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.
The two nations share a border which spans 600 kilometres, and is separated by the perennial Orange River.
Namibia and South Africa have been at loggerheads over the exact location of the border, 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 meeting of the third session of the Namibia-South Africa Bi-Annual Commission (BNC), Nandi-Ndaitwah expressed hope that the matter would 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 again met in Windhoek on Friday for the third BNC.
– Nampa