Chiume gives hope on Lake Malawi dispute
Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Ephraim Mganda Chiume says he is confident that discussions about the border dispute on Lake Malawi between Malawi and Tanzania will bear positive results.
He said this in Lilongwe on Monday after he officially opened a two-day Southern African Development Community (Sadc) Council of Ministers meeting.
Chiume, who is also the chairperson of the meeting, said the two parties are expected to meet from March 20 to 21 in Mozambique to discuss submissions and responses that were submitted by the two countries.
“We are confident because we know we have a very robust case. We also have solid legal team of seasoned players and professionals and in addition, we have included historians and academics to be part of the team so Malawians should not worry,” he said.
Chiume promised peaceful but steady results so that the two countries continue to coexist in a peaceful environment.
In her remarks, Sadc executive secretary Stergomena Lawrence Tax described peace building as one of Sadc’ s implementation policy decisions for the year 2014-15.
“Proposed plans and expenditures should be contributions in the implementation of existing policy decisions on Sadc priorities and high impact interventions which are peace building and consolidation of democratic practices and good governance in the region,” said Tax.
She then pledged to work hard to the Sadc Regional Agenda, but called for collective efforts in pursuit of achieving objectives of the organisation.
The main objective of the session was to deliberate on the operational plan and budget for the Sadc secretariat for 2014-15 as well as receive status and progress of implementation of the last financial year.
