Uganda wants Sudan and Egypt to pay for Nile River water

KAMPALA, Dec 30, 2003 (Kyodo) — The East African nations that are home to the source of the Nile River want more control of the water that flows from their lands and the rights to sell the precious resource to Sudan and Egypt.

This demand to sell the water was introduced by members of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA), which is made up of Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya, in June 2003.

The three countries are home to the largest freshwater lake in Africa — Lake Victoria — lying in a huge basin in which the source of the Nile is located. The area is referred to as the Nile River Basin.

The EALA wants the review of the Nile Water Agreement that dates back to colonial times. The treaty was signed in 1929 by Egypt and Britain and bars the 10 Nile River Basin countries, including Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya, from using the waters of Lake Victoria without Egypt’s permission.

There has been growing discontent in the region about Egypt’s favorable treatment under the treaty and its control of the world’s longest river.

The Ugandan parliament has also taken up the issue. It is proposing that the Nile River Basin countries should charge Egypt and Sudan for using the water.

Ugandan Water Minister Miria Mutagamba recently told the parliament that international legislation would not allow for the selling the water to Egypt and Sudan. But she did note that the 75-year-old treaty was under review to allow for an equal sharing of the benefits derived from Lake Victoria and other bodies along the river.

The East African newspaper recently quoted Kenya’s water resource minister, Martha Karua, as saying that the treaty is no longer relevant and is under review with the possibility of allowing the region to sell water to Egypt and Sudan.

Based on the treaty, Egypt keeps a permanent representative at the Owen Falls Dam in southeast Uganda. The dam controls the discharge from Lake Victoria into the Nile River Basin and supplies hydroelectricity to Uganda and Kenya.

Ugandan Attorney General Francis Ayume backs parliament’s move to urge the government to reject the treaty, under which Uganda must receive Egypt’s approval to use the Nile River water for irrigation.

The parliament has set up a committee on natural resources to study the treaties and determine whether they reflect Uganda’s national interest.

“The end of colonial system demands the end of colonial relations, especially if the continued existence is manifestly not in the interest of the independent state,” Ayume said.

But the attorney general suggested that Uganda needs to take things slowly as a rash approach could raise international ire and might frustrate the ongoing efforts of the Nile River Basin states to create a new treaty under the Nile River Cooperation Agreement.

Egypt for its part contributes to the cost of preserving Lake Victoria and has helped to combat the dangerous water weed, the water hyacinth. It has also contributed to the clearing the islands on Lake Kyoga, which would otherwise block the flow the river north to Sudan and Egypt.