The Zambia Watchdog reports that two people were killed after rioting broke out in Mongu, the capital of Western Province over reinstatement of the Barotse Agreement of 1964. It very much appears that this issue cannot be ignored as unrest grows. Long considered a non-issue because of the backdoor political posturing that occurred through decades of one party rule, Barotseland appears to finally have become a hotbed of contention. As we will see in this post, there are clearly very strong feelings on either side of this argument. It is clear that tensions among Zambians, who are made up of over 70 different tribes, are rising. The comments below come from a blog post entitled, “Police kill two in Mongu protests over Barotseland agreement.” Vinobs writes: let us cut off the sand area and creat a border at Kazungula and Mumbwa / mongu road where we will demand for a passporsst and visas before they can come to Zambia. (SIC) Wink writes: U cannot demand independence & at th same time demand zambia to finance barotseland administration and economic development, needless to say in the same measure like any part of zambia. This agreement is shallow, when you assert independence you should not expect to be taken care of period However, there are those who believe that this call for succession is a critical part in the future of the Lozis. Mwana’ Nyandi writes; Well I hope the senseless talking will now come to an end. There is the full document which protects the sovereignty of Barotseland. The sad thing is that most so called Zambians are too narrow-minded to analyze issues critically. I want to help you understand one or two things i) Those calling for the full restoration of Barotseland Agreement are not secessionists, the secessionists are those advocating for the abrogation of the agreement. The BA ’64 was a unifying document and to abrogate it as Zambia has done is to bring about the secession of Barotseland. The fact that the Agreement has been breached for all these years and Barotseland is still part of Zambia simply means Zambia has forcibly colonized Barotseland because Barotseland can only be part of Zambia on the terms of the Agreement. ii)No where in the Barotseland Agreement does it talk about all these areas that the unlearned keep shouting about. Nowhere does it say that we want Copperbelt, Central or Southern Province. Barotseland is and has always been a well defined territory with historic maps and Barotse Self determination activists demand that the BA ’64 be restored in full or Barotseland is not oblidged to be part of Zambia. The Barotseland we talk about is one that is clearly defined by international statutes. No lamba, lenje or Tonga should have sleepless nights over the restoration of the BA ’64 because we mean them no harm. Phiri Mweenda responds to Mwana’ Nyandi's arguments: @ Mwana’ Nyandi please forwarned that much as you would love to have your own state in BA’64 agreements more peoples of the said or covered territory will still not be able to agree with what was contained therein.My only cocerns for the BA’ 64 agreement(s) is the issue for the LOZIs to include other regions such as Copperbelt, Cental province, Southern province , and Lusaka province. If we look critically on the general welbeing of these areas by tribal composition then wewill realise that provinces like Central have two differing tribal composition or make up which are: Lenje, Soli and a few Kaondes who are pro-Tonga in tribal aligment where as the other tribal groupings such as the Bisa and the Lala are are pro Bemba or are generally reffered to as Bembas and are generally tribal cousins to Easterners who plays the tribal cousin ship (CHIMBUYA). coming to LUSAKA province the same is what prevails with TSWAKA people and the Soli people being aligned to the Tongas while the tribes EAST of Chongwee are pro Easterners the Chikundas. who then can agree to be cut off from their genetic alignment under the so called BA’ 64? Sibatana says that the situation in Western Province is a good example how how civil wars are born: The recent protest in Western Province on Saturday, Oct. 23, 2010, resulting in very serious injuries and one death was something that should never have happened. But the government’s reckless behavior by ignoring Western province submissions to the new constitution has outraged the people of Barotseland. This is a good example of how civil wars are born. One little spark is capable of igniting a huge and destructive fire. All this came about in August 2010, following the release of the final draft of the constitution. It was discovered then that all the submissions from western province were not included.