Joint committee on Tanzania-Malawi border formed

BY CORRESPONDENT

Tanzania and Malawi have agreed to jointly form Committee of Technical Experts which will search, review and analyze all available legal instruments concerning the common boundary of the two countries.

A Statement issued at the end of a meeting of the Committee in Lilongwe, Malawi, yesterday said the meeting was aimed at preparing a road map for the reaffirmation of the international boundary between the two countries.

“The meeting was held against the background of the directive of the African Union to all African countries that they should delineate, demarcate and reaffirm their international boundaries by the year 2012,” the joint statement noted.

The committee of officials meeting which was held in cordial manner, considered the available legal instruments that led to the delineation of the boundary between the two countries by the colonial administrators.

It also hailed the close collaboration, trust and transparency that prevailed during discussions over the issues for the benefit of the peoples of the two countries. 

Malawi and Tanzania have so far agreed to develop part of the stretch of the Songwe River through the Songwe River Basin Development programme in a move aimed at destabilizing and controlling the unpredictable shift of the river course.

Tanzania and Malawi have had border disputes on Lake Nyasa since the colonial times.

Unpredictable shifts of the Songwe River course due to flooding and other factors have also made it difficult to determine the border since the two countries are separated by it.

The Tanzania delegation to the meeting was led by the Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Human Settlement Development, Maria Bilia. 

The Tanzania High Commissioner to the Republic of Malawi, Patrick Tsere, Head of Legal Unit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation, Irene Kasyanju and a representative from the Attorney General’s Chamber also attended the meeting.

The committee is to report their findings back to officials of the two countries by the first week of December 2010.

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN (22/09/2012): http://www.ippmedia.com/frontend/index.php?l=46082