Ethiopia to push new Nile treaty without Egypt, Sudan

Accuses Egypt of dragging the negotiating process

By Tesfa Alem Tekle

April 21, 2010 (ADDIS ABABA) – Ethiopia said on Tuesday that it would push forward a new deal along six other riparian countries over sharing waters from the Nile River despite Sudan and Egypt’s refusal to sign the new accord.

At a press conference he held, Ethiopian government spokesman Shimelis Kemal accused Egypt of being engaged in a delaying tactic which he said stalled talks to a more comprehensive agreement, however he said that the rooms for negotiation are still open.

“It’s a deal based on international customary law, but Egypt is dragging its feet. All seven countries have rejected the previous agreement between Egypt and colonial Britain,” he said.

Ethiopia and six other downstream countries in east and central Africa will be signing a cooperative frame work agreement on May 14, on a more equitable utilization of the Nile River.

The Ethiopian official stressed that although Egypt and Sudan, the two-largest consumers of Nile water, have rejected to sign the deal, other member countries will exert utmost efforts to incorporate their interest.

“The accord would leave open a controversial provision on water security in the hopes that Sudan and Egypt may be persuaded to return to the talks,” Shimeles said.

Cairo on Monday has warned Nile basin countries against inking the controversial deal that excluded Egypt.

Ethiopia, Kenya, Burundi, DR Congo, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda are the signatories for the new deal.

Egypt claims 55.5 billion cubic meters of the Nile’s annual flow under a 1959 treaty with Sudan, Ethiopia was not include on the agreement list, which is the source of about 85 percent of the river’s water, or other downstream states.

The other countries protest that past treaties are flawed, unfair and they strongly voice for rather a more equitable water-sharing agreement that would allow them to engage in a more irrigation activities and power projects.

(ST)