Egypt accepts new Nile arrangement
April 5, 2007 (KAMPALA) — Egypt has acknowledged the establishment of the Nile Commission, an arrangement recently agreed upon in Nairobi to oversee equal share of the world’s longest river, a Ugandan minister has said.
The Commission, which Uganda’s Minister of Water and Environment said would be a permanent body, replaces the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) that was established in 1999 by 10 partner states, the Rwandan The New Time said.
Maria Mutagambwa told The New Times that Egypt was willing to share River Nile according to its needs but in respect to those of the other partner states.
The Nile is shared by ten countries – Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda — with a combined population of at least 300 million, about 160 million of whom live within the boundaries of the Nile Basin. The ten countries that share the Nile waters include some of the world’s poorest, with annual per capital income of less than $250.
According to a 1929 Nile Waters Agreement, Egypt was granted the right to “inspect and investigate” the whole length of the 6,700-kilometer river to the remote sources of its tributaries in the Basin.
Egypt was allocated 48 billion cubic meters per year as its acquired right and 4 billion cubic meters per year to the Sudan, according to the pact. The allocations were later increased to 55.5 billion cubic meters and 18 billion cubic meters, respectively, under a 1959 bilateral agreement. The rest of the riparian states were in effect denied rights over the Nile.
“Egypt has no problem with the Commission. They are willing to share river Nile reasonably with all the partner states,” Mutagambwa said in Kampala.
The pact stated that no works would be undertaken on the Nile, its tributaries and the Lake Basin that would reduce the volume of the water reaching Egypt.
But most of the downstream riparian states have ignored Egypt’s claims. And over the years tensions have been rising over the waters of the Nile.
To reduce the potential for conflict, and with the help of the World Bank, the Nile Basin Initiative was launched in 1999 as a transitional arrangement until a permanent framework is established.
Following a general acceptance to establish a Commission, a technical committee is yet to be set up and a consultant hired, Mutagambwa said.
Kenya’s Water Minister has told journalists in Nairobi that a Basin Cooperative Framework has been agreed upon by partner states. The Cooperative Framework would be ready in a month, Mutua Katuku said.
And any member that is to construct a major project on the river would have to inform the rest. Uganda is still mobilizing about $750million to construct Bujagali Dam on River Nile.
(New Time)