Chama DC urges speedy demarcation of Zambia, Malawi border

Chama DC urges speedy demarcation of Zambia, Malawi border
By Christopher Miti in Chipata
Monday April 14, 2008 [04:00]

CHAMA district commissioner Peter Nyirenda has said officials tasked to demarcate Zambia's boundary with Malawi should speed up the process. In an interview on Saturday, Nyirenda said the surveyor generals from both Zambia and Malawi were aware that the borders between the two countries were not properly outlined.

"When the Trans-Frontier Conservation Areas (TFCA) in conjunction with the office of the Malawian surveyor general were trying to demarcate the conservation areas between the two countries, they discovered that most of the farms for the Malawians were in Zambia and that's how they moved some of the Malawians," he said. Nyirenda said most of the Malawians were encroaching on the Zambian land in Lundazi national forest.

"At first Malawians were cutting a lot of trees on the Zambia side because of the tobacco business, but now the situation has changed because most Malawians are now into maize farming," he said.

Nyirenda advised both Zambians and Malawians on the borders to coexist. Nyirenda said the process of putting the beacons on the borderline which started in Chadiza was suspended in Tamanda area in Chipata.