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Message: [QUOTE="Munyaradzi Mafaro, post: 40398, member: 636"] Several opposition parties skipped the official Genocide Remembrance Day ceremony held on Wednesday across Namibia. The Independent Patriots for Change and Landless People Movement stayed away from the government event. United Democratic Front leaders also failed to show up at the memorial service. Brian Black leads IPC and said his party was excluded because genocide victims' families were left out of planning. The political leader complained that organizers sent invitations to the wrong party representatives. LPM spokesperson Lifalaza Simataa explained his party was busy conducting genocide education sessions at Gibeon during the same time. Party president Bernadus Swartbooi led public lectures about reparations and court cases related to the historical killings. Swartbooi criticized the government for pushing one narrative and refusing to combine different commemoration dates. UDF spokesman Mabasen Narib said his party was focused on upcoming elections rather than attending the ceremony. The party leaders were campaigning across three constituencies ahead of June voting. Namibia marked its first national day remembering over 100,000 Ovaherero and Nama people killed during German colonial rule from 1904 to 1908. President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah spoke about the atrocities committed under German extermination policies. She mentioned ongoing negotiations with Germany over apologies and reparations since 2013. Some opposition figures did attend the event despite criticism from their political rivals. Popular Democratic Movement leader McHenry Venaani and other politicians joined the official ceremony. [/QUOTE]

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