Germany offers its condolences to Namibia on Geingob’s death

Berlin (dpa) – German head of state Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has paid tribute to the late President of Namibia, Hage Geingob, saying he was a formative statesman for his country. The German head of government, Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz, likewise expressed his condolences, saying that Germany had lost “a partner who was very openly involved in the process of re-appraising Germany’s colonial past”. In view of German colonial crimes committed more than 100 years ago in what is now Namibia, Steinmeier said that Geingob had “opted for the path of reconciliation with Germany (…) despite the heavy burden of our history”. The German Empire was the colonial power in German South West Africa from 1884 to 1915, during which time it brutally suppressed uprisings against its rule.