German president asks forgiveness for colonial crimes in Tanzania

 President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Wednesday expressed his "shame" at crimes committed during Germany's colonial rule in Tanzania and pledged to raise awareness of the atrocities in his own country.

 "I would like to ask for forgiveness for what Germans did to your ancestors here," Steinmeier said during a visit to the Maji Maji Museum in the southern city of Songea, according to a transcript of his speech.

Tanzania was part of German East Africa, which saw one of the bloodiest uprisings in colonial history between 1905 and 1907.

Experts say between 200,000 and 300,000 members of the indigenous population were brutally murdered during the so-called Maji Maji Rebellion, mostly as a result of the systematic destruction of fields and villages by German troops.