Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, has called for a speedy solution to the Orange River boundary dispute with South Africa.
Namibia and South Africa have been at loggerheads over the exact location of the border, with the two countries separated by the Orange River.
The two southern African nations share a border that spans 600 kilometres separated by the perennial river.
The two nations have been debating how to settle their dispute over the border, which was established as a result of an agreement between the former colonial powers Germany and Britain.
The 1890 agreement set the demarcation of the border at the high-level water of the northern bank of the Orange River on the Namibian side.
But since 1993, just after independence, the Namibian government has been pushing for the border to be moved to the middle of the Orange River, which South Africa has refused.
Speaking in Windhoek on Thursday at the opening of the ministerial mee
ting of the third Session of the Namibia-South Africa Bi-Annual Commission (BNC), Nandi-Ndaitwah expressed hope that the matter will be discussed and resolved amicably.
‘One important outstanding issue between us is the question of the Orange River boundary between Namibia and South Africa, and it is my fervent hope that this issue is comprehensively dealt with during this session to enable us to complete the process that was started in 1993 between the two countries,’ she said.
The Orange River boundary also featured in bilateral talks between President Hage Geingob and his South African counterpart, Cyril Ramaphosa, when they met during his state visit earlier this year in Pretoria, South Africa. The two heads of state are meeting in Windhoek on Friday for the third BNC, which Nandi-Nanditwah said will reaffirm the warm relations between the two countries and revitalise bilateral cooperation.
Source: The Namibian Press Agency