Tanzania's Magufuli In Malawi

Africa | Malawi | Tanzania April 24, 2019

President John Magufuli of Tanzania, alias The Bulldozer, arrived in Malawi on April 24, 2019, for a two day official visit, reported by some African media.

This is President Magufuli's only second foreign trip outside the East African Community since coming to power in late 2015. The other foreign trip he made outside the regional bloc was to the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in 2017. Even within the East African Community, he has made only four trips, Kenya (1) Uganda (2), and Rwanda (1). Accordingly, his visit to Malawi must be of considerable importance.

President Magufuli's visit to Malawi come at a time Tanzania and Malawi are in a long standing dispute over their border on Lake Malawi. With Tanzania claiming the borderline goes right to the middle of the lake, and Malawi claiming the line is where the lake's waters touch land on Tanzania's side! Lake Malawi is said to consist some oil reserves.

It is very probable the border dispute matter would be one of the key items on the agenda when President Magufuli meets his counterpart President Peter Mutharika during the visit.

According to some Malawian media, despite the border dispute, President Magufuli is quite popular in Malawi, particularly for his macho image and his relentless fight against corruption in the public sector. As such, the people there are said to be keen to elect their own "Magufuli" like leader in the country's forthcoming general elections due to be held on May 21, 2019.

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