rule. It has long been considered by historians and the UN to be the first genocide of the 20th century. On Friday Germany’s foreign minister, Heiko Maas, said Germany officially acknowledged that the events “from today’s perspective” were “a genocide”. They said they had largely been excluded from the talks, although Germany argues some members of the community were consulted. Germany’s foreign minister Heiko Maas said the events of the German colonial period should be named “without sparing or glossing over them”.

Source: The Irish Times May 28, 2021 06:28 UTC