Nile Basin countries’ assembly proposed

ADDIS ABABA, Mar 22, 2004 (Xinhua) — Ten African countries along the River Nile which form the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) may establish a parliamentary assembly (NBIPA), an Egyptian official said Monday.

Ahmed Fathy Serrour, president of the Egyptian Parliament who was in Addis Ababa to attend the inauguration of the Pan-African Parliament said that the NBIPA aims to overcome any problems which may come from misunderstanding among the countries.

“The scope of our assembly is to assure that there is a dialogue and to make a full cooperation between all countries of the basin and to try to develop certain common projects for all countries for their common interests,” said Fathy.

However, the official declined to give details about the ” common projects.”

Fathy indicated that the assembly, initiated by the Sudan and Egypt will also help to keep the common interests of the countries.

“By sitting together, continuously we would make dialogue between us, which will crate a solution for us,” Fathy said.

Asked to be specific about the misunderstanding which the NBI counties are facing, he said, any imagination that might create problems and any problem coming from misunderstanding must be stopped immediately through dialogue.

He said the Sudan and Egypt are waiting for a reply about NBIPA from the other eight countries in NBI.

The other eight countries are Ethiopia, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.

The proposal came after a delicate meeting of water ministers from the NBI countries in Nairobi last week. The meeting defused media speculation on Sub-Saharan challenge over Egypt’s control over the River Nile, and promised cooperation in tapping the river ‘s water resources.

The NBI is an intergovernmental organization formed by the 10 counties along the Nile, seeking sustainable socioeconomic development and management of Nile Basin water resources.