Malawi commended for sticking to diplomacy on Lake Malawi dispute

May 16, 2017 Politics 35
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Lake Malawi
Lake Malawi
Lake Malawi dispute rages on.

A political expert in the country has commended Malawi for using diplomacy to resolve the Lake Malawi wrangle with Tanzania.

Speaking to Malawi24, the political scientist Wonderful Mkhutche said diplomacy is the way to go in such situations.

“Malawi has to be commended for using acceptable means to solve this issue. Our approach has not been confrontational. Diplomacy is the way to go in such circumstances,” said Mkhutche.

Since 2012, Malawi and Tanzania have been holding talks on the dispute with help from a High Level Mediation Team led by former Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano.

Further mediation talks on the dispute were expected to be held last week but Tanzania asked for the meeting to be cancelled.

Commenting on the issue, Mkhutche said the way Tanzania has cancelled the negotiations is suspicious especially to Malawi.

“The way Tanzania has cancelled the negotiations sends a wrong message to parties concerned, especially Malawi. They may have their own reasons but there is no any other way to resolve this matter apart from negotiating,” said Mkhutche.

Wonderful Mkhutche
Wonderful Mkhutche: The cancellation of the talks is worrisome.

He further expressed worry that the cancellation of the meeting will protract the wrangle. According to Mkhutche, this is the best time to solve the matter before the issue gets complicated.

“The longer it takes to solve this, the greater the risk of giving chance to interested parties in the resources to cause a conflict,” he said.

Malawi and Tanzania have been fighting over the ownership of part of the lake since 2012.

Malawi maintains that the boundary is the shoreline of Lake Malawi as established by Article 1(2) of the 1890 Anglo-German Treaty hence the lake belongs to Malawi in its entirety.

On the other hand, Tanzania claims that the boundary is the median line of the lake based on principles of customary international law. It even produced a new map showing the disputed portion of the lake as part of Tanzania.

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35 Comments

  1. TZ where ever they can go ndiolephera the Lake is for Malawi coz of the Helgoland Treaty of 1896…..b4 this treaty yes I agree the lake was shared bt Britain had an Island (Zanzibar) in TZ which was Germany territory therefore in 1896 Germany negotiated with Britain to give up the island to Germany on the other hand Germany agreed to surrender the whole Lake to b under British control they signed & agreed that not what TZ is saying……. if they want the lake to be shared they r suppose to give us land to the northern region equal to the lake side O Zanzibar bt ife sitingalore coz we value the lake more than land………Flames for ever I love MALAWI

  7. Am real Malawian! If Malawi will use force am sure Rumphi, Karonga & Chitipa will be the disticts in Mbeya region in Tanzania

    3. I knw the truth about Mw & Tz dont b cheatd. Tz is great in power, moreover Mw hav’t fght ever b4. Watchout Mw you’ll completely fall in economics

  11. We Malawian, we are not afraid with Tanzania, they are lying them selvies that they can get apart of Lake Malawi and for how long we owned our Lake so many years we owned it and how now Tanzania come and saying senseless things they do think we are afraid of their military jet no we can’t afraid (kungova kuti tiyamba kupopa mafuta basi nowo ayambe kutivuta kuti nyanja noso kulimbaliyayo nde akunana dyeranjirimenero ) if they want to hear the history of Lake Malawi they must to ask their colonial master German sitinga lole ife amalawi tiyifera nyanja yanthu

  14. MWAUZE ABOMAWO KUMUDZIKO KUTI ASILIKALI ASAMANGOLANDA MAKALA AI. AKAMANGILETU MATENT KUMALILE CHIFUKWA TISAILEKELELE CHUMA CHATHU IFE NDI CHOMWECHO. ANYAPAPI AMENEWA ASATINYANSE AI.

  15. Inuyo pitani ku America kapena ku China mukapephe zida ndi ndege za asilikali timajet air force tioneke koditu mlandu umenewo oro ku international court atha kufutsa nyanja ndi ya Malawi kapena Tanzania.ans Malawi nanga bwanji Tanzania ikutulowa chala amabungwe,osutsa boma,aboma ndale tisiye uko titeteze nyanja ngati mu kuopa Tanzania uzani kapani ya ku America or China ayambe kupupa mafuta kenako atipatse zida zoopsa before kupopa mafuta chifukwa Tanzania ikudarira timajet yakho ndo Tanzania siziwa khondo nafenso tipeze timajet toopsa pakufunika tiyike asilikali a khondo marire komaso timange barracks kuti muone Tanzania pali ka dziko kena kake komwe akuapopa tiganize bwino

  17. Ndingopempha apeter agwiritse ntchito maphunziro asagonje chifukwa iwo alipanamba 3kwasogoleri mwaafrica muno kumbali ya maphunziro enawa ndi chisilizira ndimkaonaakuchitamakani

  19. zikuoneka kt boma likumuopa tazania.tazania akufuna kutibela nde chomwe chikufunika ndikupanga zinthu zoti titeteze nyanja apo biii nde kt chathu palibe

    2. Africa is not by accident but,our founders were united and we must respect the boundaries which were demarcated if we want to be successful

  24. This shows how ignorant African leaders are! instead of maintaining unity among countries in the continent now bizy with boundaries Welcome to Africa the land of bloodshed,corruption and illiterate leaders who rule on daily basis no vision in them

  25. No need for dialogue the same Kamuzu refused to have dialogue with Nyerere on the same issue the lake belong to Malawi go to international court basi

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