botswana/namibia - Cour international de Justice

"'Das Abkommen vom 1 Juli 1890 enthält keine genauen Bestimmungen über die Grenze des
deutschen Zambese-Gebietes. Die deutsche Regierung folgt der Ansicht, daß die Grenze des
deutschen Gebietes durch eine Linie geblidet wird, die vom Thalweg des Tschobe in den des
Zambese einbiegt und dem Thalweg des Zambese stromaufwärts bis zu dem Punkt folgt, wo
dieser die Katima-Molilo-Schnellen trifft.'
[The Agreement of 1 July 1890 contains no specific rules on the boundary of the German
Zambezi territory. The German Government shares the opinion that the boundary of the
territory is formed by a line which from the Thalweg of the Chobe turns into the Zambezi and
follows the Thalweg of the Zambezi up the river to its conjunction with the Katima-Molilo
rapids.] Acten betreffend Erforschung des Okawangogebiets und des Caprivizipfels
[Documents concerning exploration of the Okavango and Caprivi regions] Vol.1: 6 April
1902 - 1 June 1910 (Nr. des Aktenbandes [file no.]: 1784), pp.155-159. (Botswana Counter-
Memorial, Annex 5)
G16 - Comparative bed profiles of the northern and southern channels of the Chobe River at
Kasikili/Sedudu Island
342. Franz Seiner, who surveyed the map published in 1909 upon which Namibia places great
reliance (Namibian Memorial, p.139,para. 334), writing in 1908, refines the concept of
thalweg and speaks of the 'Stromstrich' line as the line defining the boundary in the Chobe
River according to the 1890 Agreement.
343. In a standard German authority Stromstrich is defined as 'the line connecting the points
of all sectional views of the river with the highest speed of the water at the surface. The
Stromstrich usually is above the deepest channel of the river bed, the Thalweg'. (definition in
Der Grosse Brockhaus (Encyclopaedia) (1934), p.272) (Botswana Counter-Memorial, Annex
16).
344. Seiner writes:
"The northern border of the Caprivi was created by the Treaty with Portugal of 30 December
1886, the north-eastern and southern border was created by the famous Zanzibar Treaty of 1
July 1890. These boundary lines are described in the treaties only partly in such a specific
way that all misinterpretation would be excluded. Of the northern border only the straight line
from the Island of Andara in the Okavango valley to the Katima-Molilo rapids on the
Zambezi is determined without doubt, the same with the southeastern border, which is formed
by the Stromstrich line of the Linyanti."
Franz Seiner, 'Die wirtschaftsgeographischen und politischen Verhältnisse des Caprivizipfels
[The economic-geographical and political situation of the Caprivi]', Zeitschrift für
Kolonialpolitik, Kolonialrecht und Kolonialwirtschaft, 11 (1908), pp.417-465, at 418.
(Botswana Counter-Memorial, Annex 14)
345. The Joint Survey Team also identified the main channel with the thalweg. The experts
from South Africa and Botswana who carried out the Joint Survey in 1985 recognised that
their task in locating the boundary in accordance with the terms of the 1890 Anglo-German
Agreement required them to plot the thalweg of the Chobe River. The text of the Joint Survey
Report of July 1985 reads:-