Tanzania hailed for seeking dialogue in solving Lake Nyasa border dispute
4th October 2012
United Nations (UN) Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has commended Tanzania for seeking peaceful solutions in its Lake Nyasa border dispute with neighboring Malawi, insisting that dialogue is the right way to address the matter.
“I recently met Malawi President Joyce Banda, she briefed me on the boarder dispute and steps taken towards getting a peaceful solution…dialogue is the right way that UN supports,” said Ki-Moon on Tuesday during a conversation with President Jakaya Kikwete who is in New York, US for a two-day official visit.
However, the President told the UN Secretary General that Tanzania still believes in dialogue as the best way of solving border disputes. Kikwete said the idea of looking for a permanent solution to the problem was initiated by the then Malawi President, the late Bingu wa Mutharika who insisted the two countries to start negotiating the matter.
“That is how we started our negotiations,” he noted.
According to Kikwete the boarder between Malawi and Mozambique on Lake Nyasa goes across the middle of the Lake and the border with Malawi is by the Lake and large Rivers from Tanzania also flow to Lake Nyasa.
He insisted that Tanzania border with Malawi is inside the Lake, adding that big Rivers from Tanzania also flows to the Lake Nyasa.
“Whenever two countries are separated by water, the border lies in the middle. The Tanzania/Malawi border should also be in the middle of Lake Nyasa,” he said.
Kikwete said that currently all the economic activities done by Tanzanians in the Lake are said to be done in Malawi.
In his monthly address to the nation on Tuesday, Kikwete said Tanzania is making special preparations to present its case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands should efforts to resolve the dispute by dialogue fail.
He said the joint Malawi-Tanzania commission had planned to meet to discuss the Lake Nyasa dispute back in September, but this was canceled after Malawi requested the meeting be postponed.
The two countries agreed to resolve the matter in 1954.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
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