Mozambique–Tanzania border
A border that is almost all the Ruvuma River, from the Indian Ocean to the mountains above Lake Nyasa, set by Germany and Portugal in 1886. When armed fighters overran the Mozambican gas town of Palma in 2021, thousands fled, some north toward it, and the UN reported that Tanzania turned many back.
Written from cited sourcesLast checked 29 September 2026Suggest a correction
See it on the globe:Mozambique →Tanzania →
The Ruvuma
A German–Portuguese declaration of 1886 set the line between the Indian Ocean and Lake Nyasa, and a joint expedition in 1907 marked the short land stretch with pillars. In 1894 Germany took the Kionga triangle south of the Ruvuma’s mouth; after the First World War it was restored to Portugal in 1919, and the river again became the border. Notes in 1936–37 settled which country owned the islands in the Ruvuma, which makes up 438 of the border’s 470 miles.[1]
Fleeing Palma
On 24 March 2021 ISIL-affiliated fighters attacked Palma, a town of some 75,000 next to gas developments worth $60 billion, and residents scattered, some north toward Tanzania. The UN refugee agency said it had received reports that more than 1,000 people had been refused entry to seek asylum; aid workers said others who crossed by land were later sent back through another border post, and one resident said he was driven six hours and handed to the Mozambican military at Negomano. Tanzanian officials did not comment.[2]
“over 1,000 people fleeing Mozambique and trying to enter Tanzania were not allowed to cross the border to seek asylum”[2]
Timeline
More borders
Sources
- [1]International Boundary Study No. 39: Mozambique – Tanzania Boundary · US Department of State, Office of the Geographer · 30 October 1964
- [2]UN warns Tanzania not to reject people fleeing Mozambique · Al Jazeera (news agencies) · 6 April 2021
Map geometry from Natural Earth via world-atlas. See credits.