Malawian President Seeks Clarity On Border Dispute From International Court

Egui/Flickr
Lake Tanganyika/Nyasa in the middle of the border dispute between Tanzania and Malawi respectively.
3 April 2013
allAfrica.com
By Lungelwa Timla

President Joyce Banda has said that Malawi will urgently take the border dispute with Tanzania to the UN's International Court of Justice (ICJ) after claiming the intervention by the African Forum of former Heads of States has been jeopardised, Nyasa Times has reported.

She alleges that the forum's mediation efforts have been interfered with after documents submitted by Malawi were given to Tanzania prior to their submission. The forum is chaired by Mozambique's former president Joachim Chissano.

Large deposits of oil and gas are thought to lie below Lake Malawi, which would help the Malawi government diversify its economy, Nyasa Time reports.

Talks between the countries have collapsed on two occasions.

The conflict was reignited in July 2012 when Malawi granted oil exploration licenses to the United Kingdom's Surestream Petroleum and later in December granted a licence to South Africa's SacOil Holding Holdings Ltd, Nyasa Times reports.

According to Al Jazeera, Malawi is claiming the entire lake under an 1890 agreement, while Tanzania insists that a section of the lake falls within its borders.

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