Topic: Mechanisms for Peacefully Resolving Border Disputes
Country: South Africa
Delegate Name: Matthew Hennessy
School: Kalamazoo Central High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All South Africa position papers GLIMUN 2014 committees
Hello, I am here today representing South Africa. I would like to bring to the attention of the United Nations ways to resolve border disputes peacefully. My country joined the United Nations in 1995.
South Africa has had border disputes with Swaziland and Namibia. Currently our Northern border is set in the center of the Orange River, even though the treaty signed by Germany and Great Britain gives the northern shore to South Africa as well. The African Union Border Programme has a goal to provide peaceful and open borders for South Africa and its surrounding neighbors. Our conflict in 2012 with Swaziland over KaMgwane, a homeland in South Africa, in 2012. The South African Border War was ended in December of 1989. This was called the Tripartite Accord which gave Namibia independence. This treaty was signed between Cuba, South Africa and Angola.
In 2012 South Africa adopted Resolution 2046 calling for a halt of fighting between Sudan and South Sudan over border issues between the two countries. Our conflict with Swaziland will hopefully be resolved in the near future. The South African Border War was ended with a treaty called the Tripartite Accord, which gave Namibia independence. This treaty was signed between Cuba, South Africa and Angola in 1988.
Our country would like to express a few ideas we have to limit and attempt to prevent future border disputes.
One of these ideas is, in the case of a dispute caused by natural resources, the countries in question should evenly split all income collected from the natural gasses. Refinement and maintenance of the natural gas should also be equally divided by the countries involved.
If multiple countries share a body of water, laws should be put in place to halt countries from damming, diverting or other wise blocking access to the water source, as this water source may be the only available.
Vague or unclear language in the original treaties that established the boundaries could be fixed with a third-party that decides a definitive border. A second way the issue of unclear original borders could be fixed by a United Nations vote that decides which county gets the requested border.
