THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE BORDER DISPUTE
“Scholars has not only emphasized the importance of territory for military and economic power (Billon, 2001; Carter, 2010),
but also the psychological and emotional importance of territory to the populations of states” (Hassner, 2003; Kaufman, 2009).
Border territory disputes, even without violence or armed conflicts, have numerous consequences for the environment, the economy and the citizenship. The negative peace of an enduring dispute is quite distinct from the positive peace between two states that have no dispute. This article aims to analyse and conceptualize the local and global implications of the Malawi -Tanzania border dispute.
Nowadays, Malawi and Tanzania share Lake Nyasa and its natural resources but, those assets are dwindling at an alarming rate since the beginning of a new phase of the conflict. A study by Nindi (2007) on management and the level of quality of life of peoples residing in the locality confirmed the negative trend as depicted below:
Table 1: Changing Water Levels in Lake Malawi/Nyasa and Land Use Changes in the Mount Livingstone Catchment Area (%)
The table above shows the declining fish levels over the years. Thereby, the dispute triggered a decline in nutrition which is worsening because natives are compelled to consume inferior types of fish. These problems increase the chance of clashes over resources in the future. Malawi and Tanzania share many key resources which lie in contested border areas or offshore economic zones. As these supplies became exhausted governments will naturally seek to maximize their access to the contested and offshore deposits, thereby producing an increased risk of conflict. One of the main concerns will be a war over resources because insufficient affluence worsens the plight of weak nations.
In order to analyse local implications, we will use Sarah Collison survey (2003) to conceptualize the effect of the dispute on human, financial, physical, natural, political and social capital.
Human capital:
Although the border disputes had not turned into an armed conflict, the psychological trauma of the fright of the amplification of the conflict is strong. Declines in health and well-being can hinder an individual’s capacity to work, thus constraining the ability to earn an income both in the short-term and long-term. One type of mental impairment directly linked to the current dispute is permanent psychological trauma caused by the exposure to life threatening situations, rape or loss of family properties. In addition, education has been interrupted and children boycott school attendance because of possible instability that could arise from the recent rise of the dispute. Specially girls stopped going to school on their own because of the fear of being rape victims as a consequence of the escalation of the dispute. “It appears that the households in the condition of uncertainty were more inclined to invest in the education of boys” (Ibid., p. 25). Interrupted education reduces children’s future earning capacity, thus increasing the likelihood that children will remain in poverty. Besides, it is important to stand out that this border dispute reinforces gender inequality.
Financial and physical capital:
As a result of the fear of the escalation of the Malawi- Tanzania border conflict, most people migrated out of the supposed flash points towns along the lake and many businesses have closed thus raising the unemployment rate. Together with the collapse in rural purchasing power, employment opportunities were declining due to state and commercial farm closures. Therefore, the investment level felt down accentuating more the economic distortion and inequalities. When markets suffer situations of insecurity, uncertainty and scarcity of information, they tend to reduce trading opportunities and incentives to future investment.
On the other hand, destruction of infrastructures during the dispute impacted significantly on livelihoods. Some people were taking advantage of the dispute to attack livestock and crop farms of individuals. This will have a lasting impact on marketing systems of agricultural inputs, thereby decreasing farm outputs and reducing government expenditure on infrastructure.
Natural capital and environment:
The conflict has reduced access to land and the lake. Livelihoods are directly affected through decreased access to land, and inadequate access to natural resources, as a result of exclusion, displacement and the loss of biodiversity. Over time the situation got worse and agricultural land has been destroyed due to looting, deprivation and dislocation of citizens. In other words, depletion and degradation of resources together with preservation disruption drive poor people into deeper and more intractable poverty.
Political and social capital:
Women-headed households have increased remarkably because the male head had migrated to settle down and prepare a place for a possible asylum. The changing composition of households, attributable to the dispute, has caused the failure of nuclear family destroying the most important support network of protection for those in chronic poverty. Dislocation cause human capital deprivation complicating access to normal food sources, shelter and potable water. An increase of inequality strikes political and social status making the poorest even more vulnerable.
In a global extend, Malawi – Tanzania border dispute jeopardize the stability of the border institutions and create jurisdictional uncertainty. That increases the risk to economic actors and undermines trade flows between countries, thereby, affecting the welfare of ordinary people. Ordinary people also face policy uncertainty when a border is disputed because the government is more likely to close the border, restrict trade flows, increase tariffs, or otherwise alters the status quo, than if it was an uncontested border. Besides, international investment in the area is not possible without a clear resolution about the resources of both countries. For example, Malawi dealt with the British company Surestream Petroleum to invest in the country but, rights to explore the lake for oil and gas strength the new border dispute phase with Tanzania thus, hampering Malawi to close the deal.
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