AU Summit, January 21-31, 2016
by S W Mwaekwa
As at now, all the people following the Barotse issue worldwide are expectant of the outcome of the African Heads of State Summit, special as it may be. This makes the meeting of the Heads of State and Government taking place in Addis Ababa on January 30-31, 2016 unique. Heads of African and States and Government have not had a case of this magnitude in all aspects of human endeavor, brought before them, whereby one of their member states have unilaterally abrogated the unitary Agreement on which it was founded as a state and the other party to the Agreement has accepted that abrogation and declared its separate statehood. The same state member, which unilaterally abrogated the Agreement on which it was founded stand atop the list of human rights abuses against the other party to the Agreement—killings, arrests, torture, not allowing free assemble, speech and other abuses—while the international community have been watching and remained silent and in complete contravention of the theme of the AU Summit—African Year on Human Rights with particular focus on the Rights of Women. This has been cemented by its recent enactment of its municipal constitution, which does not recognize nor respect the rights of the Other Party to the Unitary State of Zambia thereby rendering it into oblivion. One is yet to see if the current crops of Heads of State and Government have the same mind as the pioneers of Organization of African Unit, the fore runner to the African Union. The current crop of African leaders have, in most cases, turned a blind eye when their members without impunity, abused the constitutions they swore to uphold, violated the rights of people whom they meant to serve, created a state of hopelessness, confusion and despair among their people whom they reduced to abject poverty. They forced them into a situation where they could use any means to claim what rightfully belonged to them while others opted to migrate and become refuges in neighboring countries, forcing the United Nations to spend colossal sums of money in mitigating the situation. Everyone knows what is happening in the Middle East. The situation may be under control momentarily but likely to present problems in the near future, which is likely to give neighboring countries sleepless nights. Is this what the international community and regional leaders what to cultivate? Every group of people has the undeniable right to determine their social, political, cultural etc. direction. No group of people should be arm-twisted into submission of something they do not subscribe to. Barotseland has stated their case and no one should force them into submitting to some broken, breached and ridiculed Agreement, which they, over a 47 year period pleaded to be observed and respected to no avail. I hope and prayer that African leaders shall rise to the occasion and show the doubting world that they are capable of resolving this issue rationally and peacefully based on the facts as presented to them. They should use this opportunity to disprove functions that label them as a “Talking Shop" that shower each other with pleasantries while turning a blind eye on atrocities that they committee against their own people and those that they oppress as in the case of Barotseland. In this regard, the countdown has begun. We are all waiting for the outcome of this Summit. For the mirage between Barotseland and the rest of Zambia has suffered irreparable damage and awaiting peaceful dissolution. The AU leaders and the AU as an organization are on trial. The international community and Barotseland are watching as an opportunity to a peaceful resolution of the Barotseland statehood slips away from both SADC and the AU as it brings into question their relevance as regional bodies.