Sudan rejected a new agreement signed by four of Nile Source Countries on sharing the Nile water. "Sudan's strategy stands on rejecting any procedure that does not achieve consensus among all Nile Basin countries, and therefore we reject this agreement," Kamal Ali Mohamed, Sudanese minister of irrigation, told reporters late Friday. "This agreement does not benefit the source countries. We still insist on importance of reaching a consensus among all countries," he added. Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania on Friday signed a new agreement on sharing the Nile water in Entebbe, Uganda, despite boycott from Sudan and Egypt, and absence of Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Representatives of the four countries signed the agreement after almost 10 years of negotiation among the nine Nile basin countries for better sharing the Nile water. Khartoum and Cairo months ago expressed their opposition of this new agreement. According to the Nile Water Agreement, which was signed in 1929, and then amended in 1959, Egypt obtains 55.5 billion cubic meter of the Nile water annually, while Sudan obtains 18.5 billion cubic meters. The agreement also grants Cairo the right to veto all activities that may affect the River Nile level. Over 300 million people of the Nile Basin countries depend on the Nile water. This figure is expected to reach 500 million by 2025.
