Water wars: Is Egypt ready to share River Nile’s benefits?
Apr 11, 2010
HAVE you heard the slogan: ‘The Nile is a life blood of Egypt?’ In reality, the longest river in the world is a treasure because it irrigates the desert. However, as population rises and the impacts of climate change lead to withdrawal of water from the Nile, disagreements are emerging. The firs
Special Report
HAVE you heard the slogan: ‘The Nile is a life blood of Egypt?’ In reality, the longest river in the world is a treasure because it irrigates the desert. However, as population rises and the impacts of climate change lead to withdrawal of water from the Nile, disagreements are emerging. The first negotiations engaging 10 countries like Uganda sharing the Nile have stalled in the last three years. Gerald Tenywa looks at what happened ahead of the three-day negotiations in Sharm el Sheikh, in Egypt.
PROF Ali Mazrui said: “The Nile is the source of culture, continuity and change. We hear the cry for change along the shores of the Nile, we hear the cry for unity along the lakes. Let us pull together to make this happen.â€
He was speaking to celebrants who had gathered in Dar-es-Salaam to commemorate the anniversary of the Nile Basin Initiative last December. They spontaneously stomped their feet and in cheer in appreciation.
His speech could have been a pointer to negotiating parties at the meeting in Sham al Shekh. Observers say the meeting is expected to be the final round of talks leading to the Nile Cooperative Framework.
At the heart of the debate are two colonial agreements of 1929 and 1959, which apportioned the waters of the Nile between the lower Nile countries, Egypt and Sudan.
It is hoped that the negotiations on the water policy will reverse former unfair agreements. So far, the ministers, guided by water experts and environmental lawyers, have agreed on a draft Nile Cooperative Framework to replace old agreements. But its adoption is pending.
Colonial water agreements/b>
According to the 1929 treaty, Egypt has the right to use 48 billion cubic meters of water per year, whereas Sudan can use four billion cubic meters.
After Sudan’s independence in 1954 and her intention to build the high dam in 1956, Sudan hoped to revise 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 cubic meters and 18.5 cubic meters for Sudan. The remaining 10 billion cubic meters is snatched by evaporation, according to the UN’s World Water Development report, Facing the Challenges.
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.
Egypt sees this is her natural and historical right. They want this maintained in the new agreement.
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.
With climate change, this may not work. At the opening of a water conference at the Commonwealth Resort, Munyonyo in Kampala in March, President Yoweri Museveni attacked the colonial agreements that apportioned the water to Egypt and Sudan.
“The rest of us are supposed to get nothing,†he said.
Unfinished business
In May 2009, seven countries, including Uganda, agreed to adopt the Cooperative Framework, according to Dr. Callist Tindimugaya, a water expert.
They proposed to push the contentious article 14b into the annex to be concluded by the Nile Basin Commission, an institutional framework supposed to replace NBI.
“We have talked and talked, but we had to reach a conclusion. The other countries said enough was enough, we cannot continue on a standstill.
“We created a basin commission.
We want to move forward. As far as we are concerned, we are through with the agreement,†Tindimugaya says. They plan on starting a national consultation process which will be done by preparing a paper that will be discussed by Cabinet and later by Parliament.
Consultations by the public will help to create awareness and ratify the Nile Cooperative Framework agreement. It is important that they to know its benefits and the implications.
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.
Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Kenya, Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia have all waited for too long and it is time they became part of the agreement.
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.
Between May and July 2009, Egypt and Sudan complained.
“They wrote saying we have been working together and have always agreed,†says Tindimugaya.
In the July meeting in Alexandria in Egypt, the two countries threatened to move out of the Nile Basin Initiative if their interests were ignored while signing the Nile Cooperative Framework.
Water security, climate change
Hidden in the diplomatic manoeuvres, military threats and delaying tactics, is the water security problem. This worsens with population growth and climate change.
Currently, the population in the Nile countries is estimated at 300 million people. Whereas Egypt has historical claims, the population, which is estimated at 80 million presently, is expected to grow to 160 million by 2050.
Egypt is already swimming into what experts call water poverty, which is below 1,000 cubic meters of water per capita per annum. According to the Uganda review report by the water ministry 2009, Uganda will become a water scarce country by 2035.
Per capita water availability will drop to 896 cubic meters per capita per annum. By 2020, water available per person will have dropped to 1,480 cubic meters down from the present 2,000 cubic meters.
This will have serious implications on food production and is likely to trigger migrations and conflicts across the countries. So, the Nile countries need to pay attention to management of the catchment areas and efficient use of water.
Uganda’s charge d’affaires in Egypt, Arthur Katsigazi, in a letter to the permanent secretary in the foreign affairs ministry dated February 17, said this could propel disagreements over water.
The rapid population growth in the River Nile countries coupled with climate change, which is disrupting weather patterns plus the poor management of water issues by member states will negatively impact on future rainfall and river flow downstream, and abate the disagreements among states of NBI.
Will the countries agree in Sharm el Sheikh? The Egyptian public has not been prepared to accommodate sharing of water with neighbouring countries.
It remains to be seen whether politicians in Egypt and Uganda will adopt the agreement. Whatever they decide, they should take into account Mazrui’s call for unity and the sharing of the Nile benefits.
HAVE you heard the slogan: ‘The Nile is a life blood of Egypt?’ In reality, the longest river in the world is a treasure because it irrigates the desert. However, as population rises and the impacts of climate change lead to withdrawal of water from the Nile, disagreements are emerging. The first negotiations engaging 10 countries like Uganda sharing the Nile have stalled in the last three years. Gerald Tenywa looks at what happened ahead of the three-day negotiations in Sharm el Sheikh, in Egypt.
PROF Ali Mazrui said: “The Nile is the source of culture, continuity and change. We hear the cry for change along the shores of the Nile, we hear the cry for unity along the lakes. Let us pull together to make this happen.â€
He was speaking to celebrants who had gathered in Dar-es-Salaam to commemorate the anniversary of the Nile Basin Initiative last December. They spontaneously stomped their feet and in cheer in appreciation.
His speech could have been a pointer to negotiating parties at the meeting in Sham al Shekh. Observers say the meeting is expected to be the final round of talks leading to the Nile Cooperative Framework.
At the heart of the debate are two colonial agreements of 1929 and 1959, which apportioned the waters of the Nile between the lower Nile countries, Egypt and Sudan.
It is hoped that the negotiations on the water policy will reverse former unfair agreements. So far, the ministers, guided by water experts and environmental lawyers, have agreed on a draft Nile Cooperative Framework to replace old agreements. But its adoption is pending.
Colonial water agreements/b>
According to the 1929 treaty, Egypt has the right to use 48 billion cubic meters of water per year, whereas Sudan can use four billion cubic meters.
After Sudan’s independence in 1954 and her intention to build the high dam in 1956, Sudan hoped to revise 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 cubic meters and 18.5 cubic meters for Sudan. The remaining 10 billion cubic meters is snatched by evaporation, according to the UN’s World Water Development report, Facing the Challenges.
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.
Egypt sees this is her natural and historical right. They want this maintained in the new agreement.
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.
With climate change, this may not work. At the opening of a water conference at the Commonwealth Resort, Munyonyo in Kampala in March, President Yoweri Museveni attacked the colonial agreements that apportioned the water to Egypt and Sudan.
“The rest of us are supposed to get nothing,†he said.
Unfinished business
In May 2009, seven countries, including Uganda, agreed to adopt the Cooperative Framework, according to Dr. Callist Tindimugaya, a water expert.
They proposed to push the contentious article 14b into the annex to be concluded by the Nile Basin Commission, an institutional framework supposed to replace NBI.
“We have talked and talked, but we had to reach a conclusion. The other countries said enough was enough, we cannot continue on a standstill.
“We created a basin commission.
We want to move forward. As far as we are concerned, we are through with the agreement,†Tindimugaya says. They plan on starting a national consultation process which will be done by preparing a paper that will be discussed by Cabinet and later by Parliament.
Consultations by the public will help to create awareness and ratify the Nile Cooperative Framework agreement. It is important that they to know its benefits and the implications.
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.
Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Kenya, Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia have all waited for too long and it is time they became part of the agreement.
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.
Between May and July 2009, Egypt and Sudan complained.
“They wrote saying we have been working together and have always agreed,†says Tindimugaya.
In the July meeting in Alexandria in Egypt, the two countries threatened to move out of the Nile Basin Initiative if their interests were ignored while signing the Nile Cooperative Framework.
Water security, climate change
Hidden in the diplomatic manoeuvres, military threats and delaying tactics, is the water security problem. This worsens with population growth and climate change.
Currently, the population in the Nile countries is estimated at 300 million people. Whereas Egypt has historical claims, the population, which is estimated at 80 million presently, is expected to grow to 160 million by 2050.
Egypt is already swimming into what experts call water poverty, which is below 1,000 cubic meters of water per capita per annum. According to the Uganda review report by the water ministry 2009, Uganda will become a water scarce country by 2035.
Per capita water availability will drop to 896 cubic meters per capita per annum. By 2020, water available per person will have dropped to 1,480 cubic meters down from the present 2,000 cubic meters.
This will have serious implications on food production and is likely to trigger migrations and conflicts across the countries. So, the Nile countries need to pay attention to management of the catchment areas and efficient use of water.
Uganda’s charge d’affaires in Egypt, Arthur Katsigazi, in a letter to the permanent secretary in the foreign affairs ministry dated February 17, said this could propel disagreements over water.
The rapid population growth in the River Nile countries coupled with climate change, which is disrupting weather patterns plus the poor management of water issues by member states will negatively impact on future rainfall and river flow downstream, and abate the disagreements among states of NBI.
Will the countries agree in Sharm el Sheikh? The Egyptian public has not been prepared to accommodate sharing of water with neighbouring countries.
It remains to be seen whether politicians in Egypt and Uganda will adopt the agreement. Whatever they decide, they should take into account Mazrui’s call for unity and the sharing of the Nile benefits.