Tanzanian president rules out possibility of war with Malawi

The Tanzanian President, Jakaya Kikwete has abandoned a possible war between his country and the neighboring Malawi over the Niassa lake borders even as the Malawian government maintains the controversial lake belongs to her state.Kikwete declined he was preparing himself to go to war against Malawi over the Niassa and said the war allegations were issued by the opposition leaders of his country, the state radio said. “I am the commander of the army. I did not instruct my army to go to war, therefore if it did not come from me it’s not true,” Kikwete said in a private meeting with his Malawian counterpart, Joyce Banda in Maputo. Both countries do not have a historic past with war involvement. Tanzania was only involved once in a war with the neighboring Uganda, while Malawi was never involved in any war yet.The Malawian authorities maintain that Lake Niassa, also known as Lake Malawi, is totally owned by Malawi adding that the border position is based on a British-Germany treaty of 1890 which was accepted by Tanzania’s former leaders Julius Nyerere and Benjamin Mkapa.The conflict arose when Malawi granted concessions to a British company to research and prospect hydrocarbons.