Sudan prepares to host signing of tripartite Nile water agreement
March 21, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese government announced today that the president of South Sudan Salva Kiir, Uganda’s Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda, African Union Commission Chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma and Arab League Secretary General Nabil Elaraby will be among the officials attending the signing of the tripartite agreement on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).
Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Secretary General Mahboub Maalim and Executive Director of the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) John Rao Nyaoro have also confirmed their attendance, SUNA said.
The Egyptian president Abdel Fatah el-Sisi is set to arrive in Khartoum on Monday but Cairo has yet to confirm it will sign the accord citing unspecified reservations.
Egypt’s Minister Hussam Maghazi told al-Mostagbal newspaper on Thursday that experts are going over the text before it is cleared for signature.
El-Sisi has called for revising the accord during a meeting this week with ministers of foreign affairs, irrigation and water resources, international cooperation as well as head of intelligence in Cairo.
He asked that his cabinet review all technical and legal aspects of the proposed agreement.
“Egypt’s rights stated in all Nile water treaties have not been tampered with,” the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Friday, referring to colonial-era agreements which gives it the lion’s share of the Nile waters.
Cairo, which is staunchly opposed to the dam, has raised technical concerns including the dam’s storage capacity which is currently set at 74 billion cubic meters.
The Ethiopian Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources Alemayehu Tegunu told Voice of America (VOA) radio service in Amharic that his Egyptian counterpart’s remarks about the agreement containing clauses on the dam’s storage capacity are incorrect, stressing that discussions never addressed this issue.
Tegunu insisted that his government can never agree on this adding that the document did not include any technical items and is restricted to political principles on the fair use of Nile water without harming any of the Nile basin countries.
Maghazi had previously emphasized that the agreement will be binding to the three countries to abide by the recommendations of the international consultancy firm adding that Addis Ababa will have to adjust the dam specifications if Cairo is proven to be harmed.
The three countries had previously formed a committee to select a consultancy firm to assess the likely impact of GERD on Sudan and Egypt. Four consultancy firms from France, Australia and Holland had been short-listed and invited to submit their proposals.
Egypt fears the dam will negatively affect its traditional share of water from the Nile, its only source of water which has been determined by a colonial-era water-sharing treaty.
Ethiopia is the source of about 85% of the Nile’s water, mainly through rainfall in its highlands, with over 90% of Egyptians relying on water from the Nile’s flows. It insists that the project is indispensable to its own national development and the economic welfare of its burgeoning population.
(ST)