Native American state declares independence  break away  from the US -
 withdrawing from treaties with Government'
The new country would issue its own passports
and driving licences, and living there would be tax-free


"We are no longer citizens of the United States of America" -
 Native American state of 72,000 people
declares independence from the US -
 'claim legal under treaties with Government'

The treaties signed with the United States
 are merely "worthless words on worthless paper,"
 the Lakota freedom activists say on their website.



 The Lakota Indians, who gave the world legendary
warriors Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, have withdrawn
 from treaties with the United States, leaders said Wednesday.

"We are no longer citizens of the United States of America
and all those who live in the five-state area that encompasses
 our country are free to join us,"
 long-time Indian rights activist Russell Means told a handful
 of reporters and a delegation from the Bolivian embassy,
 gathered in a church in a run-down neighborhood of
Washington for a news conference.

A delegation of Lakota leaders delivered a message
 to the State Department on Monday, announcing
 they were unilaterally withdrawing from treaties
 they signed with the federal government of
 the United States, some of them more than 150 years old.

They also visited the Bolivian, Chilean, South African
 and Venezuelan embassies, and will continue on their
diplomatic mission and take it overseas in the coming
weeks and months, they told the news conference.

Lakota country includes parts of the states of Nebraska,
 South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming.

The new country would issue its own passports
and driving licences, and living there would be tax-free
-- provided residents renounce their US citizenship, Means said.


The treaties have been "repeatedly violated
in order to steal our culture, our land
and our ability to maintain our way of life,"
 the reborn freedom movement says.

Withdrawing from the treaties was entirely legal, Means said.

"This is according to the laws of the United States,
 specifically article six of the constitution," which states
that treaties are the supreme law of the land, he said.

"It is also within the laws on treaties passed at the Vienna Convention
and put into effect by the US and the rest of the international community
in 1980. We are legally within our rights to be free and independent," said Means.

The Lakota relaunched their journey to freedom in 1974,
when they drafted a declaration of continuing independence -
- an overt play on the title of the United States' Declaration
of Independence from England.

Thirty-three years have elapsed since then because
"it takes critical mass to combat colonialism and we wanted
 to make sure that all our ducks were in a row," Means said.

One duck moved into place in September, when the United Nations
 adopted a non-binding declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples -
- despite opposition from the United States,
which said it clashed with its own laws.

"We have 33 treaties with the United States
that they have not lived by. They continue to
take our land, our water, our children," Phyllis Young,
who helped organize the first international conference
on indigenous rights in Geneva in 1977, told the news conference.

The US "annexation" of native American land has resulted
in once proud tribes such as the Lakota becoming
mere "facsimiles of white people," said Means.

Oppression at the hands of the US government
has taken its toll on the Lakota, whose men have
 one of the shortest life expectancies -
- less than 44 years -- in the world.

Lakota teen suicides are 150 percent above the norm
 for the United States; infant mortality is five times higher
 than the US average; and unemployment is rife,
 according to the Lakota freedom movement's website.

"Our people want to live, not just survive
or crawl and be mascots," said Young.

"We are not trying to embarrass the United States.
 We are here to continue the struggle for our
 children and grandchildren," she said, predicting
that the battle would not be won in her lifetime.