POSITION STATEMENT ON THE ADDITIONAL DEPLOYMENT OF ARMED FORCES IN BAROTSELAND BY THE ZAMBIAN GOVERNMENT
by Maybine Mubita Sikwa, Deputy Chairman General
The Barotse National Freedom Alliance (BNFA) takes this opportunity to inform the people of Barotseland and the international community that it welcomes the remarks made in Zambian parliament by Deputy Speaker Catherine Namungala to the effect that Barotseland does not exist in Zambia and the word Barotseland is unparliamentary and should not be used in all parliamentary debates. BNFA takes this as a confirmation that Zambia has rejected Barotseland. This is in-line with their unilaterally abrogation of the Barotseland Agreement 1964 as far back as 1969. We have been forcing ourselves on Zambia since. The people of Barotseland and the Zambian people need to wake-up to this hard reality. It is for that reason that we called upon the law makers coming from Barotseland to withdraw from Zambian parliament and come back home and set-up our own institutions.We condemn the deployment of additional armed forces under the pretext of protecting Mbunda and Nkoya individuals who installed themselves as chiefs against the tradition and culture of our people. This act has bred anarchy, which is perpetrated by the Zambian government itself. Already the Zambian government had armed some individuals in Kaoma in May 2019 to start genocide. We support the speech of the Prime Minister of Barotseland Mr Mukela Manyando against these acts by Zambian government. We urge the Prime Minister to swift action and implement the 2012 BNC Resolutions.
BNFA believes in the protection of the rights of All the Barotse—comprised of the 38 tribes—regardless of their status and that the solution to the Barotse sufferings lies in the unity of purpose by all stakeholders. I thank you all