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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THAT IS A VERY FOOLISH ASSERTION THAT ACCORDING TO ANGLO GERMAN WHAT!!!? THAT IS TOO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE LAKES IS THAT 'THAT WAS GIVEN TO ALL THE PEOPLE WHO SURROUNDS THAT BODY OF WATER" : BY RIGHT NO MAN CAN NOT CLAIM WATER. WHAT THE LAST PRESIDENT DID WAS WRONG THE LAKE CAN NOT BE DRILLED BY ANY OIL COMPANY; THAT WOULD BE MADNESS AND MISERY TO THE LIFE OF MILLIOS OF PEOPLE. WHAT AFRICANS NEED TO LLOK AT IS NIGERTIA AND THIER OASIS TRUNED INTO A CESPIT BY THE WEST. THEY CREATE OIL SPILLS THEY ARE HUMAN THEY ARE RECKLES THEY ARE CARELESS SO HESE THINSG HAPPENS. WHEN IT DOES HAPPEN THEY DO NOT CLEAN IT UP YOU DO NOT HAVE THE POWER TO MAKE HEM CLEAN IT UP THEY DO NOT HONOPUR THIER OBLIGATIONS IN AFRICA. SHOUDL AFRICA HAVE MORE EDUCATED PEOPLE FISCALLY ECONOMICALLY STUDIOUSLY WE WOULD NOT THINK TO EVEN WANT TO DESTROY THGE ECOLOGY OF LAK MALAWI. THIS LAKE IS ANCIENT AND FULL FO RESPURCES OTHER THAN OIL THAT WOULD NTO INETRFERE WITH THE RICH LAKE THAT IT IS. YOU MUST REMEMBER THAT A LAKE IS NOT A RIVER HWERE IT EMPTIES INTO THE SEA THIS IS A BODY OF WATER THAT IS SURROUNDED BY LAND THIS IS ONE OF EARTHS GIFTS FROM " THE ALL MIGHTY CREATOR". USE YOUR MIND AND DEVELOP SOMETHING MORE STUNNING WITH THE LAKE BUTONE THING IS FOR ,SURE THIS IS YORU LIFELINE, "WATER IS MORE PRECIOUS THAN SILVER AND GOLD". THIS LAKE COULD BE 'THE FRESHEST RICHEST OF ALL WATERS 'THERE IS ENOURMOUS WEALTH IN THAT ALONE YOU CAN HOST TOURIST ECO TRIPS ON THE LAKE POINTING OUT HWERE MANY UNDISCOVERED SPECIES OF FISH INHABIT COME ON AFRICA OIL IS TOO DIRTY NASTY AND WE SHOULD NOT BE SEEKING AFTR IT SO READILY. THE THING IS WE KNOW WE HAVE OIL AND WE KNOW WE HAVE GAS LET US PRODUCE THINGS THAT WILL BETTER OUR ECONOMIES WHY DO WE HAVE TO RUSH TO GET RICH?? WE MUST LEARN TO LOOK AFTER ORU LANDS FIRST THESE ARE WAY MORE IMPORTANT THAN SELLIG OUR NATURAL MOST BEAUTIFUL RSOURCE WHICH IS WATER"" WATER IS RICH IT SUSTAINS ALL LIFE OIL IS A KILLER IT SPINS THE EARTH WE SHOULD NTOT VEEN BE EXTRACTING OIL. OIL EXTRACTION IS GOD ONLY FOR SOME EVEN IF ITS THERE. WHATS THE USE OF HAVING THE OIL IF YOU CAN NOT WATER THE CROPS,BECAUSE THEY WILL HAVE CONTAMINATED THE WATER SO BADLY THAT IT WOULD MAKE THE LAKE ESSENTILY DEAD. THESE ARE THE THINGS THAT THESE COMPANIES DO'. IN SOME RECENT REVELATION COMMING TO LIGHT IS 'THAT THEY DO SOMETHING CALL FRACKING' ,WHICH IS USED TO DRILL FOR WELLS; WHATEVER THE PROCESS, WHICH IS FULL OF METHANE GAS, WHAT HAPPENS ULTIMATELY IS CANCEROUS SORES SKIN INFECTIONS BIRTH DFECTS SPEECH IMPERIMENTS DEATH"" JUST THINK ABOUT THIS THESE ARE THE THINSG THAT HAPPENED IN THE USA TO WHITES SO THINK ABOUT YOU AND WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO MILLIONS IS IT WORTH IT???? NOT BY A LONG SHOT. !!! PUT THE YOUTHS HEADS TO MIND AND FIND WHAT CAN BE DONE TO MAKE THE LAKE ATTRACTIVE WITHOUT ANY CONTAMINATIONS;" SELL THE LAKE AS A PLACE RICH WITH RESOURCES TEEMING WITH LIFE', BUILD GREAT SPAS WHERE PEOPLE THAT WANT TO VISIT AND HOLIDAY ON THE LAKE FOR 2 WEEKS ONLY; THEY WILL HAVE TO ABIDE BY STRINGENT RULES AS THERE IS NO WASTE IN THE WATER NO CONTAMINANTS NO PLASTICS SO ON ; COME ON MALAWI ; I WANT YOU TO SUCCEED BUT NTO WITH BOWING OR BEGGING OR OIL DRILLING THERE ARE GREATER THINSG IN STORE FOR MALAWI!!!!!!!!!!!!!