JB warns she will take lake dispute to ICJ

Malawi President Joyce Banda on Sunday told mediators on the border dispute with Tanzania on Lake Malawi that Malawi will not accept any interim agreement over the lake until the wrangle is resolved.

Banda said this after meeting two of the mediators, former Mozambican president Joaquim Chissano and former South African president Thabo Mbeki at Kamuzu Palace in the capital, Lilongwe.

She said: “My government is not, at this time, willing to entertain any interim agreement on say, the environmental issues or Tanzania usage of the lake until the sovereignty issue is resolved.”

Banda also warned that if the two fail to resolve the lake dispute by September 30 this year, she will take the matter to the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

“Our expectation is that the Forum’s role is to facilitate that the parties reach an agreement. If no agreement is made by 30 September, the Forum should recommend that the parties proceed to the ICJ and ensure Tanzania’s commitment to the process,” she said in a strongly worded statement before they went into a discussion.

Chissano, as chairperson of the 38-member African Forum of Former Heads of State, is the chief mediator in the dispute in a team comprising Mbeki and former president of Botswana Festus Mogae.

Malawi, which sits to the west of Africa’s third-largest lake, claims the entire northern half of the lake while Tanzania, to the east, says it owns half of the northern area. The southern half is shared between Malawi and Mozambique

The 50-year-old dispute reignited in 2011 when Malawi awarded exploration licences to UK-based Surestream Petroleum to search for oil and gas. The exploration has since been stopped until the dispute is resolved.

Banda did not hesitate to remind the two leaders about Malawi’s claim: “Malawi’s position is that we own the entire lake—except for the portion ceded to Mozambique in 1954 for mutually beneficial reasons. The law clearly supports that position.”

The President said in 2003 former Tanzanian president Benjamin Mkapa, on a visit to Malawi, said that his country shall never lay claim of the lake.

Chissano and Mbeki arrived in Lilongwe yesterday at the invitation of Malawi.

After Banda, accompanied by opposition leaders, namely leader of opposition in Parliament and Malawi Congress Party (MCP) president John Tembo and leader of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in Parliament George Chaponda, raised Malawi’s concerns, a discussion in camera ensued.

In their responses during a press conference later, Chissano and Mbeki assured the President that they will take the concerns to Tanzania and will speed up the mediation process and resolve the issue amicably.

“We have accepted the challenge knowing that it’s a hard task, but we are happy to try and do something…we know that the solution lies in the hands of the two parties and we take Malawi’s concerns to Tanzania,” Chissano said.

He, however, appealed to the two nations to refrain from engaging in activities that may derail the mediation process.