EX-leaders demanded money to solve Tanzania-Malawi border dispute

A panel of Ex-African Presidents in SADC region who currently are settling the Tanzania-Malawi border dispute have demanded a total of $ 761.016.96 to be contributed by each country as contribution for arbitration making process over the matter which is still on their hands, the Parliament has been informed.  The Parliamentary chairman Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation who is also an MP for Monduli (CCM) Edward Lowassa said yesterday in his report that ended N November 2013.  Tabling the report on his behalf, the Kondoa South MP (CCM) Juma Nkamia said that, out of the required amount, Tanzania has contributed $ 387, 336.96 which is equivalent to 50.9 percent.  He further noted that, on the other side of Malawian government, they have contributed about $ 50,000 only. This is equivalent to 6.6 percent of the total amount Investigations by the committee can reveal that, Tanzania has contributed a larger amount which is eight times the amount so far contributed by Malawian government, her co- partner in this slow going border dispute process. However, the committee report further says that, although Malawi is staggering to contribute, it’s shown interest to quicken the process and move further to International Tribunal Court. But according to Nkamia, the committee was informed on Tanzania stand that enough time has to be issued in order to complete the arbitration work by these SADC ex-Presidents whose panel is being led by the former Mozambican President Joachim Chisano. Earlier, the report clarified the political relationships between the two countries an d said that, it is still very tense as both sides have not yet reached a consensus, and that efforts to settle the matter is still underway by the panel of ex-Presidents of South African Development Community (SADC). The dispute arose in 2012 when Malawi awarded an exploration license to a British company, Surestream, for the possible exploitation of oil and gas reserves in Lake Malawi (known as Lake Nyasa in Tanzania and Mozambique). The furore that erupted following this announcement resurrected a decades-old dispute between the two countries over the demarcation of their border traversing the lake.  Malawi’s assertion is that it presides over the entire lake up to the Tanzanian shoreline, as stipulated by the 1890 Heligoland Treaty; while Tanzania’s position is that in accordance with international norms and practice, the border ought to be demarcated in the centre of the lake. Tanzania proclaims that this is in fact the case with the demarcation of the Malawi-Mozambique border on Lake Malawi.

Former Tanzania Prime Minister Edward Lowassa, also an MP for Monduli