17 April 1961
Provincial Commissioner E L Button had, in response to a query about the boundary between Lake Mweru and Lake Tanganyika, commented thus: "Despite the rather nebulous nature of a common boundary, no administrative difficulties had been caused by it, and as such it would be better to let sleeping dogs lie." Nothing in diplomacy could be as irresponsible as this statement on the question of sovereignty over land, as the case of the submerging Kasikili/Sedudu island issue between Namibia and Botswana in recent years shows. In other words, this Briton was now quite happy to concede Zambian territory to the Congo as a matter of convenience when that was not the case when the British or their proxies were ruling the territory.
Read more about this topic: Luapula Province Border Dispute
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“Such comfort as do lusty young men feel
When well-apparelled April on the heel
Of limping winter treads.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)