Germany - The African Mirror

Aug

2021

Germany is returning Nigeria’s looted Benin Bronzes: why it’s not nearly enough

AFTER years of pressure, Germany recently announced that an agreement had been reached to return hundreds of priceless artefacts and artworks that had been looted from Nigeria in colonial times and were on display in German museums. Commonly called the Benin Bronzes, these beautiful and technically remarkable artworks have come to symbolise the broader restitution debate. Why has it taken so long, will other countries follow Germany and what happens next? We asked a leading expert on colonial German history and a prominent voice in the debate around the artefacts, Dr Jürgen Zimmerer, to tell us. JÜRGEN ZIMMERER, Professor, University…

Jul

2021

By The African Mirror

Germany drops S.A from ‘virus variant’ list

COVID-19

GERMANY no longer considers South Africa and eight other African countries as so-called 'virus variant' areas, the Health Ministry said on Friday, in a move that will ease strict travel restrictions. The change, which takes effect on Sunday, comes after the Delta strain of COVID-19 became dominant in both Germany and South Africa, displacing the Beta strain originally found in the southern African nation. Only German nationals and those with permanent residency are currently able to travel to the country from virus variant areas, subject to quarantine. The reclassification will make it possible for others to travel to Germany, subject…

Jul

2021

By The African Mirror

Death toll rises to 157 in Germany and Belgium floods

WORLD

PETRA WISCHGOLL and DAVID SAHL RESCUE workers have continued to search flood-ravaged parts of Germany and Belgium for survivors after burst rivers and flash floods this week collapsed houses and claimed at least 157 lives. "We mourn with those that have lost friends, acquaintances, family members," German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said during a visit to Erftstadt in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, where the disaster killed at least 43 people "Their fate is ripping our hearts apart." Some 133 people have died in the flooding in western Germany, the country's worst natural disaster in more than half a century. That…

Jul

2021

By The African Mirror

Floodwaters still rising in western Europe with death toll over 110

WORLD

MARTIN SCHLICHT and DAVID SAHL MORE than 1,000 people were missing in flood-stricken regions of western Germany and Belgium on Friday, where waters were still rising with the death toll already well over 100 and communications in some areas cut. Entire communities lay in ruins after swollen rivers swept through towns and villages in the western German states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate, Belgium as well as the Netherlands. "It was terrible not to able to help people," Frank Thel, a resident of Schuld in Rhineland-Palatinate, told Reuters in front of a pile of rubble. "They were waving at us…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

Iran says U.S. to lift oil sanctions, Germany, France cautious on matter

WORLD

PARISA HAFEZI and HUMEYRA PAMUK IRAN says the United States had agreed to remove all sanctions on Iran's oil and shipping, although Germany cautioned that major issues remained at talks between Tehran and world powers to revive a 2015 nuclear deal. The Iranian remarks, by outgoing President Hassan Rouhani's chief of staff Mahmoud Vaezi, echoed previous assertions by officials in Rouhani's pragmatist camp that Washington is prepared to make major concessions at the talks, which have been underway since April in Vienna. The talks adjourned on Sunday for consultations in capitals, two days after Iran held a presidential election won…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

UEFA drop Neuer armband investigation

SPORT

AFRICAN MIRROR REPORTER FOOTBALL body UEFA have confirmed that it has dropped their investigation into Germany captain Manuel Neuer’s use of a rainbow armband during pride month. The Germany FA (DFB) made the announcement on Twitter, stating that UEFA determined the armband to be a team symbol for diversity and therefore was for a "good cause." “UEFA have today shared with the DFB that they have stopped the review of the rainbow captain's armband worn by @Manuel_Neuer," Germany's football team said in posts on Twitter and Facebook. “In a letter, the armband has been assessed as a team symbol for…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

FACTBOX: China, climate and vaccines – what the G7 agreed this weekend

WORLD

THE Group of Seven rich nations promised to tackle China's growing influence, fight climate change, get more COVID-19 jabs to poor countries and keep up their economic stimulus programmes at their first summit since Joe Biden became U.S. president. Following is a summary of the main points agreed by the leaders of the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada at their three-day meeting at a beachside hotel in southwest England which ended yesterday. CLIMATE CHANGE - The G7 said it would meet a long-overdue funding pledge of $100 billion a year by rich countries to help poorer…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

Germany dismisses commando policemen over Nazi content

WORLD

GERMAN prosecutors have dismissed 19 policemen in a commando unit and suspended another over suspicions they had glorified violence and made references to a former Nazi organisation in online chats, a spokeswoman said. Investigators in the western state of Hesse found out about the 20 suspects in the course of a separate investigation of an officer in the same commando unit, known as SEK, who was suspected of sharing child pornography. "During an evaluation of the suspect's mobile phones, several chat groups where criminal content was shared by members were identified," Frankfurt Senior Public Prosecutor Nadja Niesen said in a…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

‘Germany’s genocide reparations not enough’

NEWS

GERMANY’S offer to fund projects in Namibia worth more than a billion euros ($1.22 billion) over 30 years to atone for its role in genocide and property seizures in its-then colony more than a century ago is not enough, according to Namibian Vice President Nangolo Mbumba. "No amount of money in any currency can truly compensate the life of a human being," Mbumba told journalists as Windhoek officially briefed the nation on the outcome of six years of negotiations with Germany which concluded last month. "We need to recognise that the amount of 1.1 billion euros agreed upon between the…

May

2021

By The African Mirror

Germany to atone for Namibian colonial horrors

NEWS

NYASHA NYAUNGWA GERMANY has agreed to fund projects in Namibia worth more than a billion euros over 30 years to atone for its role in genocide and property seizures in its-then colony more than a century ago, a Namibian government spokesman has announced. Thousands of Herero and Nama people were killed by German colonial forces between 1904 and 1908, after the tribes rebelled against German rule in the colony, then named German South West Africa. Survivors were driven into the desert, where many ended up in concentration camps to be used as slave labour and many died from cold, malnutrition…