RWE withdraws from Hyphen hydrogen project on ancestral land in Namibia

The German energy company RWE has pulled out of its agreement to purchase ammonia for export to Europe from Hyphen Hydrogen Energy Ltd. (Hyphen) project in Namibia, on ancestral Nama Land. This decision was confirmed in a response to an inquiry made by the Nama Traditional Leaders Association (NTLA), representing the Indigenous Nama people, together with its international partners: the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP), the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), Forensic Architecture (FA), and Minority Rights Group International (MRG).

Hyphen intends to build large-scale ammonia production infrastructure across a 4,000 km² concession inside Tsau||Khaeb National Park on ancestral Nama land. This same area was once declared “Sperrgebiet” (restricted area) by German colonizers and access continues to be restricted for the Nama people and the general public until today. Hyphen is a British-German joint venture registered in Namibia, with the German company Enertrag SE among its shareholders.

RWE had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Hyphen in 2022 concerning the purchase of ammonia. The company’s recent decision to withdraw follows an open letter sent on 2 April 2025, in which the organizations urged RWE to pull out until the Indigenous People’s rights of the Nama are fully respected. The letter informed RWE about the perpetuation of colonial patterns through German orders of land dispossession and extermination, a genocide that let to the decimation of 50% of the Nama people, as well as the destruction of a biodiversity hotspot. It highlights how today’s extractive practices perpetuate colonial patterns on the same land.

Indigenous people’s resistance works

The Nama Traditional Leaders Association (NTLA) calls on the Namibian government to fulfill its international human rights obligations and to guarantee the right to self-determination and Free, Prior and Informed Consent in every project planned on their ancestral land. “The government must no longer plan such projects over the heads of affected communities,” says Maboss Johannes Ortmann, NTLA’s Project Coordinator for genocide reparations. “International law requires Namibia to inform, consult and seek the consent of the Indigenous Peoples affected by any administrative or legal measure. This obligation includes the right to say no and must finally be respected.”

“RWE’s withdrawal is an important signal that the rights of Indigenous communities cannot be ignored,” says Laura Mahler, STP’s advisor for genocide prevention and the Responsibility to Protect. “Economic development in Namibia cannot come at the expense of Indigenous rights.”

Andrea Pietrafesa, Legal Advisor at ECCHR, adds: “This is a wake-up call. Any project in Great Namaqualand or on Indigenous ancestral land must respect international human rights obligations. RWE’s decision sets a precedent by refusing to purchase goods produced on land where Indigenous rights are violated.”

The Nama people are demanding that the Namibian State guarantee the consultation process and Free, Prior and Informed Consent, in line with its international obligations under the International Covenant on Political and Civil Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

A history of dispossession

From German colonial rule and genocide to South African apartheid to the modern Namibian state, control over ancestral Nama land has passed from colonial powers to corporations and the state – while the Nama remain marginalized and without access to their ancestral territory inside today’s National Park. This ongoing dispossession perpetuates colonial crimes.

RWE’s exit removes a key potential customer from the Hyphen project, casting doubt on its viability and exposing its speculative foundations.