Dina Ezzat reports on high-level Egyptian attempts to dissuade Nile Basin states from any action that could compromise Egypt's share of Nile water It may be overdue but it is never too late. This is how officials qualify the high-level political offensive launched by Egypt to dissuade other Nile Basin states from pursuing a course that could eventually undermine Egypt's annual allocation of 55.5 billion cubic metres of Nile water. "The situation is not easy. We have to work very hard on the matter and try to succeed in repairing or at least minimising the damage," said one Egyptian official. The damage, as defined by Cairo, came to a head when five of the seven Nile Basin countries signed a new framework agreement on 14 May in the capital of Uganda in the face of many protests voiced by the two downstream countries, Sudan and Egypt. The rest of the Nile Basin states, it was announced, would be able to sign within 12 months, after which signatory states will have to ratify the agreement. They will then be in a position to solicit international funding for projects, including dams, which could eventually undermine Egypt's share of the Nile water. "We are not talking about an overnight cut in our share but we are talking about a possible reduction of our share in some 10 to 20 years," said the Egyptian official. To counter this scenario, Cairo decided on a heavy weight political exercise to dissuade the Nile Basin states and donors from pursuing unilateral projects along the banks of the Nile. This week President Hosni Mubarak received two of the leaders of the Nile Basin countries: Raila Odinga, prime minister of Kenya, and Joseph Kabila, president of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The first was also welcomed by Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif and Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa while the second received a guard-of-honour welcome at the presidential headquarters. Mubarak's meetings with Odinga and Kabila were cordial, Presidential Spokesman Suleiman Awad said in statements following the talks on Sunday. Awad also told reporters that both visiting African leaders had affirmed that their countries -- Kenya is a signatory to the new agreement while the DRC is not -- had no intention of trespassing on Egyptian interests in relation to its Nile water share. For his part, said Awad, Mubarak stressed the ample opportunities for cooperation among up- and downstream countries. "The Nile Basin, as the president said, should be a venue for cooperation and not competition." Awad also revealed Egypt has received a request from Kenya to increase cooperation in maximising the use of water resources. "The prime minister of Kenya made a request for increased Egyptian assistance to dig more wells and to rationalise water usage," the presidential spokesman said. "We have no intention of undermining the water security of either Sudan or Egypt. We are fully aware that these two countries depend on these water resources," Odinga said in press statements before leaving Cairo on Tuesday. Odinga affirmed his country's commitment to reaching a consensus among up- and downstream countries that could -- "sooner rather than later" -- resolve the dispute. Awad quoted Kabila as telling Mubarak that Kinshasa had refrained from signing the new agreement because it believed any new arrangements must be concluded on the basis of a consensus. According to Awad, future cooperation between Egypt and both Kenya and the DRC will be upgraded both at the bilateral level and also within the framework of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA). Meanwhile, Egypt has sent a delegation of senior diplomats and national security experts to visit Sudan and other Nile Basin states. The mission has been tasked with conveying Cairo's willingness to cooperate with its hosts to the best interest of all parties. "Our task has been made more difficult by the irrational statements made by some commentators and MPs which have antagonised not just officials in the countries we are visiting but also public opinion," said one member of the delegation. The delegation, he added, had also been entrusted with reaching an implicit agreement that Nile Basin states will not pursue the construction of dams on the Nile without first notifying Egypt. Egypt is also communicating with donor states, asking that it be consulted before funds are provided to any project that could eventually harm Egypt's share of Nile water. While the official assessment is that there is a tentative agreement on the part of most of the donors, some sources on the donors' side point out that the agreement is a temporary measure and cannot replace more permanent arrangements between the Nile Basin states. The US is among the donor states that Egypt is keen to engage. The Nile Basin dispute is expected to be on the agenda of the talks US Vice-President Joseph Biden is scheduled to hold in Cairo on 8 June. Egypt is particularly worried about Israel's role in the dispute, especially given the heavy presence of Israeli irrigation and water experts in Ethiopia and some other Nile Basin countries. Reassurances offered by Israeli officials in this respect have failed to comfort Egypt. There are plans to schedule a meeting between President Mubarak and Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi either on the sidelines of the France-Africa summit, due in Nice on 31 May, or later. Articles antagonistic towards Egypt have been a regular feature of the press in Ethiopia and other Nile Basin countries, though according to Awad such stories do not accurately reflect the views of senior officials in these countries. Awad insists that there is an opportunity to contain the dispute through the high level intervention of the leaders of the Nile Basin states though it remains unclear whether or not Egypt will be willing to sign any new agreement that departs from the provisions of the 1929 and 1959 treaties.
