Actuando en representación de la firma de abogados de arbitraje Dugué & Cliente de Kirtley, la Alianza Nacional de Libertad de Barotseland (BNFA), William Kirtley has published an article concerning Barotseland’s bid for independence from Zambia in the leading Francophone African news magazine África joven.
Rey Mwanawina III de Barotseland y Rt Hon Macmillan de Gran Bretaña (enero 1960)
El antiguo protectorado británico de Barotseland willingly chose to become part of Zambia de conformidad con el Acuerdo de Barotseland 1964, a treaty brokered by the United Kingdom that was intended to preserve Barotseland’s semi-autonomous status within an independent Zambia.
Aunque Kenneth Kaunda, el primer presidente de Zambia, signed the treaty himself on behalf of the Government of Northern Rhodesia, he and the Zambian Government would violate every provision of the Barotseland Agreement 1964 comenzando poco después de la independencia de Zambia, going so far as to modify the Zambian Constitution to remove all references to the Barotseland Agreement 1964, a “anulación” the British act of parliament granting sovereignty to Zambia which referred to the Barotseland Agreement 1964, para expropiar el tesoro de Barotseland, to changing the name of Barotseland to the generic “Región occidental” and attempting to destroy Barotseland’s previously well-functioning institutions.
Comprensiblemente, en 2012, la Barotseland National Council voted to accept Zambia’s abrogation of the Barotseland Agreement 1964, with the logical consequence that Barotseland had regained its independence since the treaty by which it freely forged a union with Zambia had ended. Todavía, en lugar de entablar un diálogo, Zambia ha aumentado la represión en el antiguo protectorado británico de Barotseland, imprisoning dozens of Barotseland activists on the charge of treason and increasing the police presence in Barotseland while refusing to consider Barotseland’s calls for the peaceful resolution of the issue of Barotseland’s legal status by way of Arbitraje de PCA en La Haya.
Fuente: África joven (2014)
Hasta la fecha, aproximadamente 10,000 Los representantes de Barotseland han firmado un acuerdo de arbitraje PCA designed to allow an independent and neutral arbitral tribunal in The Hague to rule upon the status of the Barotseland Agreement 1964 de conformidad con el derecho internacional. President Sata of Zambia has steadfastly refused to sign the PCA arbitration agreement, in an apparent recognition that Zambia’s acts flagrantly violated the treaty.
The article in África joven concerning Barotseland’s enlightened attempts to have the issue of its legal status settled by way of PCA arbitration, en lugar de violencia como Zambia parece estar buscando, was prepared jointly by the BNFA, William Kirtley, un científico social francés, Koralie Wietrzykowski y Audrey y Christophe Dugué. It may be found online at https://jeuneafrique.com/Article/ARTJAWEB20140606174635/ and is reproduced below.
