News Wednesday 19 May 2010
The Nile: War Drums Begin Beating in East Africa Kenya on Wednesday signed a new treaty for the equitable sharing of waters of the Nile after four other upstream countries inked the deal last week. Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda signed the Nile Basin Cooperative Framework on Friday despite strong opposition from Egypt and Sudan downstream. “We have all come to this agreement and therefore nothing stops us from using the waters as we wish,” Water Minister Charity Ngilu said. “It is now up to Egypt and Sudan to come on board and agree with us to share these waters.” The new agreement is to replace a 1959 accord between Egypt and Sudan that gives them control of more than 90 percent of the water flow. The upstream countries want to be able to implement irrigation and hydropower projects in consultation with Egypt and Sudan, but without Egypt being able to exercise the veto power it was given by a 1929 colonial-era treaty with Britain. “We actually said that we will ensure that no significant harm would be done to any of the riparian states in the use of this water,” Ngilu added. “However that is what they do not want and two states out of nine cannot stop us from now implementing this Cooperative Framework Agreement,” Ngilu added. Egypt has dismissed the new treaty as non-binding and rejected any deal that diminished its lion’s share of the river. Egypt and Sudan have both expressed fears that their water supply would be severely reduced if the seven other Nile users divert the river with domestic irrigation and hydropower projects.
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