Tanzania is resulting in diplomatic interventions as well as fresh land surveying and border demarcation to solve the dispute surrounding the country’s ownership of the third largest lake in Africa.
As it happens, Dar has been facing a longstanding border contest with its southern neighbor, Malawi, over the big Lake which is mapped on the country’s southern border.
Lake Nyasa, a large, beautiful and fresh water body which Tanzania shares with Malawi and Mozambique, has been a bone of contention as far as where the borderline passes across the vast water body.
Lilongwe claims total ownership of the entire upper part of Nyasa, which is also known as Lake Malawi, where the country borders Tanzania.
Apparently, Malawi’s position is based on the 1890 Anglo-German Treaty, while Tanzania claims that, a median borderline pierces the Lake in the central section.
“With new and proper surveys, we shall solve many of the border-related problems with our neighbors, including those with shared Lakes and Rivers,” President Samia Suluhu Hassan stated.
Tanzania shares a number of Lakes with neighboring countries, including Africa’s largest, Victoria, with Kenya and Uganda, Nyasa, with Malawi and Tanganyika shared among DR Congo, Tanzania, Zambia and Burundi.
However, so far it is only Lake Nyasa, precisely the part which Tanzania shares with Malawi, which is raising problems.
Lake Malawi stretches over 580 kilometers long and around 75 kilometers across at its widest point, with a total surface area of about 29,600 square kilometers.
Lake Malawi depth steeps down to 706 meters at its deepest point, located in a major depression in the north-central part.
Meanwhile speaking in Dodoma, President Samia revealed that South Korea is pledging USD 65 million to improve surveying and mapping infrastructure as part of the newly launched initiative’s preparations.
It is part of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) a project, which is intended to address the fresh mapping and land demarcation process, including reviving old markers and planting of new beacons.
To achieve that, Tanzania has secured USD 114 million to support the Ministry of Lands, including the USD 49 million acquired from the World Bank for a project aimed at enhancing land ownership security.