By Oscar Nkala.
Zambian President Michael Sata has ordered the deployment of several infantry divisions backed by special forces commandos to conduct security operations in the country’s Western Province where leaders of the secessionist Barotseland Liberation Army have mobilised an estimated 3000 rebels to fight and push the army out of the predominantly Lozi territory.
According to Zambian media reports, the deployment comes in the wake of a declaration by the Barotseland Liberation Army commander Lieutenant James Mwiya who announced last week that the rebel army has received orders from its political masters, the Barotseland Organisation, the Barotse Freedom Movement and Citizens of Barotseland to wage a war for the liberation of the Lozi heartland presently known as the Western Province.
The rebel army has also instructed all Barotse citizens of the Western Provine to dress up in red apparels to signify their solidarity and strong resolve in anticipation of bloodshed.
Adrressing the media in Mongu, the impoverished capital of the Western Province, Lt Mwiya said dressing in red was the first step to signify their passage to an independent state. “Barotseland is not part of Zambia and the Republic of Zambia is not a free, unitary, indivisible, multi-party and democratic Christian nation by fact. A red colour campaign is for Barotseland independence, self determination and secession. All the people of Barotseland are requested to put on red colour in support of Barotseland fully seceding from Zambia,” he said.
The heavy military incursion into the Western Province is part of a crackdown aimed at suppressing the rebellion before it develops into a war. The army operation is also aimed at backing up an ongoing police dragnet which has so far failed to arrest the leaders of the main secessionist groups in the area.
The security forces are intensively hunting for Barotse Freedom Movement leader Chazele Mulasikwanda who stands accused of treason after leading some Lozi activists in tearing 500 copies of the country’s draft constitution to pieces in a symbolic act of defiance of Zambian authority. So far, 17 alleged rebel sympathisers have been arrested in the joint army and police crackdown.
“Zambians think the Barotse (secession) issue is organised by a few people who are influencing the majority. No, that is what left former president Rupiah Banda in trouble when he ordered the killing of Barotse citizens last year. He thought that only a few people were calling for Barotseland independence. His intelligence officers deceived him, because the truth is — all Barotses are involved. Leaders of movements like Chazele should not be picked out as individuals. If Zambia thinks it has a case, let them hunt for all Barotses. There is no turning back, we have almost 3, 000 men in all corners of Barotseland to fight back and we will do so without hesitation,” said one rebel leader.
Government fears of a bloody show-down with the secessionists were heightened last month when it learnt that most of the people who have joined the rebel army are ex-servicemen from the national army, the police, the prisons and intelligence services.
It also fears that because of their background in the security services, the rebels still have active sympathisers and agents within the government security apparatus. The idea to form a rebel army to liberate Barotseland was reached in March this year by the leaders of all the secessionists movements.
The rebels say they are determined to secede because like all the four past presidents of Zambia, President Sata has not honoured a government promise to implement the Barotseland Agreement of 1964.
In terms of the agreement, the government was supposed to grant self-government to Barotseland. The rebels have since declared that they are no longer bound by the agreement and will instead push for the creation of an independent Lozi state in the Western Province.
However, President Sata has responded with a vitriolic verbal attack on the secessionist leaders and a heavy deployment of security forces to engage the rebels and quell the uprising. Ratcheting up the war talk, the rebels have threatened to strike high value Zambian targets which include the State House, Bank of Zambia, the economic hub of Manda Hill in Lusaka and the Kenneth Kaunda International Airport.
Thirty-nine members of the Army Special Forces who recently returned from the Southern Africa Development Community-sponsored regional commando training course code-named exercise “Ex-Highlander” in Lesotho have also been deployed for counter-insurgency operations in the Western Province.
