By Mbatjiua Ngavirue WINDHOEK The so-called Namibia-German Special Initiative has received a cool reception from Herero Paramount Chief Kuaima Riruako. Riruako has been at the forefront of the campaign to force Germany to pay reparations for the genocide committed by German colonial troops against the Herero people during 1904-1908. Yesterday, Riruako said the Namibia-German Special Initiative did not amount to reparations. The initiative, he added, had nothing to do with the Herero’s call for compensation for the genocide committed early last century. During the first week of this year, most Namibians learned that the Namibian and German governments had concluded an agreement on the special initiative. But the two governments never made any public announcement to signal they had reached agreement on the initiative, and they seem to have concluded the deal almost by stealth. The first knowledge people gained that an agreement had now been signed was through advertisements in the local newspapers for a three-month consultancy for the formulation and design of programmes under the special initiative. “The Special Initiative is meant for development projects in areas and for communities that had ‘historic ties’ with the German colonial government and which the present German government considers as a special moral and political responsibility,” the advertisement states. It is not clear exactly when the two governments reached agreement. But Director for Development Cooperation at the National Planning Commission, Susan Lewis, indicated Cabinet approved the deal somewhere in October. The German government then apparently responded by means of a diplomatic note in December, thereby paving the way for work to start on the finer details of the programme. The Germans originally wanted the agreement signed during President Pohamba’s state visit to Germany in December 2005. The Namibian government however felt they could not sign the document without having consulted the affected communities first. Cabinet tasked Deputy Prime Minister Dr Libertina Amathila to carry out consultations with the various communities, which she completed in May 2006 after travelling extensively around the country. Chief Riruako, though, appears unimpressed, saying Amathila never consulted him. “I heard about the Deputy Prime Minister moving around asking questions but she never talked to me. “I have never even seen her report, but it’s not a question of me seeing it because it is a public document. It must be published, we want to know what is in it,” Riruako remarked. He was generally not happy about the way the government carried out the negotiations with the Germans, particularly the secrecy surrounding the talks. “The manner in which they have gone about the agreement is not fair, or honest, and I therefore cannot accept to be taken for a ride under an agreement in which we did not participate,” he felt. Riruako charged that the government did not ask the community that suffered the most in the war, and that those who took the decision regarding the special initiative must be responsible for it. “The Germans cannot just come up with their own proposals, ignore what we demand and dismiss us just like that and try to impose their proposals on us,” Riruako said. His own position, he stated, is that he still demands reparations and still demands that dialogue between the Herero people and the German government takes place. “My fight is for human rights, and the Germans have already admitted their own guilt. There is no way out for them to escape their acceptance of their own guilt,” he said. There are already stories doing the rounds of certain Hereros close to the Germans now “getting” German money, with one individual reported to have bought four vehicles with his share of the bounty. This is likely to revive memories in many people’s minds of the pre-Independence days when collaborators were living large on bribes they received from the South African colonial regime. The fear among many Hereros is that if the Germans only direct their money towards one section of the community it will exacerbate divisions in an already divided Herero society. Riruako did not feel the Namibian government’s acceptance of the Namibia-Germany Special Initiative in any way weakens his case for reparations, saying the Germans imposed their decision on the Namibian government. Meanwhile, Riruako says he will continue liaising with supporters of the Herero cause in Germany who have worked very hard to raise awareness among ordinary German citizens. He warned that he might bring a court case against the German government in Germany. “We can do that because from 1890 onwards we were subjects of Imperial Germany. So we have that right,” he concluded.