Orange River Boundary: A Passive Dispute between South Africa and Namibia

The demarcation of the boundaries in the African continent has been a result of the colonial decisions and were done most of the times without taking the Africans into any consideration. This led to many arbitrary borders which later gave rise to border conflicts due to several reasons but mainly because of the contention on the accessibility to some resources present near the border. Orange River Boundary Conflict between South Africa and Namibia is one such border conflict that has raised issues with regard to utilization of water resources from the Orange River. Grazing rights of the local Nama population and diamond mining rights in the region has caused several disagreements leading to failed talks and conclusions. This paper attempts to analyze the Orange River disputed boundary, displacement of the Namas into the neighbouring regions due to the conflict and the sharing of the resources of the Orange River by Namibia and South Africa.