Inside Story – Sharing the Nile [Al Jazeera Africa]
Kenya Signs the “New Treaty”
Egypt and Sudan oppose Nile deal
Egypt insisted it can block dams and other projects upstream on the Nile, challenging a new deal among African nations seeking to alter historic water sharing arrangements and secure more water for farms and growth.
Four African countries signed the agreement in Uganda last week in a bid to access a greater share of water from the Nile, despite colonial-era pacts that give Egypt the lion’s share of the water and allow it to veto upstream projects such as dams.
“Any project that takes away from the river’s flow has to be approved by Egypt and Sudan in accordance with international treaties,” Egypt’s Water Resources and Irrigation Minister Mohamed Nasreddin Allam said.
“Egypt is closely watching energy generation projects in the (Nile) basin,” he said.
Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Ethiopia signed the deal on May 14, creating a permanent commission to manage the Nile’s waters that did not include Egypt or Sudan. Kenya, Burundi and Democratic Republic of Congo are expected to sign within a year.
The new commission would ostensibly have the power to veto energy and irrigation projects in signatory states.
Egypt, almost totally dependent on the Nile and already threatened by climate change, is closely watching hydro-electric dams in East Africa it fears may restrict the river’s flow.
Egypt has already warned that the new agreement lacked legitimacy and plans to press donors for support.
Yet upstream countries say they need more water too. Power shortages have hindered investment in Africa even though alternative sources to hydroelectric power exist. (Reuters) http://www.nation.co.ke/News/africa/Egypt%20asserts%20right%20to%20block%20upstream%20Nile%20dams%20/-/1066/920984/-/x2svj2z/-/index.html
controversial deal has been signed to share the waters of the world’s longest river.
But Egypt and Sudan are not happy at four African countries signing the new deal on the Nile.
Rwanda, Ethiopia, Uganda and Tanzania signed the new framework on Friday while Kenya issued a support statement.
Ten nations share the resources of the river.
Colonial-era agreements gave the biggest share of water to the two downstream countries, Egypt and Sudan.
But as Al Jazeera’s Mohamed Vall explains, upstream nations are now pushing for a greater share.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2010/05/201051414933108616.html
Al Jazeera English – Africa – Ethiopia rejects Egypt Nile claims
Al Jazeera English – Africa – Ethiopia rejects Egypt Nile claims.
Sleepless
May 20, 2010
I think both sides ({Egypt/Sudant} and the rest of the Nile Basin countries) have to realize that there is a need to negotiate this new treaty very carefully. Egypt and Sudan cannot site the Colonial period treaties as binding forever. The River Nile originates from Lake Victoria, which is shared by three East African countries; Similarly, part of River Nile passes right through Ethiopia. Therefore in my Opinion, I think these countries should have a say in who benefits from the Nile waters. At the same time, the rest of the countries seeking for a new treaty must realize that Egypt and Sudan would not be what they are today if they did not depend on the Nile waters and just like the rest of them should have some say in how the water is used. Being the only desert countries in African that benefit from the Nile, they should actually have a sizable benefit. In short i think they can all come to some sort of a mutual gain if they sat down, negotiated rigorously and identified exactly what is most important to each one of them
Sleepless
May 20, 2010
The three guys in the Inside Story – Sharing the Nile [Al Jazeera Africa], make a lot of sense on many issues; i think history should be thrown out of the window here. By focusing on the history, there can only be blame after blame being thrown around; what we want is a forward thinking negotiation that seeks a solution to the problem