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08/16/2004:

"German minister says sorry for genocide in Namibia"

Guardian UK
Germany apologised for the first time yesterday for a colonial-era genocide which killed 65,000 Herero people in what is now Namibia.

"We Germans accept our historic and moral responsibility and the guilt incurred by Germans at that time," said Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, Germany's development aid minister, at a ceremony to mark the 100th anniversary of the Hereros' 1904-1907 uprising against their rulers.

"The atrocities committed at that time would have been termed genocide," she said, according to Associated Press.

Although she ruled out financial compensation for the victims' descendants - a civil case has been brought by relatives of those who died - she promised aid, particularly in land reform.

...Germany dismissed the claim, saying international rules on the protection of combatants and civilians were not in existence at the time of that conflict. full article

Genocide wasn't illegal then: how lame is this?