MALAWI SUSPENDS TALKS WITH TANZANIA OVER LAKE MALAWI (NYASA)

The Mw and Tz Deadlock Talks (File Photo)

The President of Malawi, Joyce Banda, says she suspended talks with Tanzania over the disputed border on Lake Malawi because her counterpart, Jakaya Kikwete, is playing double standards.

President Banda told journalists in the capital Lilongwe on Tuesday that Malawi has written Tanzania to express discontent at the way Tanzania is handling the dispute.

The Malawi leader was responding to a question at a press conference she addressed following her visit to New York where she attended the 2012 United Nations General Assembly.

She had been queried why she did not take advantage of the UN General Assembly to seek arbitration on the long running dispute since the theme of the meeting centered on peaceful resolution to cross-border disputes.

The Malawi/Tanzania disagreement over the border on Lake Malawi is long standing, but only resurfaced this early year when Malawi started oil exploration on the lake. Tanzania called for a halt of the exploration claiming it owns half of the lake.

“When I left this country to go to the UN, I was of the view that the  matter was under control…that we are pursuing dialogue with our neighbor on this matter until I got to the US and two things happened”, said president Banda.

“One, that Tanzania launched a new map showing our lake to be on the part of Tanzania; two, that our fishermen went to fish on the lake and were caught and harassed; and three, that we have received information that there is a boat from Tanzania on the lake and that we have been informed by Tanzania that if our boat gets anywhere near our border they are going to blow it up.”

The president said this was in contrast with the spirit of negotiation as a delegation from Malawi was in the meantime expected to go to Tanzania for a second part of discussions.

In her view, she said, following discussions she held with president Kikwete on the sidelines of a regional conference in Mozambique the issue was possible to be easily resolved.

She accused president Kikwete of being insincere in his approach to the dispute having earlier assured her that he will make a statement on national TV to the effect that ‘there was no question of war between Malawi and Tanzania,’ but only to change tune later.

“When that statement was made, president Kikwete said, and I quote, Malawians are denying Tanzanians their right to their lake but at the same time our rivers flow into that lake, so because of that to come your question, I would say when I left Malawi it wasn’t a big issue, not it is”, the Malawi leader declared.

She disclosed that while at the UN meeting she wrote a letter to Tanzania protesting the conduct of the Kikwete government and ordered her foreign minister to inform Tanzania that there no point for Malawi to continue with dialogue until the current matter is resolved, referring to a map recently  issued by Tanzania and the alleged harassment of Malawian fishermen.

She declared Malawi would not return to the talks until Tanzania clarifies its conduct.

Dodoma has angered Lilongwe after it issued a new map that, among other features, shows the disputed border between the two countries to be in the middle of the lake.

The online version of the Citizen quoted Tanzania’s director of survey and mapping Dr Selasie Mayunga, as saying the new map clears the “confusion” regarding the Tanzania-Malawi border on Lake Nyasa. Tanzania calls the water body Lake Nyasa.

“In the new map, the boundary between Tanzania and Malawi is in the middle of Lake Nyasa as it is shown in the old map,” Dr Mayunga told the paper.

He is said to have urged institutions and individuals to start using copies of the new map.

While Malawi has avoided war language, some Tanzanian officials have routinely declared the country was ready to respond to any act of provocation.
Based on a 1890 treaty between the two countries’ former colonial masters Britain and Germany, Malawi claims ownership of the whole lake.

Malawi also cites a declaration by the then Organisation of Africa Unity which stated that countries should keep border lines they had on attaining independence from colonial rule.

However, Tanzania argues the Anglo-Germany treaty flouted an international law that states that countries divided by water bodies should have their boundaries in between the water.

Earlier Malawi said it was ready to take the issue to the International Court of Justice.

News by Zodiak Online