From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Mon May 17 2010 - 07:35:25 EDT
May 16, 2010
River Nile riparian states sign treaty despite threats by Egypt and Sudan
News - Africa news
Entebbe, Uganda – Four countries signed the Nile Cooperative Framework
Agreement on Friday, a fresh treaty on the world’s longest river, despite
protests by Egypt and Sudan.
Tanzania, Rwanda, Ethiopia and Uganda, which are upstream countries, signed
the treaty aimed at protecting the river, whose banks are worn out due to
heavy population settlement, destruction of forests for fuel and pollution.
The challenges have been exacerbated by industrial release and fertilisers
use.
The two downstream countries – Egypt and Sudan - holding on to colonial
agreements of 1929 and 1959 that give them veto powers over River Nile,
refused to sign, threatening legal action against the rest of the riparian
states.
Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Kenya and Eritrea are the other
states yet to sign the treaty described as inclusive, based on the
principles of equitable sharing of resources and trust.
The treaty comes after a decade-long negotiations organised by Nile Basin
Initiative (NBI), a programme set up to promote cooperation among 10 other
African countries sharing River Nile, a 6,671-kilometre trans-boundary
resource, currently under serious strain owing to population growth.
"This agreement benefits all of us and harms none of us. Sudan and Egypt are
encouraged to sign it,” said Asfaw Dingamo, Ethiopia's water resources
minister, after appending his signature.
Rwanda's water and lands minister, Stanislas Kamanzi, added: “We regret the
intentional and announced absence of our dear brothers from Egypt and
Sudan.”
Last week Ahmed Abul Gheit, the Egyptian foreign minister, warned that
Cairo's water rights were a "red line" and threatened legal action if "a
unilateral deal" was reached.
But his Tanzanian counterpart, Professor Mark James Mwandosya, downplayed
the threats saying the Nile Basin states are a family which is still open
for dialogue.
“I do not know at which international court we are to be sued. I do not know
what the charges will be after enduring 10 years of negotiations and we're
still open for dialogue,” Professor Mwandosya told reporters.
He added: “I do not think hostilities will break out. We are a family from
Cairo to Mwanza, Cairo to Bujumbura and Cairo to Kigali. I do not see the
reason for bombing each other. We are brethren.”
River Nile currently has silt clogging tributaries contracting the flow of
the river, displacing natural reservoirs of water in lakes along the way and
increasing the likelihood of flooding.
The river's fish stocks and other water animals have dwindled as a result of
declining habitats and over harvesting. Consequently the livelihood of an
estimated population of 160 million people of the riparian states dependent
on the river for water, irrigation and food for centuries is threatened.
Under the unfair colonial agreements of 1929 and 1959, which apportioned the
waters of the Nile between the lower Nile countries, Egypt had the right to
use 48 billion cubic metres of water per year whereas Sudan could use four
billion cubic metres.
After Sudan’s independence in 1954 and her intention to build the high dam
in 1956, the country wanted a revision of the 1929 treaty, which led to the
1959 Nile treaty between Egypt and Sudan and their cooperation.
The agreement increased the share of water for Egypt to 55.5 billion cubic
metres and 18.5 billion cubic metres for Sudan. The remaining 10 billion
cubic metres is snatched by evaporation, according to the UN’s World Water
Development report.
As part of the 1929 and 1959 agreements, the Egyptian government must grant
its approval to the Nile basin countries who may want to build projects on
the Nile, whether they are dams or power stations.
“In reality, the longest river in the world is a treasure because it
irrigates the desert. As population rises and the impacts of climate change
lead to withdrawal of water from the Nile, disagreements emerged,” NBI
Executive Director, Henriette Ndombe, observed.
“The colonialists reasoned that the two countries were more vulnerable and
assumed that the upper Nile countries like Uganda will depend on rain-fed
agriculture.”
The first negotiations engaging 10 countries like Uganda sharing the Nile
stalled in the last three years.
“With climate change, this may not work,” said Uganda's President Yoweri
Museveni at the opening of a water conference at the Commonwealth Resort,
Munyonyo, in Kampala in March.
Museveni criticised the colonial agreements that apportioned the water to
Egypt and Sudan as "unfair" saying “the rest of us are supposed to get
nothing”.
In May 2009, seven countries, including Uganda, agreed to adopt the
Cooperative Framework, according to Dr. Callist Tindimugaya, one of the
Ugandan negotiators.
“We have talked and talked, and we have to reach a conclusion. The other
countries said enough was enough, we could not continue at a standstill,”
Dr. Tindimugaya said in an interview.
“We created a basin commission. We want to move forward. As far as we are
concerned, we are through with the agreement.
“They are trying to avoid what happened with The Mekong River Organisation
in Asia, where two countries, including China, did not ratify their
agreement and yet participate in it.
“Eritrea for instance has been part of the Nile negotiations, but is not
bound by the decisions.”
The White Nile passes through Uganda, Sudan and Egypt, but the catchment
includes countries like Kenya, Burundi and Rwanda, which feed into Lake
Victoria.
The Blue Nile which originates from Ethiopia’s highlands meets the White
Nile in Khartoum to form the Nile proper that flows to the Mediterranean
Sea.
Entebbe - Pana 16/05/2010
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