Zambia pursuing a deliberate policy to terminate the people of Barotseland. International Community Must Intervene! - Afumba Mombotwa His Excellency Rt. Hon. Afumba Mombotwa, the newly sworn in Administrator General for the new state of Barotseland, has called on the international community and the super power of the world to intervene and dispel the Zambian Security forces still engaged in acts of aggression in Barotseland. Addressing an online based press conference on Radio Barotseland on Friday 23rd August 2013, Hon. Mombotwa said that time had come now for the international community to prevail over the Zambian government to withdraw their troops from Barotseland peacefully as Barotseland had pursued their self-determination peacefully. He further appealed to the sympathizers of his government home and abroad to help with material, legal, financial, spiritual and moral support so that all those forcefully arrested by Zambian security forces for celebrating his new government of Barotseland can immediately be released. “There is no justifiable reason why Zambia should terrorize people in Barotseland. If it is true that the relationship that Barotseland had with Zambia was based on express conditions (Barotseland Agreement 1964) rejected by Zambia, how does one justify action of the transgressor, in this case, Zambia that failed to abide by the agreement and now depends on security forces to persecute and prosecute innocent souls in their land? “What we know is that there has been a deliberate policy to terminate the Barotzish people, which started in February 1994, when (Zambian) security men wanted to arrest the then Litunga (King of Barotseland) Ilute Yeta IV, but war drums were sounded. The same year in 1994, a renowned Lawyer Richard Ngenda was assassinated because of the Barotseland Agreement of 1964. “Around 2010 mass arrests were effected by Zambia, then followed by 2011 killings, and the situation continued. “Just a few months ago, this year, gadgets were placed beneath the seat of the current Litunga (Lubosi Imwiko II), and we believe that this was done with ill intent. “So it must be understood that we value the precious lives of our people who were constantly killed. What is shameful is that the security men, who know thoroughly well that the government of Zambia nullified the Agreement (of 1964), has been used or chose to be instruments of injustice even when they know that it was upon that agreement that our (Barotseland and Zambia) relationship was based. “The security men have chosen to be instruments of injustice as they are the ones that are killing people. They are the ones who arrest and they are the ones who persecute. “Because this situation could not be condoned, we wrote letters to the international community, the SADC, the Commonwealth, the UN and the Embassies. “We did not invite them to come and liberate us because that is not their responsibility. The issue of liberation was ours. The world was (merely) to be made aware of our plight. “Because Barotseland was robbed of her sovereignty by Zambia, and the status quo of Barotseland was that of a captive nation, there has been a longing to acquire sovereignty, and as we are the sole owners of Barotseland, we had to restore our statehood. “Now this (Barotseland) is a separate country, and it is now the time that sympathizers, well-wishers and those who love justice should come to our aid, be it materially or financially” Concluded the statement. Answering a question on whether now Barotseland would engage in a “war” with Zambia, in view of Zambia’s response to his newly installed government, Hon. Mombotwa emphasized that it has never been the wish of the people of Barotseland to pursue the reversion to their original status that prevailed before the abrogated agreement of 1964 by means of war, and therefore, claiming what belongs to Barotseland can surely not be construed as a declaration of war. He further said that, Barotseland in her pursuit for self-determination, has always been guided by principles found in the United Nations Conventions and international conventions that deal with peoples’ rights, be it United Nations conventions or African Charter, the European Charter, which all agree that the person or persons who feel that they are under domination or that they are being colonized, should take it upon themselves to liberate themselves from the bond of domination or from the bond of colonization. Therefore, in this case, Barotseland had chosen to put her own government in place simply because what was robbed off Barotseland was sovereignty, and to date there is no one who could show evidence that Barotseland had surrendered her sovereignty willingly. It was simply robbed by Zambia, and therefore, the question was how could the people of Barotseland acquire their sovereignty that was robbed by Zambia? So the method that Barotseland chose was to fulfill statehood conditions peacefully that culminated in the installation of his transitional government that would lead to a popularly elected government within 3 years. He further clarified that contrary to some critics, the Barotse people’s demands and longings were not merely “development” of Barotseland, but that in fact their main cry is sovereignty, and that sovereignty had no substitute. And answering a question on why Barotseland had chosen to “secede” at this very precise moment when the “allegation” of abrogation of the Barotseland Agreement 1964 happened a long time ago, and that the people of Barotseland had been quite all along, Hon. Mombotwa said the issue of “secession ” did not and cannot apply in Barotseland’s case because the only bond of relationship that existed or that was intended to exist between Barotseland and Zambia was the Barotseland Agreement of 1964 which successive Zambian governments refused to honor and implement but instead chose to administer Barotseland through the barrel of the gun. At no time and generation were the people of Barotseland quite about Zambia’s continued abrogation of the Barotseland Agreement of 1964, except under severe repressive times when people were actually killed or incarcerated, and sometimes secretly, for voicing out discontent over this issue of the abrogation of the Barotseland Agreement 1964. On the question of his counterparts in the Barotse National Freedom Alliance (BNFA) led by Hon. Clement W. Sinyinda, who have since disassociated themselves with the recent events in Barotseland that had culminated in his swearing in as Administrator General and consequent naming of his provisional government, citing disagreement with the procedure followed, even though the BNFA themselves claim to believe in the eventual independence of Barotseland from Zambia, Hon. Mombotwa explained that in fact there was no “laid down” procedure for liberation or independence of any nation as situations always varied from country to country. “That is not even a problem because there is no laid down procedure. Even if you inquired across the globe you will not find that liberty has a procedure that people get liberated by? Nobody will say this is the formula on how you can get liberated. It depends on the situation that the oppressed are under and the way they chose to approach their issue. That is why you find that some countries opted to start with armed struggle, and that became their procedure. They (the oppressed) are the ones who decide to engage in the armed struggle. Some other people opted to use diplomatic means. That is the procedure they chose to adopt saying if we use this way we shall get our independence. Others use the method of ‘begging’ if it is possible to beg from your master so that by the time your master feels that he is not treating you his ‘slaves’ well, then he sympathizes with you and decides to set you free. So if you have a master who is very understanding, perhaps he can set you free that way. “So it is not the question of the procedure because there is not a standard laid down procedure. There is no book in the whole world which stipulates the procedure to be followed when one wants to be liberated. “What is true is that everyone in Barotseland agrees that Barotseland has been colonized by Zambia and that Barotseland must be liberated. So we are all speaking the same language. Unless they (BNFA) say that they do not want Barotseland to be independent? Then that would be something else, but now, we are all speaking the same language and therefore we wish them well with their stance” A female caller at this point wished to encourage Hon. Afumba to ignore Hon. Sinyinda and his BNFA as they were clearly exhibiting sheer cowardice, and thus congratulated Hon. Afumba and his team urging them to soldier on as the majority of the people of Barotseland were solidly in support of what they had courageously accomplished so far. Rt. Hon. Afumba Mombotwa also denied the assertion that the people of Barotseland were merely being used as ‘pawns’ in their quest for self-determination. The quest for liberation, he assured, was and has always been the desire of the indigenous people of Barotseland. He also scoffed at the thought that this quest was just a ‘Tribal’ pursuit. Barostseland, he said, was not a tribe but rather a nation. Neither is siLozi a tribal language but rather it is a national lingua-franca spoken by over 36 tribal and people groupings of Barotseland. He said it was in fact Kenneth Kaunda, the first president of Zambia who had attempted to convert the nation of Barotseland into a tribal grouping, in his evil desire to see the people of Barotseland ‘swallowed up’ in Zambia under the base slogan of One Zambia one Nation. Another caller wanted to know if the international community had responded to any of their previous letters of appeals so far, and whether the response had been positive or negative to the Barotse cause. In response Hon. Afumba said that that communication with the international community has been at different times and for different purposes. "Initially the communication was to educate and familiarize the international community with the matter at hand. So letters, then, were written to accomplish that purpose, and in fact some of the international community would respond by meeting us in person, so that we could further clarify and answer any of their questions. At the time we were not yet asking them to intervene as the situation did not warrant any such intervention. "However, now that Barotseland is separated from Zambia, and yet Zambia continues to violate even people’s right to celebration, we are now appealing to the international community to intervene and help prevail over Zambia to immediately halt these injustices to avert an escalation of violence or possible war between Barotseland and Zambia so that this region can continue to enjoy peace, even if Barotseland is now a separate state from Zambia." Editor’s Note: Due to network and internet discrepancies the program was intermittently interrupted. We are, however, yet to patch up the recorded segments and make them available on demand at radiobarotseland as well as barotsepost later in the week. We, therefore, wish to thank sincerely those that attended the conference which was 5 times larger, in terms of recorded ‘spots’ of on line presence, larger than any other live show we have so far hosted. There were people tuned in from all across the world. - See more at: barotsepost/index.php/en/frontnews/local-news/455-zambia-pursuing-a-deliberate-policy-to-terminate-the-people-of-barotseland-newly-sworn-in-barotseland-administrator-general-mombotwa-has-said-as-he-calls-for-international-intervention#sthash.W7kSyQLr.dpuf
Posted on: Sun, 25 Aug 2013 12:07:28 +0000
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