botswana/namibia - Cour international de Justice

729. In general, it is difficult to see any relevance in the episode. The documents certainly
assume that the process of cultivation had no legal consequences in the context of title by
virtue of public international law.
(iv) The 1909-1914 Negotiations
730. The Namibian Memorial invokes the Anglo-German negotiations of 1909 to 1914 as the
basis for an argument that, because the British Government addressed the Andara question in
detail, its silence in relation to the boundary in the Chobe River sector 'gives rise to
presumption of acquiescence and recognition of the alignment in the second sector': Namibian
Memorial, pp. 105-9, paras. 263-73; at page 109, para. 273.
731. It has been shown earlier (Chapter 1) that the issue of 'main channel' was not the subject
of negotiations between the two Governments. Moreover, the internal British opinion was that
the northern channel constituted the 'main channel'. And, in any case, there could be no
'acquiescence and recognition of the alignment' unless the British Government believed that
Kasikili/Sedudu Island was under German occupation.
732. There was no evidence of German occupation. Captain Eason did not report any German
activity. Moreover, Captain Eason, like other British officials over the years, considered that
the northern was the main channel.
733. It is also to be recalled that, in the course of the correspondence of 1948 to 1951, the
British and South African interlocutors make no reference to the period 1909 to 1914: see
below. There is some evidence (Chapter 1) that, if an arbitration had taken place, this might
have included the 'main channel' issue: but this evidence is inimical to any theory of British
acquiescence of any kind.
(v) Transactions Relating to the Andara Problem, 1930-1932
734. In the period 1930 to 1932 the British and South African Governments were involved in
a series of transactions relating to the siting of the western terminal beacon of the northern
boundary of the Caprivi Zipfel on the line from Andara to Katima Mulilo: see above, Chapter
1, para. 40.
735. It is significant that, during this process of resolving residual issues relating to the Anglo-
German Agreement, the South African Government made no reference to any problem
concerning Kasikili/Sedudu.
(vi) The Correspondence of 1948 to 1951 between the British and South African
Governments
736. The hollowness of the assertions relating to 'acquiescence, acceptance and recognition' in
Chapter IV of Part Two of the Namibian Memorial is particularly evident in the context of the
correspondence between the British and South African Governments in the period 1948 to
1951. In this correspondence South Africa issued a challenge to the status quo in the form of a
request for a modification of the legal status quo. The British Government upheld the standard
view that the northern and western channel constituted the 'main channel' for the purposes of
the Anglo-German Agreement. The outcome was an exclusively political modus vivendi.