Tanzania is deploying three ships on Lake Nyasa, also known as Lake Malawi, despite an ongoing territorial dispute with Malawi over the lake. The deployment could jeopardise the mediation process.

Malawi, which lies to the west of Africa’s third largest lake, claims to own the entire lake, while Tanzania, to the east, maintains it owns half of the northern area — following a simmering animosity between the two countries.

The Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) said the first 350-tonne passenger-cargo ship, which is part of a $12.3 million project, will start operating on Lake Nyasa in August this year.

Itungi-Kyela port manager Percival Salama said Songoro Marine Transport Ltd — which is the project’s contractor — is finalising construction of the passenger vessel.

Technical director of Songoro Maritime Transport Saleh Songoro said the ship is being constructed in Kyela, with technical assistance from ship building company APT Global Marine Services of Dubai. The multipurpose ship will have a capacity for carrying 350 tonnes of cargo and 193 passengers.

The other two cargo barges with a capacity to carry 1,300 tonnes of cargo each, will be constructed and commissioned between August and October 2017.

Mbeya Regional Commissioner Amos Makalla said the ships will boost Tanzania’s marine transport. “The ships will transport luggage and passengers from Mbeya, Njombe, Ruvuma, and neighbouring countries of Zambia, Mozambique, and Malawi itself,” said Mr Makalla.

Tanzania and Malawi are currently waiting to hold another round of mediation talks, which were stalled for two years as the two countries held general elections.

READ: New Malawi president stakes claim to Lake Nyasa
Deployment of the ships could frustrate the talks over ownership of the lake.

“Malawi could be angered by the move, but Tanzania is deploying ships because it believes half of the lake belongs to it,” said senior lecturer at the Institute of Finance Management Abdallah Saqware.

In June 2013, when Tanzania revealed plans to deploy vessels on Lake Nyasa, Malawi protested, warning that the deployment of ships would threaten the ongoing mediation efforts to resolve the long-standing border dispute.

READ: Tanzania issues new map, Malawi pulls out of talks

Panel of the Wise

The Southern African Development Community’s Panel of the Wise, under the leadership of former Mozambican president Joaquim Chissano, is currently working to resolve the dispute between Malawi and Tanzania over the potentially oil-rich Lake Nyasa.

Other panel members are former South African president Thabo Mbeki and Festus Mogae former president of Botswana.

Malawi has linked the dispute to possible oil and gas reserves in the lake and claims ownership based on the 1890 Heligoland agreement. The country has already awarded exclusive prospecting licenses to two British oil companies, Surestream Petroleum and Sacoil.

Tanzania on its part denied that the British oil-drilling projects on Lake Nyasa are contributing factors to the dispute, arguing that the standoff has continued on-and-off since the early 1960s, when there were no prospects of oil or gas.

In the 1960s, Hastings Kamuzu Banda, the then president of Malawi, claimed Lake Nyasa, the whole Njombe in Mbeya areas in Tanzania were part of Malawi.

This provoked the wrath of his Tanzanian counterpart president Julius Nyerere. A committee was appointed by both countries to solve the dispute over the lake and its name.

Lake Nyasa or Lake Malawi is home to 1,000 species of fish. It is located at the crossroads of  Malawi in the west, Mozambique to the south and Tanzania to its northeast. With an estimated fish stock of 168,000 tonnes, it is a source of livelihood for nearly 10 million people.

Additional reporting by Joseph Kithama.