Egypt, Sudan to be part of Nile Basin talks
10 December, 2010 | By Joseph Mayton (Bikya Masr)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Egyptian Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Mohamed Nasr
el-Din Allam told local press on Friday that the move was decided
after he had spoken with his Sudanese counterpart Salah Yusuf.
Allam added that it had been agreed between the Egyptian and
Sudanese sides to unite their vision concerning considering the points
of disagreement in the Framework agreement, which prevented Egypt
and Sudan from signing it.
Egypt and Sudan, the two countries with the most to lose, have shown
massive opposition to any new agreements, despite other Nile Basin
Initiative (NBI) countries inking a new deal earlier this year in attempt
to curtail Egyptian power over the river’s water.
The new agreement gives upstream nations the right to develop the
river and implement a number of strategies to increase their own
development and irrigation along the Nile.
It could mark a major fracture within the NBI and a new commission
formed without Egypt and Sudan.
“Some people in Egypt have old-fashioned ideas based on the
assumption that the Nile water belongs to Egypt, and that Egypt has a
right to decide who gets what, and that the upper [Nile basin]
countries are unable to use the Nile water because they will be
unstable and they will be poor,” the Prime Minister said.
“These circumstances have changed and changed forever.
“Ethiopia is not unstable. Ethiopia is still poor, but it is able to cover
the necessary resources to build whatever infrastructure and dams it
wants on the Nile water,” he added.
Egypt is already pushing international donor bodies, such as the
World Bank – the main financier of the NBI – to cut funding to the
signatories.
The Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) ministers had met in Sharm el-Sheikh
on April 13 in another attempt to come to agreement on a water-
sharing deal, but Egypt again refused to renegotiate an 80-year-old
treaty that ensures they receive the lion’s share of water from the Nile
River.
According to the country’s MENA state news agency, the 10 nations
failed to agree on a new deal, instead saying they will look for closer
cooperation instead. This all changed on Saturday as the upstream
nations apparently said enough is enough.
Burundi’s Environment Minister continues to be disturbed at the
proceedings, blaming Egypt for the lack of a new agreement that
would give upstream nations, including his, a larger proportion of
water for irrigation and development.
“Egypt is continuing to act as if they can do whatever they want, but
the time is soon coming where they will not be able to dictate our
water consumption, especially if they treat us this way,” said Minister
Degratias N’Duimana.
Ugandan Minister of Water and Environment Maria Mutagamba, in
her opening speech at the meeting in the Red Sea resort town of
Sharm al-Sheikh called on her counterparts to sign the agreement
without further delay.
Egypt’s Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Mohamed Nasr
el-din Allam refused, saying his nation required the treaty to remain
the same with expected water shortages coming in the near future.
In February, a senior Egyptian water ministry official said that the Nile
Basin nations do not suffer from these shortages and if they do it is
because of misuse of the resource.
Saad Nassar, an advisor to the Egyptian agriculture minister, said the
Nile Basin countries, in fact, “enjoy huge water resources.”
He said the quantity of rain water received by the upstream countries
hits 1,800 billion cubic meters and that the quota of downstream
countries (Egypt and Sudan) hits 73 billion cubic meters annually, 55
billion of which goes to Egypt and 18 billion goes to Sudan.
However, an NBI official told Bikya Masr in a phone conversation at
the time that the Egyptian minister is “delusional if he honestly believes
there are no problems and that if there are problems it arises from
misuse by other countries along the river.”
The official, who asked not to be named, was irate over the official’s
comments, adding that Egypt has been “continuing to push a new
agreement to the back burner for months now because they know that
they are taking way too much of the water and leaving other nations in
a position where they cannot develop or even get enough water to
their people. It is arrogance that these things are said.”
Nassar said that much of the water resources in the Nile Basin
countries are excessively wasted, underlining his county’s keenness to
make the best use of water for the benefit of both upstream and
downstream countries.
The NBI nations met in the summer 2009 in Kinshasa and Alexandria
to hammer out a new agreement, but nothing came from those
negotiations, as Egypt’s water ministry wouldn’t budge on its position
to maintain its current water consumption.
Cairo refused to sign onto any convention without assurances by other
members that the country would not lose the 55.5 billion cubic meters
of Nile water they are allowed to use and demanded a veto power
over any projects implemented upstream in southern Nile nations.
Courtesy
10 December, 2010 | By Joseph Mayton (Bikya Masr)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
CAIRO: Egypt and Sudan
have agreed to attend an
extraordinary meeting of Nile
Basin countries to be held in
Kenya on January 25 to
discuss legal and institutional
ramifications surrounding five
Nile countries inking a
separate deal earlier this year.
Egyptian Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Mohamed Nasr
el-Din Allam told local press on Friday that the move was decided
after he had spoken with his Sudanese counterpart Salah Yusuf.
Allam added that it had been agreed between the Egyptian and
Sudanese sides to unite their vision concerning considering the points
of disagreement in the Framework agreement, which prevented Egypt
and Sudan from signing it.
Egypt and Sudan, the two countries with the most to lose, have shown
massive opposition to any new agreements, despite other Nile Basin
Initiative (NBI) countries inking a new deal earlier this year in attempt
to curtail Egyptian power over the river’s water.
The new agreement gives upstream nations the right to develop the
river and implement a number of strategies to increase their own
development and irrigation along the Nile.
It could mark a major fracture within the NBI and a new commission
formed without Egypt and Sudan.
“Some people in Egypt have old-fashioned ideas based on the
assumption that the Nile water belongs to Egypt, and that Egypt has a
right to decide who gets what, and that the upper [Nile basin]
countries are unable to use the Nile water because they will be
unstable and they will be poor,” the Prime Minister said.
“These circumstances have changed and changed forever.
“Ethiopia is not unstable. Ethiopia is still poor, but it is able to cover
the necessary resources to build whatever infrastructure and dams it
wants on the Nile water,” he added.
Egypt is already pushing international donor bodies, such as the
World Bank – the main financier of the NBI – to cut funding to the
signatories.
The Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) ministers had met in Sharm el-Sheikh
on April 13 in another attempt to come to agreement on a water-
sharing deal, but Egypt again refused to renegotiate an 80-year-old
treaty that ensures they receive the lion’s share of water from the Nile
River.
According to the country’s MENA state news agency, the 10 nations
failed to agree on a new deal, instead saying they will look for closer
cooperation instead. This all changed on Saturday as the upstream
nations apparently said enough is enough.
Burundi’s Environment Minister continues to be disturbed at the
proceedings, blaming Egypt for the lack of a new agreement that
would give upstream nations, including his, a larger proportion of
water for irrigation and development.
“Egypt is continuing to act as if they can do whatever they want, but
the time is soon coming where they will not be able to dictate our
water consumption, especially if they treat us this way,” said Minister
Degratias N’Duimana.
Ugandan Minister of Water and Environment Maria Mutagamba, in
her opening speech at the meeting in the Red Sea resort town of
Sharm al-Sheikh called on her counterparts to sign the agreement
without further delay.
Egypt’s Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Mohamed Nasr
el-din Allam refused, saying his nation required the treaty to remain
the same with expected water shortages coming in the near future.
In February, a senior Egyptian water ministry official said that the Nile
Basin nations do not suffer from these shortages and if they do it is
because of misuse of the resource.
Saad Nassar, an advisor to the Egyptian agriculture minister, said the
Nile Basin countries, in fact, “enjoy huge water resources.”
He said the quantity of rain water received by the upstream countries
hits 1,800 billion cubic meters and that the quota of downstream
countries (Egypt and Sudan) hits 73 billion cubic meters annually, 55
billion of which goes to Egypt and 18 billion goes to Sudan.
However, an NBI official told Bikya Masr in a phone conversation at
the time that the Egyptian minister is “delusional if he honestly believes
there are no problems and that if there are problems it arises from
misuse by other countries along the river.”
The official, who asked not to be named, was irate over the official’s
comments, adding that Egypt has been “continuing to push a new
agreement to the back burner for months now because they know that
they are taking way too much of the water and leaving other nations in
a position where they cannot develop or even get enough water to
their people. It is arrogance that these things are said.”
Nassar said that much of the water resources in the Nile Basin
countries are excessively wasted, underlining his county’s keenness to
make the best use of water for the benefit of both upstream and
downstream countries.
The NBI nations met in the summer 2009 in Kinshasa and Alexandria
to hammer out a new agreement, but nothing came from those
negotiations, as Egypt’s water ministry wouldn’t budge on its position
to maintain its current water consumption.
Cairo refused to sign onto any convention without assurances by other
members that the country would not lose the 55.5 billion cubic meters
of Nile water they are allowed to use and demanded a veto power
over any projects implemented upstream in southern Nile nations.
Courtesy
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