Whose water is it?
15 April, 2010 | By Gamal Nkrumah
Disputes continue to gush forth, but the whirlpool in Sharm El-
Sheikh might yet be a tempest in a teapot, writes Gamal Nkrumah
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This week's Extraordinary Nile Council of Ministers (NileCom) meeting
in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh is no exception.
Unfortunately, matters took an ugly turn at Sharm El-Sheikh with
participants failing to reach agreement. The gloves came off, Egypt
insisting on veto powers over any new irrigation projects undertaken by
the other nine riparian nations. After a marathon 15 hours of
deliberations which went on till 4:30am, the only agreement that was
reached was on minutiae in order to avoid the pitfalls of the past. Alas
in vain.
And so it is with the region's embryonic 1959 Nile agreement between
Sudan and Egypt, which remains to this day the cornerstone of the Nile
Basin cooperation projects, much to the consternation of some
upstream nations. Egypt and Sudan insisted on safeguarding what they
see as their national interests with the seven upstream countries
threatening to go it alone.
"The Nile Cooperative Framework Agreement must clearly
acknowledge Egypt and Sudan's historic share of Nile water," Minister
of Water Resources and Irrigation Mohamed Nasr El-Din Allam
reiterated in Sharm El-Sheikh, in reference to the 1959 agreement.
The core problem is the perceived "unjust and unequal distribution of
Nile water resources" by upstream riparian nations and the reluctance
of downstream ones -- Egypt and Sudan -- to concede concessions.
Sudanese Irrigation Minister Kamal Ali appealed for calm, urging the
upstream countries to continue negotiations to secure a comprehensive
cooperation agreement. Egypt backed him. But there are changes afoot.
Globalisation opens the door to fresh political and economic realities.
The most momentous and consequential of such groundbreaking
events, is the rapprochement in recent months between Egypt and
Ethiopia, the country that supplies 85 per cent of Egypt's water. Egypt,
the primary user of Nile water, traditionally felt its interests threatened
by Ethiopia's ambitions to construct dams to generate hydroelectric
power. Yet there are tremendous transformations in the offing. Egypt
no longer has an agriculture dependent economy, and Ethiopia has to
date an inadequate hydraulic power and enormous hydroelectric
potential.
It is against this backdrop that the Egypt-Ethiopia Council of Commerce
was established on 30 December 2009, which turned the bilateral
Egyptian-Ethiopian relation from "distrust to a friendly cooperation," as
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zennawi so succinctly put it. Of the
four major tributaries of the Nile, three originate in Ethiopia -- the Blue
Nile (or Abbai), Sobat and Atbara.
Be that as it may, Nile Basin nations need to start talking more about
employment, food security, agricultural and manufacturing industries
and stop obsessing about water and tributaries.
Yet those habits persist. The challenge is to make this week's Sharm El-
Sheikh conference qualitatively different. Ethiopia in particular and other
upstream nations are resentful of the lack of the financial support by
international financial institutions such as the IMF and WB for their Nile
projects. They are also peeved that Western donor nations have
supplied Egypt with billions of dollars -- the US government has
provided $60 billion of assistance to Egypt compared to less than $4
billion to Ethiopia since 1950.
Certainly the system of sharing Nile water as it stands looks
dysfunctional. There is a plethora of duplicating and overlapping
organisations and initiatives concerning water sharing in Nile Basin
nations. There is the Nile Technical Advisory Committee (Nile-Tech) as
well as NileCom. There is also the International Consortium for
Cooperation on the Nile (ICCON) as well as the Nile Basin Initiative.
The goal of this week's Sharm El-Sheikh conference was to work out a
comprehensive agreement on the allocation of Nile water resources
among the Nile Basin states.
It was not a bad idea by any stretch, although the Nile Basin Initiative is
not the liveliest of regional organisations and the going is sometimes
laborious. Certain countries still have a knack of sticking the boot good
and proper to their neighbours.
What's the best and brightest thing about the contemporary Nile Basin
region? The traditional reticence of some of the African delegates was
tested when four African delegates at the Sharm El-Sheikh conference
reportedly withdrew from the talks in a huff and a puff.
Control of the utilisation of the waters of the 6,670km river, the world's
longest, has long been a bone of contention in the Nile Basin. "Egypt
will not sign any deal before its conditions are met," Allam insisted. He
also added that "requirements include the commitment to the early
notification mechanism before the construction of any projects in
upstream countries and that all decisions are to be finalised unanimously
and not through majority voting." This last point is critical as far as
Egypt is concerned because the upstream riparian nations tend to
concur on issues that Egypt objects to.
"The Nile Cooperative Framework Agreement must clearly recognise
Egypt and Sudan's historic share of the Nile Waters," Allam told
reporters in Sharm El-Sheikh. The other seven upstream nations bitterly
disagree.
Nile Basin nations are called upon to put aside differences in order to
secure the Nile Basin Initiative for the sake of enhancing sustainable
development in the region. Egypt in its capacity as current chair of Nile
Basin Executive Council is pulling no punches. Assistant Foreign
Minister for African Affairs Mona Omar disclosed that Egypt is calling
for a "consensus formula".
Meanwhile, she also announced that Foreign Minister Abul-Gheit is
scheduled to visit Ethiopia later in the month for the Egyptian-Ethiopian
Joint Committee. The 1,530km Blue Nile (Abbai) is key to Egypt's
national security, and the Ethiopians understand the strategic
importance of their country to the Egyptians. The River Nile
Cooperative Framework Agreement (CFA), International Consortium
for Cooperation on the Nile (ICCON), the Nile Technical Advisory
Committee (Nile- Tech) and the Nile Council of Ministers (Nile Com)
will survive the altercations at Sharm El-Sheikh.
The debate about who should get what and when will go on for years.
Participants were hoping that the days when the problems of quibbling
about sharing the waters of the Nile are over. The countries of the Nile
Basin might be locked in a bitter dispute over sharing and harnessing the
waters of the Nile, the world's longest river, but they at least are still
willing to meet on a regular basis to iron out differences.
The walkouts and bitter disputes sadly show that this week's
Extraordinary NileCom meeting was not qualitatively different to earlier
meetings. "Ten years ago there was an atmosphere of mistrust,
suspicion and doubt. Today the Nile Basin countries are open to each
other and ready to collaborate more closely together. This is an
achievement to be cherished, nourished and nurtured all the way," noted
Tanzanian Vice-President Ali Mohamed Shein. Wish that was true. The
Nile Basin Initiative might yet metamorphose into something more
meaningful only by harnessing tremendous political goodwill. Whose
water is it anyway?
Courtesy
15 April, 2010 | By Gamal Nkrumah
Disputes continue to gush forth, but the whirlpool in Sharm El-
Sheikh might yet be a tempest in a teapot, writes Gamal Nkrumah
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- The stream of articles on the
Nile Basin Initiative has been
negative, pessimistic and
even somewhat abrogating.
The saving grace of this
faultfinding exercise is that it
draws attention to the
prerogative of the Nile Basin
nations to tackle seriously the
mounting challenges the
This week's Extraordinary Nile Council of Ministers (NileCom) meeting
in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh is no exception.
Unfortunately, matters took an ugly turn at Sharm El-Sheikh with
participants failing to reach agreement. The gloves came off, Egypt
insisting on veto powers over any new irrigation projects undertaken by
the other nine riparian nations. After a marathon 15 hours of
deliberations which went on till 4:30am, the only agreement that was
reached was on minutiae in order to avoid the pitfalls of the past. Alas
in vain.
And so it is with the region's embryonic 1959 Nile agreement between
Sudan and Egypt, which remains to this day the cornerstone of the Nile
Basin cooperation projects, much to the consternation of some
upstream nations. Egypt and Sudan insisted on safeguarding what they
see as their national interests with the seven upstream countries
threatening to go it alone.
"The Nile Cooperative Framework Agreement must clearly
acknowledge Egypt and Sudan's historic share of Nile water," Minister
of Water Resources and Irrigation Mohamed Nasr El-Din Allam
reiterated in Sharm El-Sheikh, in reference to the 1959 agreement.
The core problem is the perceived "unjust and unequal distribution of
Nile water resources" by upstream riparian nations and the reluctance
of downstream ones -- Egypt and Sudan -- to concede concessions.
Sudanese Irrigation Minister Kamal Ali appealed for calm, urging the
upstream countries to continue negotiations to secure a comprehensive
cooperation agreement. Egypt backed him. But there are changes afoot.
Globalisation opens the door to fresh political and economic realities.
The most momentous and consequential of such groundbreaking
events, is the rapprochement in recent months between Egypt and
Ethiopia, the country that supplies 85 per cent of Egypt's water. Egypt,
the primary user of Nile water, traditionally felt its interests threatened
by Ethiopia's ambitions to construct dams to generate hydroelectric
power. Yet there are tremendous transformations in the offing. Egypt
no longer has an agriculture dependent economy, and Ethiopia has to
date an inadequate hydraulic power and enormous hydroelectric
potential.
It is against this backdrop that the Egypt-Ethiopia Council of Commerce
was established on 30 December 2009, which turned the bilateral
Egyptian-Ethiopian relation from "distrust to a friendly cooperation," as
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zennawi so succinctly put it. Of the
four major tributaries of the Nile, three originate in Ethiopia -- the Blue
Nile (or Abbai), Sobat and Atbara.
Be that as it may, Nile Basin nations need to start talking more about
employment, food security, agricultural and manufacturing industries
and stop obsessing about water and tributaries.
Yet those habits persist. The challenge is to make this week's Sharm El-
Sheikh conference qualitatively different. Ethiopia in particular and other
upstream nations are resentful of the lack of the financial support by
international financial institutions such as the IMF and WB for their Nile
projects. They are also peeved that Western donor nations have
supplied Egypt with billions of dollars -- the US government has
provided $60 billion of assistance to Egypt compared to less than $4
billion to Ethiopia since 1950.
Certainly the system of sharing Nile water as it stands looks
dysfunctional. There is a plethora of duplicating and overlapping
organisations and initiatives concerning water sharing in Nile Basin
nations. There is the Nile Technical Advisory Committee (Nile-Tech) as
well as NileCom. There is also the International Consortium for
Cooperation on the Nile (ICCON) as well as the Nile Basin Initiative.
The goal of this week's Sharm El-Sheikh conference was to work out a
comprehensive agreement on the allocation of Nile water resources
among the Nile Basin states.
It was not a bad idea by any stretch, although the Nile Basin Initiative is
not the liveliest of regional organisations and the going is sometimes
laborious. Certain countries still have a knack of sticking the boot good
and proper to their neighbours.
What's the best and brightest thing about the contemporary Nile Basin
region? The traditional reticence of some of the African delegates was
tested when four African delegates at the Sharm El-Sheikh conference
reportedly withdrew from the talks in a huff and a puff.
Control of the utilisation of the waters of the 6,670km river, the world's
longest, has long been a bone of contention in the Nile Basin. "Egypt
will not sign any deal before its conditions are met," Allam insisted. He
also added that "requirements include the commitment to the early
notification mechanism before the construction of any projects in
upstream countries and that all decisions are to be finalised unanimously
and not through majority voting." This last point is critical as far as
Egypt is concerned because the upstream riparian nations tend to
concur on issues that Egypt objects to.
"The Nile Cooperative Framework Agreement must clearly recognise
Egypt and Sudan's historic share of the Nile Waters," Allam told
reporters in Sharm El-Sheikh. The other seven upstream nations bitterly
disagree.
Nile Basin nations are called upon to put aside differences in order to
secure the Nile Basin Initiative for the sake of enhancing sustainable
development in the region. Egypt in its capacity as current chair of Nile
Basin Executive Council is pulling no punches. Assistant Foreign
Minister for African Affairs Mona Omar disclosed that Egypt is calling
for a "consensus formula".
Meanwhile, she also announced that Foreign Minister Abul-Gheit is
scheduled to visit Ethiopia later in the month for the Egyptian-Ethiopian
Joint Committee. The 1,530km Blue Nile (Abbai) is key to Egypt's
national security, and the Ethiopians understand the strategic
importance of their country to the Egyptians. The River Nile
Cooperative Framework Agreement (CFA), International Consortium
for Cooperation on the Nile (ICCON), the Nile Technical Advisory
Committee (Nile- Tech) and the Nile Council of Ministers (Nile Com)
will survive the altercations at Sharm El-Sheikh.
The debate about who should get what and when will go on for years.
Participants were hoping that the days when the problems of quibbling
about sharing the waters of the Nile are over. The countries of the Nile
Basin might be locked in a bitter dispute over sharing and harnessing the
waters of the Nile, the world's longest river, but they at least are still
willing to meet on a regular basis to iron out differences.
The walkouts and bitter disputes sadly show that this week's
Extraordinary NileCom meeting was not qualitatively different to earlier
meetings. "Ten years ago there was an atmosphere of mistrust,
suspicion and doubt. Today the Nile Basin countries are open to each
other and ready to collaborate more closely together. This is an
achievement to be cherished, nourished and nurtured all the way," noted
Tanzanian Vice-President Ali Mohamed Shein. Wish that was true. The
Nile Basin Initiative might yet metamorphose into something more
meaningful only by harnessing tremendous political goodwill. Whose
water is it anyway?
Courtesy
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