President Lazarus Chakwera says previous administrations in Malawi made blunders in handling of the Lake Malawi wrangle but Tanzania now is confident it can reach a resolution with the current administration.
Speaking at a press briefing on Monday, State House Director of Communications Sean Kampondeni said when Chakwera met President John Magufuli of Tanzania last week, the Malawi leader reiterated that previous administrations made a blunder by not discussing the lake dispute on a platform of mutual trust, respect and solidarity between the two nations.
According to Kampondeni, Magufuli also felt that previous administrations failed to take into account the fact that people of Tanzania and Malawi share common history, commerce and culture.
Kampondeni said Chakwera and Magufuli want to revive solidarity and mutual so as to discuss the wrangle in the spirit of friendship.
“Magufuli feels confident in President Chakwera he has found a partner he can trust to reach a resolution on the Lake Malawi wrangle that is beneficial to the two countries,” said Kampondeni.
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, Government of Tanzania claims that the boundary is the median line of the Lake based on principles of customary international law.
The current wrangle began after Malawi awarded licences to various companies to search for oil and gas on the lake.
