CAIRO: Anger continues to flow across the Nile basin as international donors have apparently backed Egypt's claims to a majority of the river's water, which is likely to continue to spark controversy in the other 8 nations comprising the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI). In recent months, attempts to wrangle a deal that would see a new water-sharing have gone asunder as Cairo continues to claim a 50-year-old treaty gives them the right to a lion's share of the water. NBI nations, excluding Egypt and Sudan, hoped that a late July meeting in Alexandria would produce a new draft that would provide larger quantities of Nile water to upstream nations, but Egypt continuously cited a 1959 agreement that gives them veto power over any projects that could potentially reduce their water supply. The World Bank – the NBI's leading financial partner and overseerer of funds – said at the conference they were “confident a deal would be made,” but nothing came from the meeting as ministers left Egypt frustrated. It has been further reported since the end of the meeting that donors have no intention of going against Egypt over development projects. “The impartiality of development partners in the ongoing wrangle over the use of the River Nile waters has come into question after they issued a joint statement that appeared to endorse Egypt’s stand against the wishes of upstream countries,” an editorial in The East African said. “The development partners, who are supposed to be impartial, issued a joint statement against the majority states who adopted a draft pact that would allow a permanent river-basin Commission to be established for fair use of the river’s riparian resources,” the writer added. The statement, issued by the 12 development partners convening under a trust fund hosted by the World Bank, seemed to favour Egypt and Sudan against the other seven countries, who decided to adopt a draft agreement and annex controversial clauses on water security pending resolution. Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda adopted a draft pact that does not recognize Egypt and Sudan’s “historical rights and uses†of the Nile waters during the Nile Council of Ministers (Nile CoM) meeting in Kinshasa in May, but Egypt refused to sign the deal. Ethiopia says that a deal has been agreed upon with Sudan, but the NBI member-states are now waiting on Cairo for final approval and implementation. A statement from the consortium of donors is not optimistic, NBI states argue. The statement says that “we are very concerned that outcomes of your meeting may result in some countries, without others, moving forward with an agreement and a Commission. Our experience of providing support in other river basins suggests that this will not deliver the scale of economic and security benefits and reductions of future risks that basin-wide co-operation will yield.†The statement continues, “we believe, however, that an inclusive agreement that establishes a Nile River Basin Commission is essential and is still achievable.†Sources at the meeting said that some countries took this as a retreat from impartiality on the part of development partners, who should be observers only as far as negotiations are concerned. It is not clear what impact the development partners’ stand on the matter has had on the negotiations, but information from the recent Nile CoM meeting in Alexandria in Egypt shows that riparian states are angry at the intervention. However, the Nile CoM has set a period of six months to conclude the much-anticipated blueprint in what appears to be an ultimatum for Egypt and Sudan to accept a draft agreement that the other seven countries accepted, or risk isolation. BM
