Egypt is refusing to give up its lion's share of water from the Nile river in defiance of moves by Nile basin states to push forward a new reallocation treaty. On Friday, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Uganda and Tanzania signed a new water-sharing deal in the Ugandan town of Entebbe. The deal aims at increasing their share of Nile water in order to implement irrigation and hydropower projects. Both Egypt and Sudan, who control around 90 per cent of the water flow, oppose the treaty, fearing their water supply will be severely reduced. The four African countries gave Egypt and Sudan one year to join the treaty, while the rest of the seven upstream countries - Kenya, Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi - have not signed the deal. The Sudanese legal council to the initiative of the Nile Basin countries, Ahmed Al-Mufti, said earlier this week that Sudan will not sign unless all nine basin states can come to an amicable agreement. On Friday, Mohamed Nasr Eddin Allam, Egypt's minister of irrigation and water resources, said an agreement that does not include all the parties lacked international legitimacy and is non- binding to Egypt. The Nile Basin initiative was launched in 1999 to develop the river's water resources in a "sustainable and equitable way to ensure prosperity, security, and peace for all its peoples." The new agreement, the Nile Basin Co-operative Framework, is intended to replace the initiative. Allam added that "Egypt Will take all legal and diplomatic measures necessary to maintain its water rights," if the upstream countries insist on going through with the agreement. Egypt is allocated 55.5 billion cubic metres of water from the Nile each year, under a 1959 agreement with Sudan that was based on a series of notes dating back to colonial days. In the notes between the British and Egyptian governments, Britain promised in 1929 not to undertake projects in its East African colonies that would interfere with Egypt's water supply. Upstream countries always argued that this agreement was unfair, but no subsequent deal was reached to amend it. Egypt is demanding the 1929 water quotas be respected and that it and Sudan have to consent to any changes. Water is a matter of national security for Egypt, which depends mainly on the Nile for its water consumption. Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit had previously said that Cairo's water rights were a "red line" and threatened "adequate legal action" if this was breached. Some press reports claimed Israel wants to pressure Egypt by supporting constructing dams in some of the upstream countries in order to reduce the water flow in the Nile. The cabinet's think tank said in a report last July, that the country's water needs would surpass its resources by the year 2017. Egypt's rapidly growing population used 64 billion cubic metres of water in 2006, the report said. If consumption and resources continue apace, the country would need 86.2 billion cubic metres by 2017, but would have resources of only 71.4 billion cubic metres of water.
