Atuando em nome do escritório de advocacia de arbitragem Dugué & Cliente de Kirtley, a Aliança da Liberdade Nacional 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 jovem.
Rei Mwanawina III de Barotseland e Rt Hon Macmillan da Grã-Bretanha (janeiro 1960)
O antigo protetorado britânico da Barotseland willingly chose to become part of Zâmbia nos termos do Acordo de Barotseland 1964, a treaty brokered by the United Kingdom that was intended to preserve Barotseland’s semi-autonomous status within an independent Zambia.
Embora Kenneth Kaunda, o primeiro presidente da Zâmbia, 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 começando logo após a independência da Zâmbia, going so far as to modify the Zambian Constitution to remove all references to the Barotseland Agreement 1964, para “anulação” the British act of parliament granting sovereignty to Zambia which referred to the Barotseland Agreement 1964, expropriar o tesouro de Barotseland, to changing the name of Barotseland to the generic “Região oeste” and attempting to destroy Barotseland’s previously well-functioning institutions.
Compreensível, em 2012, a 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. Ainda, em vez de dialogar, a Zâmbia aumentou a repressão no antigo protetorado britânico 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 Arbitragem do PCA em Haia.
Fonte: África jovem (2014)
Até a presente data, aproximadamente 10,000 Os representantes de Barotseland assinaram um acordo de arbitragem do PCA designed to allow an independent and neutral arbitral tribunal in The Hague to rule upon the status of the Barotseland Agreement 1964 de acordo com o direito 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 jovem concerning Barotseland’s enlightened attempts to have the issue of its legal status settled by way of PCA arbitration, em vez de violência, como a Zâmbia parece estar buscando, was prepared jointly by the BNFA, William Kirtley, um cientista social francês, Koralie Wietrzykowski e Audrey e Christophe Dugué. It may be found online at https://jeuneafrique.com/Article/ARTJAWEB20140606174635/ and is reproduced below.
