Speaking to reporters on Saturday, after the opening session of the heads of state summit of SADC (Southern African Development Community), Banda said that discussions are under way over the border dispute between the two countries, which centres on the division of Lake Niassa.
Malawi has resorted to an agreement of 1890 between the British and German colonial authorities to lay claim to the entire northern part of the lake. Tanzania argues that it is entitled to half the lake, and strongly objects to Malawi’s unilateral decision to explore for hydrocarbons under the lake bed.
“Officials from Malawi and Tanzania are meeting on Monday to find ways of solving the matter”, Banda said. But she declined to give any details.
She met in Maputo with her Tanzanian counterpart, Jakaya Kikwete, on Saturday morning. “He is my brother”, she said. “There is no problem between us or between our countries”.
When he took over the rotating chairmanship of SADC on Saturday, Mozambican President Armando Guebuza declared that the dispute over Lake Niassa should be solved though “dialogue as a mechanism to seek and build consensus”.
Earlier in the week the SADC Executive Secretary Tomas Salomao was more emphatic declaring “Under no circumstances should the resort to force be regarded as an option”.
Should Malawi and Tanzania prove unable to reach agreement, the “the matter must go to the relevant international forum or court”, said Salomao, pointing out that bodies exist specifically to arbitrate on border issues, including rights over inland waters.
Post published in: Africa News