Malawi, Tanzania to discuss lake resource sharing

Technocrats from Malawi and Tanzania governments are due to discuss a resource-sharing agreement as proposed by mediators as one way of ending the Lake Malawi wrangle between the two countries.

Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Minister George Chaponda confirmed the development to Nation on Sunday in an exclusive interview on Thursday.

But an analyst has warned that the development is a blunder on the part of Malawi Government as it would only obscure the conflict but not necessary resolve it.

The minister, however, said the decision does not mean government has changed its stance on ownership of the lake, but said the mediators believe that economic integration is the solution on the matter.

Chaponda disclosed that the move was proposed by the two former heads of State mediating the dispute—former Mozambican president Joaquim Chissano and former South African president Thabo Mbeki—during the last African Union (AU) summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

He, however, conceded the mediators do not want to make a determination on the matter as they would like to restrict their role to arbitration.

“In the meeting, there was a proposition made that instead of talking about the boundaries, why don’t we talk about economic integration since African Union is talking about integration. Basically, Malawi and Tanzania technocrats have been told to do their homework on the issue and come up with a way forward.

“What was good in that meeting is that the Tanzanian President [Jakaya Kikwete] said that this is not an issue we can fight over and we also thought this was an issue that could be resolved without going to the International Court of Justice.

“After discussing with my group, we will be meeting the Tanzanian Minister of Foreign Affairs to find out when we can meet and discuss in details to find out what they mean by integration in details.

“To us, the President [Peter Mutharika] has always said, there is no question for us in Malawi, the lake is non-negotiable. But we need to find out if Tanzania has abandoned their claim to the lake? That is something we will find out during the meetings.”

Quizzed whether the development means government has accepted that the mediators will not provide a determination, Chaponda said government wants to seek clarifications during the yet-to-be-scheduled meeting first.

The proposal for resource-sharing agreement comes amid an ongoing hunt for oil and gas on Lake Malawi with several exploration firms from United Arab Emirates and Britain currently at advanced stages of exploration.

And speaking in an interview, executive director for Justice Link and human rights activist Justin Dzonzi described the move by government as shocking and a tactical mistake.

“Assuming this is true; I would say the issue of trans-boundary resources is common in all countries. Even Malawi and Zambia have a trans-boundary resources sharing agreement on Nyika. But the issue at hand here is totally different. In principle, there is nothing wrong. But to the extent that Tanzania staked a claim of ownership over the lake; this is a blunder.

“Let’s deal with the ownership of the lake first. If this is true, it deepens a policy blunder because personally, I had a view from the onset that the matter should not have been up for talks. Now discussing a sharing agreement obscures the real matter,” added Dzonzi.  n