Lusaka, Zambia ( — Mozambique has asked Zambia not to open the spill gates at its flooded Kariba Dam to reduce floods that have killed 50 Mozambicans and displaced 400,000 people in the former Portuguese colony.

Zambia, whose western, eastern and southern provinces have been flooded due to continuous heavy rains in the country, has agreed to the request.

Mozambican High Commissioner to Zambia, Cristofa Jamo, told the local press Sunday that his government had requested Zambia to minimise the opening of the gates as floods were playing havoc in his country.

"The Zambian Government assured us that they will only open the gates if the dam walls are threatened," he said.

Jamo said the Maputo administration was aware the current rains were posing problems even for Zambia.

"All we have asked for is that water flow should be minimised. If by nature there is too much water, then nothing can be done," he added.

However, a check by the Zambia Information Services confirmed that two gates had already been opened.

Experts from the Zambezi River Authority (ZRA) said the two gates would not cause any serious flooding on the Zambezi River.

The first gate was opened on 9 February when the water level in the dam was 484.63 metres above sea level.

On 15 February, the water level was 484.80 metres and this led to the opening of the second gate.

Once opened, the Kariba Dam waters feed into the Zambezi River in its way into the Mozambican channel via the Cahora Bassa Dam.

The dangers that threaten the Kariba Dam are that once the dam is flooded as it is at the moment, the dam walls could collapse and thus cause a worse catastrophe to Mozambican villages and towns downstream the Zambezi River.

The Kariba Dam, the largest in Southern Africa after Mozambique's Cahora Bassa Dam, is 400 km south of Lusaka.

It is the country's main source of hydro-electric power, the surplus of which is exported to its neighbouring countries of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).