Thay mặt công ty luật trọng tài Dugué & Khách hàng của Kirtley, các Liên minh tự do quốc gia Barotseland (BNFA), William Kirtley has published an article concerning Barotseland’s bid for independence from Zambia in the leading Francophone African news magazine Châu Phi trẻ.
Vua Mwanawina III của Barotseland và Rt Hon Macmillan của Vương quốc Anh (tháng Giêng 1960)
Cựu người Anh bảo hộ Barotseland willingly chose to become part of Zambia theo đuổi, thực hiện theo Hiệp định Barotseland 1964, a treaty brokered by the United Kingdom that was intended to preserve Barotseland’s semi-autonomous status within an independent Zambia.
Mặc dù, Tổng thống đầu tiên của 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 bắt đầu ngay sau khi độc lập Zambia, going so far as to modify the Zambian Constitution to remove all references to the Barotseland Agreement 1964, đến “hủy bỏ” the British act of parliament granting sovereignty to Zambia which referred to the Barotseland Agreement 1964, để chiếm đoạt kho bạc của Barotseland, to changing the name of Barotseland to the generic “Khu vực phía Tây” and attempting to destroy Barotseland’s previously well-functioning institutions.
Có thể hiểu được, trong 2012, các 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. Chưa, thay vì tham gia đối thoại, Zambia đã gia tăng sự đàn áp đối với người bảo hộ Barotseland trước đây của Anh, 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 Trọng tài PCA tại The Hague.
Nguồn: Châu Phi trẻ (2014)
Đến nay, xấp xỉ 10,000 Đại diện Barotseland đã ký thỏa thuận trọng tài PCA designed to allow an independent and neutral arbitral tribunal in The Hague to rule upon the status of the Barotseland Agreement 1964 theo luật pháp quốc tế. 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 Châu Phi trẻ concerning Barotseland’s enlightened attempts to have the issue of its legal status settled by way of PCA arbitration, thay vì bạo lực như Zambia dường như đang tìm kiếm, was prepared jointly by the BNFA, William Kirtley, một nhà khoa học xã hội người Pháp, Koralie Wietr giaowski và Audrey và Christophe Dugué. It may be found online at https://jeuneafrique.com/Article/ARTJAWEB20140606174635/ and is reproduced below.
