Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif said Monday that there was an agreement in effect between the Nile Basin countries not to take any action that could affect Egypt's water quota. “All the heads of state of the Nile Basin countries assured us that there would be no harm to any of Egypt's Nile interests," Nazif told reporters at a press conference Monday in Cairo with visiting Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga. Nazif added that the differences were related to some articles of the framework agreement signed in Entebbe, Uganda, ten days ago. "We are keen to keep Egypt's historic rights over the Nile. We still adhere to the fact that every project on the Nile must be negotiated with other states overlooking it," the Egyptian Premier said. Kenya's Odinga reassured that new negotiations over the points of contention in the recent agreement would be launched. "This agreement is not carved on stone. It will be re-negotiated until we reach an acceptable resolution," Odinga said. After talks with President Hosni Mubarak on Sunday, Odinga said his country and the other upstream Nile countries, would never threaten Egypt's water interests, after his country became the fifth to sign a water-sharing pact opposed by Cairo. However, Odinga asked Egypt to lend his country more technical help in the field of water management, well-digging, and water conservancy, along with cement and construction material imports from Egypt. The new pact was signed by Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda for what is said to be an equitable sharing of the Nile's waters, despite strong opposition from Egypt and Sudan which currently enjoy the lion's share of the river. Egypt is now trying to engage in discussions to ensure it is not left out of a process that is so vital to its future.
