Tension over the sharing of River Nile waters is rising, Reem Leila reports The 18th ordinary meeting of the Nile Council of Ministries (Nile-COM) took place in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. More than 400 international water experts attended the two-day meeting that began 24 June and witnessed now routine tension between the downstream and upstream countries over the distribution of River Nile waters among the nine Nile Basin countries. At the beginning of the conference, Egypt handed over chairmanship of Nile-COM to Ethiopia. Ethiopia will hold the rotating chair of Nile-COM for one year. The conference, held under the theme, "Working together for a better future", reviewed the activities and performance of the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) during the fiscal year 2009/2010. It also approved the work plan and budget for the fiscal year 2010/2011. During the meeting -- attended by the water ministers of Egypt and Sudan -- Ethiopian Water Minister Asfaw Dingamo, requested Egypt and Sudan to lighten their stiff attitude towards the new Nile Framework Agreement (NFA) that allows other countries a greater share of the river's water for economic uses. The agreement, signed on 14 May by the five upstream countries -- Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda -- replaces the 1929 treaty between Egypt and Britain that gave Cairo veto power over projects conducted on the River Nile's course. The new treaty allows countries contributing water to the River Nile to build dams for irrigation purposes and hydropower stations along the River Nile. Egypt and Sudan, which are opposing the NFA, will not be forced into signing a new treaty regarding the sharing of the Nile's waters, respective officials say. Mohamed Nasreddin Allam, minister of irrigation and water resources, told the media that, "the new treaty is not binding on us. It will only be an obligation for the countries that signed it only. At the same time we will make sure that this treaty won't affect Egypt's share of the Nile's water." This view was echoed by Sudanese Water Minister Kamal Ali Mohamed, who told the press after the meeting that the treaty violated the NBI's basic principles. "This agreement did not take into consideration all the views. Sudan and Egypt opposed the article regarding water security, which allows the rest of the countries that signed up to excessively use the Nile's waters," said Mohamed. The NBI is a project funded by a consortium of international donors and coordinated by the World Bank. This year alone, the NBI has lined up projects that would cost $11 million, ministers said. For its part, the World Bank has changed its previous stance. It announced that if the NFA is signed by six riparian countries it would accept it and will finance projects that those countries want to establish on the River Nile's course. After this recent change of position, Egypt and Sudan are facing a significant challenge. For the time being, Ethiopia is pressuring the Democratic Republic of Congo to join the treaty and become the sixth signatory. Efforts are also being exerted to convince Burundi to join the NFA. "The monopoly to use the Nile waters by two countries is a monopoly that we are going to resolve," Dingamo said. He said the NFA was final and would not be reopened for negotiations. "We are not begging Egypt and Sudan to give us our fair share of the Nile. We are working to create a framework built on cooperation. No soldier on the Nile will prevent us from using the water as long as we are not causing any significant harm to each other," Dingamo said. Allam responded by saying: "We have differences about the wording and other legal issues. I hope we will resolve them soon. If there is harm, we will negotiate together. Egypt will never oppose any projects that help our sister countries." During the meeting, Sudan took the unexpected step of freezing its membership of the NBI until all controversial issues are resolved. According to press reports, the move was meant to signal to upstream countries that failure to reach resolution at the upcoming emergency meeting could lead to further escalation. But experts believe that Sudan's step might negatively affect Egypt. According to Diaaeddin El-Qousy, international water analyst, "Egypt must change its negotiating policy. Upstream countries do not believe us anymore. They don't believe that we will truly help them. In the past, Egyptian officials used to use offensive language against the upstream countries, but now they are eating their words." After the meeting, Egypt took the River Nile portfolio away from Allam and gave it to Fayza Abul-Naga, minister of state for international cooperation. According to El-Qousy, this was a very important step towards resolving the crisis. "Abul-Naga will deal with the issue better than Allam -- there might soon be a solution to the whole crisis. Egypt can form a multi-disciplinary team in order to pressure all concerned parties to support Egypt and Sudan in their stance. Egypt must abandon its current rigid position," El-Qousy said. Unlike other experts, El-Qousy confirms that even a single dam built over the smallest branch of the River Nile in Ethiopia would affect Egypt's 55.5 billion cubic metres quota. "We are suffering water poverty, we do not want to suffer aridity," stated El-Qousy. Extending for more than 6,600 kilometres from Lake Victoria to the Mediterranean, the Nile is a vital water and energy source for the nine countries through which it flows. According to Essam Khalifa, spokesman at the Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resources, Egypt has no other source of useable water whereas upstream countries have other sources, such as heavy rains, which cover 98 per cent of their needs. "The problem can be solved easily if we appreciate the conditions of each country," Khalifa said. An exceptional meeting to discuss the NFA will be convened in the Kenyan capital Nairobi in November.
