Mozambique to normalise ties with Malawi

Mozambican President Armando Guebuza expressed his willingness to normalize relationship and cooperation with neighbour country Malawi, strained following some diplomatic differences on the Shire-Zambezi river waterway, during the Bingu wa Mutharika’s presidency.

“I would like to express my warmest congratulations to you and pledge my readiness to work closely with you, Madam President, for the strengthening of the relations of friendship, good-neighbourliness and cooperation between our sister countries and within the framework of SADC” Mr Guebuza, said in a letter addressed Monday to Joyce Banda, the new Malawian Head of State.

The Shire-Zambezi waterway was been hard pushed by the Malawian Government, as a cheap way of moving its exports to the sea, from Nsanje Port, in southern Malawi, and the port of Chinde in Mozambique.

Mozambique denies permitting the navigation arguing that the project should be frozen until a full Feasibility Studies, including an Environmental Impact Assessment.

The crisis between the two countries deteriorated in October 2010 when the Mozambican authorities detained a Malawian boat, that was trying, “without authorisation” to navigate the Shire River, to prove its navigability.

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