WINDHOEK, March 7 (Xinhua) -- Namibia's Herero and Nama tribes seeking damages over genocide and property seizures by Germany more than a century ago will appeal a U.S. court ruling that Germany is immune from claims by the tribes' descendants, Herero Paramount Chief Vekuii Rukuro told reporters on Thursday.

This came after U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain in Manhattan said on Wednesday that Germany is immune from claims by descendants of the Herero and Nama tribes.

Rukuro said Swain's decision was disappointing, and that she had made some fundamental errors of law in her jurisdictional analysis.

He said his tribe would see to it that the decision is reversed on appeal.

"To this effect, we have directed our lawyers in New York to proceed (with appeal) with immediate effect," Rukuro said.

Last Thursday, Namibian President Hage Geingob said the genocide committed in 1904-1908 under German army left a mark on the Namibian people, citing the effects of torture, collective punishment and racial extermination of Namibians by German imperialist soldiers as a wound that festers to this day.

Namibia says over 100,000 local people were killed as a result of a mass extermination policy initiated by German colonial troops between 1904 and 1908.