Dr. Aleck Che-Mponda Atembelea Ubolozi wa Tanzania Umoja wa Mataifa

Dr. Aleck Che-Mponda alikutana na Balozi Mwakilishi wa Kudumu wa Tanzania katika Umoja wa Mataifa, Mh. Tuvako N. Manongi na Naibu Mwakilishi wa kudumu, Mh. Ramadhani M. Mwinyi, jana, Alhamisi, January 24, 2013 mjini New York.

Dr. Che-Mponda alifanya utafiti muhimu kuhusu mgogoro katika ya Malawi na Tanzania kuhusu Ziwa Nyasa mwaka 1971 kwa ajili ya Ph.D yake kutoka Chuo Kikuu cha Howard (Howard University). Dissertation inaitwa, ''The Malawi-Tanzania Border and Territorial Disputes, 1968: A case study of Boundary and Territorial Imperatives in the new Africa". Dr. Che-Mponda alimkabidhi Mh. Balozi Manongi, nakala la andiko (dissertation) lake.  Kwa wasiofahamu, Dr. Che-Mponda ni baba yangu mzazi.

Utafiti aliyofanya zaidi ya miaka 40 uliyopita umekuwa muhimu sana sasa kutokana na Rais wa Malawi, Mh. Joyce Banda kuruhusu makampuni kuchimba mafuta (oil exploration) katika Ziwa Nyasa, akidai kuwa Ziwa yote ni mali/ardhi ya Malawi.

Kutoka Kushoto - Mh. Balozi Tuvako Manongi, Dr. Aleck Che-Mponda, Mh. Balozi Ramadhani M. Mwinyi



Kutoka Kushoto - Mh. Noel Kaganda, Mh. Balozi Tuvako Manongi, Dr. Aleck Che-Mponda, Mh. Balozi Ramadhani M. Mwinyi, na shemeji yangu Stanley Harris

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Gazeti la Business Times waliandika kuhusu utafiti wa baba hivi karibuni:

Kutoka Business Times

Britain solved Malawi-Tanzania border issue in 1924, analyst says: League of Nations duly informed in 1925...


Written by MOHAMED KAZINGUMBE

Saturday, 15 December 2012
PUBLIC International Law and related laws were properly followed by the colonial authorities in drawing the border between Tanganyika Territory and Nyasaland Protectorate, a retired scholar has said, stressing that this was done following the Great War of 1914-18, when Britain was ruling both countries.

The latter country was renamed 'Malawi' on independence in 1964, while Tanganyika,which became independent on December 9, 1961, joined Zanzibar in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania.Elaborating on this, Dr Aleck che Mponda – a former senior lecturer in Political Science at the University of Dar es Salaam – said Britain issued a map to that effect in 1924, showing the border as being in the middle of Lake Nyasa, and pointing on other coordinates, with River Pongwe to the north and River Ruvuma to the point where Tanzania's part of the lake ends.Noting that border clashes have threatened to worsen into a territorial war between Tanzania and Malawi twice since independence, che Mponda said it was not altogether surprising that the matter comes up again! 

The former lecturer – who hails from the shores of Lake Nyasa – sets the record straight, in elaborate detail, in an academic study conducted in the early 1970s.He points out that the first time this happened was in 1968 when Malawi, under the late Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda as president, went about claiming that the border was at the Lake Nyasa shore on the Tanzanian side!“Had it not been for efforts to maintain the status quo, the two countries would have fought it out – much to the destruction of their economies, as each would have resorted to strong weapons for the bombing of buildings, bridges, roads, airports and so on,” Dr che Mponda states.That controversy raised eyebrows among global leaders and international institutions, prompting them to engage in fact-finding missions.

At the time, che Mponda was a student at Howard University in the United States, working on a Doctorate of Philosophy in Political Science. In the event, he made the topical Banda claims the basis of his dissertation in 1972. Business Times had an exclusive interview with Dr che Mponda this week, at which he revealed morsels of the matter the subject of controversy between Malawi and Tanzania. Details of the border delineation and related issues are on record, titled ''The Malawi-Tanzania Border and Territorial Disputes, 1968: A case study of Boundary and Territorial Imperatives in the new Africa.'

The latest dispute on the border was triggered after the Tanzania government learned that the incumbent Malawi Government under President Joyce Banda had granted a UK-based company the right to conduct oil exploration over areas of Lake Nyasa which also touch on Tanzania's shores “It is unclear how far President Kikwete and President Banda are sensing the danger ahead as the two neigbouring former British colonies squabble,” Dr che Mponda says.

“Dar has nothing to worry about, as Tanzania stands on the right side of the issue,” he claims, adding that this is on the basis of what he reckoned in examining the facts for his dissertation 40 years ago! Insisting that Public International Law and other pertinent laws and procedures were applied in 1924 by the British government to fix the Tanganyika-Nyasaland boundary, che Mponda dissertation stresses that “the line of the border is drawn right through the middle of the lake, and again to the north of the lake is Northern Rhodesia (Zambia)...”The document further reads, “to the northern tip of Lake Nyasa is River Songwe, which is in Tanzania and continues along the centre line of Lake Nyasa to a point due West of the River Ruvuma, whence the boundary runs East and joins the Ruvuma River, whose course follows to the sea...”Further details quote the authority of the League of Nations Report with Mandatory Power No 7 by His Britannic Majesty's Government on the Administration under Mandate of Tanganyika Territory, 1924. “For more details, further elaborations can be found in the Geneva League of Nations meeting of 1925 on page 5,”

Dr che Mponda specified.The retired academic seems to be conversant with the matter academically, historically – and as a son of the soil of the Lake Nyasa zone. In the event, has has nothing to gain from not telling I t like it is! At 76 years of age, he has many treasures for the new generation to benefit from.The man sees the matter “as a political issue for President Banda who came into the highest office in the land only recently, succeeding the late President Bingu wa Mutharika.“President Joice Banda would like to build confidence among her people as the country approaches the 2014 general elections... To show that she is capable of raising and working upon difficult issues which have troubled her people for decades.”

In any case, Dr che Mponda believes that the conflict would be resolved diplomatically, and that no war would emerge between the two sides, despite the fact that there are signs from various quarters to influence the issue in relation to potential oil gains. The matter will take a low profile to the end, the former lecturer maintains. Some scholars in Dar es Salaam have been puzzled by this attitude of Malawi, which has been a close of Tanzania for years. In any case, the Tanzania Ministry of Foreign Affairs & International Cooperation issued a statement after an abortive meeting between the two sides in Dar es Salaam recently, saying that the matter will now be taken for arbitration at the International Court of Justice, where it would hopefully be properly determined.