Museveni advises on River Nile water
PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni has advised the Nile Basin countries to focus on conserving the water catchment areas at the source of the River Nile instead of focusing on sharing the waters.
By Felix Basiime
and AbdulKarim Ssengendo
PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni has advised the Nile Basin countries to focus on conserving the water catchment areas at the source of the River Nile instead of focusing on sharing the waters.
Museveni was responding to a question from The New Vision about the disagreement among the Nile Basin countries on the utilisation of the Nile water.
This was at a press conference he addressed at his country home in Rwakitura in Kiruhura district on December 31.
“These countries should first protect the catchment areas rather than fight over the use of the River Nile waters,†Museveni said, adding that the natural resource the member countries were scrambling for could become extinct.
Museveni said although rain makes up 70% of the Lake Victoria waters, the upstream countries that provide the remaining 30% through their catchments are important.
The President said the catchment countries like Uganda need to be conserved from siltation and other forms of environmental degradation.
Under the Nile Basin Initiative, the 10 countries sharing the River Nile have been negotiating a new agreement, the Nile Cooperative Framework, for the last 10 years to replace that of 1929.
Under the 1929 agreement, the Nile water belongs to Sudan and Egypt.
The same agreement was re-affirmed in the 1954 treaty, which Egypt and Sudan want maintained.
Some of the Nile Basin countries including Uganda have opposed the demand by Sudan and Egypt for the right to consent to the use of the Nile waters by the rest of the countries.
The 10 countries are Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Eritrea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Egypt and Uganda.
Press reports say the Egyptians have through the High Dam in the south increased their share of the Nile water to 55.5 billion cubic metres annually, agricultural land space by 486,000 hectares and also stepped up electricity production.
and AbdulKarim Ssengendo
PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni has advised the Nile Basin countries to focus on conserving the water catchment areas at the source of the River Nile instead of focusing on sharing the waters.
Museveni was responding to a question from The New Vision about the disagreement among the Nile Basin countries on the utilisation of the Nile water.
This was at a press conference he addressed at his country home in Rwakitura in Kiruhura district on December 31.
“These countries should first protect the catchment areas rather than fight over the use of the River Nile waters,†Museveni said, adding that the natural resource the member countries were scrambling for could become extinct.
Museveni said although rain makes up 70% of the Lake Victoria waters, the upstream countries that provide the remaining 30% through their catchments are important.
The President said the catchment countries like Uganda need to be conserved from siltation and other forms of environmental degradation.
Under the Nile Basin Initiative, the 10 countries sharing the River Nile have been negotiating a new agreement, the Nile Cooperative Framework, for the last 10 years to replace that of 1929.
Under the 1929 agreement, the Nile water belongs to Sudan and Egypt.
The same agreement was re-affirmed in the 1954 treaty, which Egypt and Sudan want maintained.
Some of the Nile Basin countries including Uganda have opposed the demand by Sudan and Egypt for the right to consent to the use of the Nile waters by the rest of the countries.
The 10 countries are Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Eritrea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Egypt and Uganda.
Press reports say the Egyptians have through the High Dam in the south increased their share of the Nile water to 55.5 billion cubic metres annually, agricultural land space by 486,000 hectares and also stepped up electricity production.