Ethiopia signs new Nile treaty despite Egypt, Sudan opposition

May 14, 2010 (ADDIS ABABA) — Four Nile basin states on Friday inked a new treaty on the equitable sharing of the Nile waters despite strong opposition from Egypt and Sudan who sweep over 85% of the river waters.

Rwanda, Ethiopia, Uganda and Tanzania, four of nine countries which stand to benefit from the arrangement, signed the agreement in the Ugandan town of Entebbe.

“This agreement benefits all of us and harms none of us,” said Ethiopia’s Water Resources Minister Asfaw Dingamo. “I strongly believe all Nile Basin countries will sign the agreement.”

Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo were not represented at the meeting; While Kenya issued a support statement.

The Nile Basin Initiative, which had been spearheading the talks, will now become the Nile Basin Commission and will receive, review and approve or reject projects related to Africa’s longest river.

Egypt has vowed to defend its water supply; calling its water supply a “red line” and threatening legal action should the process move forward.

“We regret the intentional and announced absence of our dear brothers from Egypt and Sudan,” said Stanislas Kamanzi, Rwanda’s water and lands minister at the signing of the treaty.

The upstream countries want to be able to implement irrigation and hydropower projects in consultation with Egypt and Sudan, but without Cairo being able to exercise the veto power it was given by a 1929 colonial-era treaty with Britain.
Yesterday, The European Union has urged seven Nile Basin countries to reconsider the signing of a new water sharing deal without prior agreement with Egypt and Sudan.

“It would not be a very good idea for seven countries to sign a document at this stage,” Marc Franco, who heads the European Union delegation, told a news conference in Cairo.

A separate deal would “make the political problems that exist worse,” added Franco, urging all countries concerned “to bridge the gaps” and “see what can be done to find a compromise.”

The water Nile is governed by two treaties. The 1929 agreement signed between Egypt and Great Britain (representing for colonies including Sudan), gave Cairo the right to veto projects higher up the Nile that would affect its water share.

The other document is the 1959 agreement, between Egypt and Sudan. It gave Egypt the right to 55.5 billion cubic meters of Nile water a year and Sudan 18.5 billion cubic meters per year.

The new agreement would replace a 1959 accord between Egypt and Sudan. The seven upstream countries have been negotiating for years with Egypt and Sudan to clinch a more equitable agreement but talks have failed to produce any fruit.

The upstream countries say past treaties are unfair and they want an equitable water-sharing agreement that would allow for more irrigation and power projects.

Egypt and Sudan are sticking to colonial-era pacts which give them over 85% of the Nile water. The two countries say the upstream countries have other sources of water while Egypt gets all its water needs from the Nile. Cairo also projects possible shortages by 2017.

(ST)