CAIRO: Nile Basin countries are to meet in Kigali, Rwanda, on July 6 and 7 with the aim of creating “equitable solutions” to the ongoing tension between Nile River nations over water use and other environmental concerns. The Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) said the 2nd Nile Basin Parliamentarians Forum is ready and they hope to see positive movement on issues that have seen the region stumble over water-sharing agreements in recent years. One hundred stakeholders including Members of Parliament from each of the 11 Nile Basin countries drawn from the committees of Natural Resources or other relevant parliament committees and representatives from Foreign Relations departments, from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs in the Nile Basin countries. In addition, the NBI “invited representatives of Civil society, the media Nile Basin countries' Diplomatic Missions based in Kigali as well as the governance and staff of NBI will participate in the Forum whose theme is: ‘The Role of Nile Basin Parliamentarians in Nurturing Cooperation'.” The Forum forms what the NBI said was a vital component in the “promotion of the Nile cooperation in line with the NBI Shared Vision,” which is: “to achieve sustainable socio-economic development through the equitable utilization of, and benefit from, the common Nile basin water resources.” The objectives of the Forum include: “deepening the common understanding and appreciation among Nile Basin Parliamentarians of the aims, objectives of the NBI and its subcomponents and acquainting Parliamentarians with knowledge on common challenges faced by the Nile Basin countries and benefits from cooperation over the joint management and utilization of the common Nile Basin water resources.” Other objectives are building participation capacity of, and political support among, Parliamentarians for a network of Parliamentarians for inclusive political processes for collaborative and sustainable solutions to the future of the Nile cooperation as well as canvassing support of Parliamentarians to Nile Basin cooperation through enhanced networking among themselves as well as sustainability and ownership of the NBI, the statement summarized. “Participants will also have an opportunity to visit one of the project sites coordinated under NBI, the Regional Rusumo Falls Hydroelectric Project for exchange of experience and appraise the benefits sharing model used among the three collaborating countries (Burundi, Rwanda, and Tanzania),” the NBI continued in their statement. Joint implementation of the project is to begin in 2014 by the three NBI Member States and commissioning is planned for 2017. The Regional Rusumo Falls Hydroelectric Project will have an installed capacity of 80 MW to be shared among the three countries. Each country will have an additional 27 MW of electricity and this will contribute to reduction in the current power shortage. However, of concern is Egypt and its new government in place in Cairo. The worries are that there will continue to be obstinate actions refusing negotiations on water issues along the Nile. Egypt has long refused to amend colonial treaties established by the British that deliver a lion's share of water to Egypt and Sudan. Citing water shortages, Egypt's government has condemned Nile River projects from NBI countries, threatening to leave the organization if countries continue to develop along the world's largest river.
