MALAWI, LILONGWE — UK-based petroleum company Surestream plans to go ahead with its oil exploration on Lake Malawi despite the escalating tensions between Malawi and neighboring Tanzania over ownership of part of the water body.
Surestream General Manager Keith Robinson has disclosed that the company plans to start bringing in equipment, including aircraft and a 70-meter-long vessel with advanced laboratory equipment capable of detecting oil or gas deposits even beyond the lake base.
A noon news bulletin aired on October 7 on Malawi’s private radio station Zodiak Broadcasting quoted Robinson as saying a team of experts will be in Malawi by the end of this year.
He said Surestream’s exploration would be conducted off the shore of Karonga and Nkhotakota North in the northern and central regions of Malawi. Those areas have the potential for huge deposits of oil and gas, Robinson said.
But Malawians say they have not yet been given a chance to consider the pros and cons of oil drilling on the lake.
And Surestream faces opposition from Tanzania, which claims half of the lake as its territory. (Malawi claims the entire lake based on century-old treaties signed between then-colonial powers Great Britain and Germany.)
Tanzanian newspapers last week quoted Minister of Foreign Affairs Bernard Membe saying government officials had spoken to Malawi, asking for a halt to the exploration with immediate effect, and that disregarding the request would be considered an act of aggression.
The Malawi government has insisted that it is working to resolve the issue through negotiation.
Tanzanian authorities on October 6 denied reports that they had deployed military vessels on the lake (known in Tanzania as Lake Nyasa) and also denied allegations that Tanzanian security forces were harassing Malawians who were using the lake.
Membe said his country was carrying out “normal” patrols on the water body. He added that several people, including two Malawians, were found to be fishing illegally on the Tanzanian side of the lake.
“This, however, does not mean that we have been actively targeting Malawians,” Membe told The Citizen newspaper. He added that Tanzania would continue to pursue diplomatic means, including seeking mediation, to end the dispute with Malawi.
Malawian President Joyce Banda said on October 2 that her government would take the border dispute case to the International Court of Justice, after several attempts at talks between the two countries ended in failure.
Lilongwe has also accused Dar es Saalam of provocation by releasing a new map at the end of September that shows the border between the two countries passing through the middle of the disputed lake.
Membe said he did not believe the new map was the only reason that Malawi had pulled out of the talks.
He challenged Banda on her decision to involve the international court, adding that Tanzania will propose a mediator “even if Malawi does not return to the negotiations.”
Tanzania wants an international mediator to be appointed from among former African presidents in the 15-nation Southern African Development Community trade bloc, of which both Tanzania and Malawi are members.
Source:http://www.ooskanews.com
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