CAIRO: President Hosni Mubarak waded into the Nile water sharing issue Sunday when he hosted the Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Congolese President Joseph Kabila, two countries that have either already signed or are expected to sign a water-sharing agreement without Egypt. Odinga also met with Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif Monday, in his capacity as head of the Higher Authority for Nile Water, as well as with a number of Egyptian businessmen. Although the meetings were scheduled before recent developments in the efforts to come up with a new water-sharing agreement, the Nile issue took center stage during the meetings. Five countries have already signed the May 14 Nile Cooperation Agreement, with the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi expected to sign within 12 months. Kenya signed the agreement last week. In response, Egypt decided to freeze all forms of bilateral cooperation with the Nile Basin countries that signed the agreement regarding river rights, Al-Shorouk newspaper reported on Wednesday. Presidential spokesman Suleiman Awad told reporters after the two meetings that Odinga had made it clear that despite Kenya signing the treaty it had no intention of “harming Egyptian interests” regarding its share of Nile water. Awad also said that Kabila had not yet signed the treaty because a consensus between all the Nile Basin countries was required. According to Awad, Kabila said “his country was totally convinced that any Nile Basin accord must be unanimously approved and must achieve the mutual interests of both the upstream and downstream countries without doing any parties any harm.” However, the spokesman pointed out that the matter was not yet resolved though it could be contained from an Egyptian standpoint. Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki said in a statement that Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit attended the meeting with Kabila and that Egypt was keen “on cooperating with all the Nile Basin states [which are considered] vital to Egypt's [regional interest]." Investment Minister Mahmoud Mohiedin and Agriculture Minister Amin Abaza are scheduled to meet officials in Ethiopia and Uganda in June to further discuss the recent Nile Basin developments. Egypt and Sudan have the greater share of Nile water according to a treaty signed with the British during the era of colonialism in 1929 and later revised in 1959. The other seven countries have since gained independence and are calling for more equitable rights in the water-sharing agreement. Under the treaty, Egypt and Sudan have the right of use of 87 percent of the Nile waters, which is around 74 billion cubic meters, 55.5 billion for Egypt and18.5 for Sudan. Egypt and Sudan also retain the right to veto any irrigation projects along the river that may affect their share of the Nile's water. It is this clause to which the other basin countries objected and which saw an impasse at recent talks for the Nile Basin Initiative held in Sharm El-Sheikh. The Nile Basin Initiative started in 1999 in order to renegotiate the water rights of the Nile basin countries, but more than a decade on little headway had been made which led the seven riparian countries with the minority shares breaking away to sign their own treaty.
