Khartoum ends two-year boycott of co-operation with the Nile Basin
Initiative while Tanzania unexpectedly urges review of Entebbe Agreement
to accommodate Cairo. TEA Graphic
By JOINT REPORT The EastAfrican
In Summary
- Egypt remains defiant, with its observer to the meeting reading a statement saying Egypt was not in a position “to consider that the signed draft Co-operative Framework Agreement(CFA) is an NBI outcome.”
- Both Sudan and Egypt froze their participation in the NBI to protest the 2010 CFA, which upstream countries drafted to replace a 1959 colonial era agreement that gave Egypt and Sudan absolute control over use of the Nile’s waters.
- Khartoum’s defection now leaves the DR Congo as Egypt’s only ally, since South Sudan is expected to accede to the CFA in the near future.
Sudan has broken ranks with Egypt in their joint
opposition to a new agreement with Nile Basin countries for sharing of
the Nile waters.
Tanzania has also changed its mind about the new
Nile Treaty and is now calling for further dialogue among all riparian
countries to accommodate the concerns raised by Egypt.
At the 22nd Nile Basin Council of Ministers
meeting in Khartoum last week, Sudan officially ended its two-year
boycott of co-operation under the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI), paying
off its arrears to the organisation and calling on Egypt to follow suit.
“I would like to place an appeal to our sister
nation. Egypt, your seat is still empty. Your resumption of activities
will further consolidate our gains and integrity in the region,”
Sudanese Minister for Water Resources and Electricity Mutaz Musa Abdalla
said in his opening remarks on June 19.
But Egypt remains defiant, with its observer to
the meeting reading a statement on behalf of Egyptian Minister for Water
Resources and Irrigation Dr Hossam Moghazi saying Egypt was not in a
position “to consider that the signed draft Co-operative Framework
Agreement(CFA) is an NBI outcome.”
But Ethiopia, which championed the CFA, says while
the future of NBI member countries was tied to the sustainable use of
common resources, that will depend on “the presence of genuine
co-operation, agreed upon legal frameworks and operational institutional
arrangements that can regulate the equitable and reasonable utilisation
of the resource.”
Both Sudan and Egypt froze their participation in
the NBI to protest the 2010 CFA, which upstream countries drafted to
replace a 1959 colonial era agreement that gave Egypt and Sudan absolute
control over use of the Nile’s waters.
But Sudan now says though consensus is yet to be
reached on “some political track issues, there is room to finalise the
remaining differences in the near future.”
ALSO READ: Egypt, Sudan clash over use of Nile waters
Khartoum’s defection now leaves the DR Congo as
Egypt’s only ally, since South Sudan is expected to accede to the CFA in
the near future.
Tanzania’s move has surprised the Nile Basin
countries given that together with Kenya and Ethiopia, it was the
pioneer in pushing for other riparian states to increase their shares of
Nile water and were the first to sign the new treaty in 2010.
Tanzania’s stand
Tanzanian Minister for Foreign Affairs and
International Co-operation Bernard Membe — who first put forward the
suggestion — maintained in an interview with The EastAfrican that the agreement should be reviewed as a way of avoiding the possible conflicts among states.
He gave the example of the ongoing dispute between
Egypt and Ethiopia over the $4.2 billion Grand Renaissance Dam, in
addition to the fact that out of the seven countries that are
signatories to the treaty, only Ethiopia and Tanzania have ratified it.
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