German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier apologized Wednesday for colonial-era atrocities committed by German forces in Tanzania during a visit to the East African country.
“As German President, I would like to ask for forgiveness for what Germans did to your ancestors here,” Steinmeier, who began a three-day visit to Tanzania on Monday, told descendants of local war hero Songea Mbano
Mbano was hanged and beheaded alongside dozens of his fighters for staging an uprising, known as the Maji-Maji rebellion, against the Germans in the early 1900s.
An estimated 300,000 people – around one-third of the indigenous population at the time – were killed in the uprising, which was fueled by brutal repression of locals by their German colonizers.
Tanganyika, now present-day Tanzania, was first a German colony before coming under British control in 1919.
“This cruel deed has left its mark on many generations,” Steinmeier told the Mbano family at the Maji Maji Museum in Songea, southern Tanzania, according to a transcript of his speech provided by the German presidency.
“It shames me. I am ashamed about what German colonial soldiers did to your forefather and his fellow warriors,” he added, but made no mention of reparations.
Tanzanians have been reacting on social media to Steinmeier’s apology, with one commentator saying: “Apologizing isn’t enough … Germany has to pay reparation.”
Germany had previously acknowledged its colonial-era atrocities in Africa.
Source: cnn.com
