CAIRO: The Sudanese government attempted to reassure Egypt over water resources in light of the recent independence of South Sudan. Sudanese Information Minister Sana Hamad al-Awadi said that Khartoum does not believe South Sudan will go against international agreements that give Egypt the lion's share of Nile River water. Al-Awadi continued to say that the South is not needed to address the situation, pointing to continued coordination between Sudan and Egypt on Nile Basin deals. The Sudanese minister said that the water, which comes through the White Nile from the south, “does not represent a problem for the Republic of Sudan, because it represents about 14 percent of the water coming through the south to Sudan” and ultimately Egypt. However, with the infant new country, Egypt has a number of worries that South Sudan, which now sees itself in control of much of the Nile water and its path toward Egypt, could join the opposition to Cairo and Khartoum over maintaining what many upstream nations say is an “unjust” water-sharing agreement. “We are certainly concerned over the future of our water security, but we must give South Sudan time to see what is right,” said Amr Hassan, an environment ministry official. Egypt has already attempted to throw some carrots to Juba through infrastructure projects, including at least four electricity stations. Cairo has repeatedly refused to sign onto any convention without assurances by other Nile Basin Initiative 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. South Sudan, however, could change the game, said Mohamed Bayoumy, a water expert based in Khartoum. He told Bikyamasr.com that Juba now holds a lot of power over the future of the NBI. “What we are seeing is a growing tension, because a lot of people and officials do not know what exactly the South Sudanese government will do, so it is kind of a waiting game,” he said. The Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) ministers met in Sharm el-Sheikh last year in an attempt to come to agreement on a water-sharing deal, but Egypt again refused to renegotiate an 80-year-old treaty. Egypt and Sudan, the two countries with the most to lose, have shown massive opposition to a new agreement, which has seen three Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) countries, Burundi, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo ink a deal that demands greater water for infrastructure projects and their people. In total, 6 of the NBI nations have signed on to the agreement. 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. Ethiopia has since begun erecting dams along its share of the Nile, but says that they will not cut into Egypt's share. Now, as South Sudan begins to get to business, Bayoumy said that the entire region is waiting to see which side they fall on. “Will they join forces with the opposition against Egypt and Sudan, or will they partner with their former country and Egypt? It all depends on what they do because they could change the make-up of water agreements in the region and possibly create a lot of tension,” he said. BM
