Source http://www.iss.co.za/
On Monday 30 July, Tanzania asked Malawi to stop oil and gas
exploration activities in Lake Malawi until the border dispute between
the two countries involving the lake is resolved.
In September last year, the government of Malawi's late president
Bingu wa Mutharika awarded an exploration licence to the British firm
Surestream Petroleum to search for oil and gas in the giant lake. The
company is currently conducting an environmental impact assessment.
There is concern that the border dispute could escalate if 'black
gold' is discovered.
Lake Malawi (Lake Nyasa according to Tanzania) is Africa's third
largest water mass, covering about 20 per cent of Malawi's total land
mass, and is home to 1 000 endemic species of fish.
The latest dispute began when Malawi's fishing and tourism activities
allegedly started encroaching on Tanzanian territorial waters. The
Tanzanian MP for the Mbeya region, Hilda Ngoye, has argued that the
people of Tanzania living around the lake have the right to fish and
engage in other productive activities on the lake without being
intimidated. Tanzania's Attorney General, Frederick Werema, responded
to Ngoye's concerns by asserting that the people of Tanzania should
not have to ask for permission from Malawi to fetch water from the
lake.
However, Malawi is acting on the supposition that the entire body of
the lake belongs to it. The government of Malawi maintains that,
according to the 1890 Anglo-German agreement, the border between
Tanzania and Malawi is the north-eastern edge of the waters of Lake
Malawi. However, the country is willing to engage with Tanzania to
reach an amicable resolution.
The last time the issue of the lake boundary was publically disputed
by Tanzania and Malawi was in 1967-1968. Although the border dispute
remained largely unresolved, it has not been the subject of policy
statement or great national concern on either side. Tanzania's
Attorney General has pointed out that international law requires a
border to be in the middle of a body of water.
Talks between the two countries on the matter will resume on 20 August
2012 in Mzuzu, Malawi. The government of Malawi hopes that it can
reach an agreement with its neighbour and that the two countries will
sign a memorandum of understanding in light of recent developments in
and around the lake relating to oil and gas exploration.
According to media reports, Tanzania has also since announced plans to
purchase a new ferry for use on the lake. The Tanzanian Attorney
General has said that if an amicable resolution was not reached in the
diplomatic talks with its neighbour, the country would seek
international intervention to resolve the dispute.
In that scenario, the neighbours may have to justify their legal
claims to the disputed territory before the International Court of
Justice, given the lamentable absence of similar regional or
continental architecture to back the doctrine of 'African solutions
for African problems'.
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