Sat, August 18, 2012
MAPUTO, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- Malawian President Joyce Banda denies having frontier problems between her country and Tanzania.
"There is no a serious problem with Tanzania. Talks are going on to solve the conflict," she told reporters in the Mozambican capital Maputo on Friday night.
Banda is attending a two-day summit of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), which kicked off in Maputo on Friday.
The two sides are reportedly at loggerhead, in which Malawi announced it is to prospect oil and gas on the Lake Nyasa, which constitutes a border with Tanzania.
Malawi says that the entire lake belongs to Malawians, while Tanzania said about two weeks ago that it was ready to shade blood to defend its borders.
"The negotiations are under way. Malawian and Tanzanian officials are meeting on Monday to find ways of resolving the matter," she said.
But Banda refused to reveal the content of Monday's talks, saying, "I cannot say what they are going to discuss."
On the relations with Tanzanian President Jakaya kikwete, Banda said they are cordials. "We have already been together. He is my brother. I met him today (Friday). There are no problems between us and between the two countries."
Zambian President Michael Sata called on the two governments to find ways of getting a peaceful solution to the conflict.
Sata said his country has a lot of refugees and that he was ready to receive more. "We have a lot of refugees. We don't know what to do with them.
They refuse to go back home. "We are available to receive them without problem," said the Zambian leader in his speech at the opening session of the SADC summit.
