Members and supporters of the banned United Democratic Party recently staged a demonstration at Katima Mulilo calling for the separation of the Zambezi Region from Namibia.

The demonstrators are demanding the recognition and implementation of what they claim was a 1964 agreement signed between the Swapo Party and the leadership of the now defunct Caprivi African National Union.

According to the group, the agreement was to grant the Caprivi region autonomy and independence, but it was later disregarded during Namibia's transition to independence in 1990.

In response to this, the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology says that the government will not respond to false historical claims of agreements that lack legal foundation and constitutional validity.

The ministry's executive director, Dr. Audrin Mathe, in a media release, says the Zambezi Region remains an integral part of Namibia's sovereign territory.

They further demanded the immediate release of all those tried and sentenced for trying to secede the territory from Namibia in the 1999 secession attempt.

They were arrested and charged with high treason, murder, and attempted murder, among others, in a trial that lasted for around 20 years.

Its leader, Mishake Muyongo, went into exile.

The UDP, founded by Mishake Muyongo in 1985, was officially banned and dissolved by the Namibian government In September 2007.

Despite the ban, the party's supporters continue to advocate for secession and regional autonomy.

Members of the police force peacefully kept the order at the demonstration until the group dispersed without any incident.

In response government says the matters raised by the UDP are not new and represent a continuation of the same secessionist rhetoric that has been consistently rejected by the government and people of Namibia since the failed armed rebellion of August 1999.

Dr. Mathe stressed that if this latest attempt by the banned UDP to resurrect calls for self-determination and territorial separation is to test the resolve of the current administration, it has failed to achieve its objective.

He concluded that any attempt to destabilise the peace and stability in the Zambezi Region or any other part of the country, will be met with the full force of the law.