Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) countries agreed on Sunday to hold an extraordinary session in Nairobi, Kenya, for talks aimed at finding a solution to disagreements sparked by the signing of a new agreement by five water source nations seeking to maximize use of the basin resources.
Upstream countries strongly argue that Egypt and Sudan have kept an unfair water sharing advantage over other Nile source countries including Ethiopia which contributes over 80 per cent of the total waters to the basin.
Last month, four upstream states signed a cooperative framework deal, a move which strongly Egypt and Sudan have remained opposed.
Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania signed the agreement. Kenya appended a signature a few days later to become the fifth signatory. Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo are also expected to sign but have not yet done so.
In a meeting in Addis on Sunday, Sudan decided to cease cooperation with Nile Basin Initiative countries and requested them to freeze its membership until the current dispute over the agreement signed by the Nile source countries is resolved, the Chinese news agency Xinhua has reported.
"Sudan has affirmed that signing of the framework agreement by five countries is violating the basic principles upon which the Nile Basin Initiative was established," Sudanese minister of irrigation Kamal Ali Mohamed,, who was in Addis Ababa, told Xinhua by telephone.
"Sudan sees that continuation in activities of the Nile basin, after five countries have unilaterally signed a framework agreement, contradicts the basic law and principles for dealing with the Nile Basin countries where it is stipulated that decisions should be taken unanimously," he added.
In the meantime, the Sudanese minister said that the meeting of the Nile Basin countries' irrigation ministers, being held in Addis Ababa, has unanimously agreed on a proposal by Sudan, with the support of Egypt, to hold an extraordinary meeting for all the Nile basin ministers.
Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Kenya on Sunday reiterated that they would not backtrack from the framework agreement which they signed on May 2010 on the Nile water sharing in the absence of Sudan and Egypt.
NBI is a partnership of the Nile Basin Countries which includes Burundi, DRC, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. Eritrea enters as an observer nation. The partnership was established to achieve sustainable socio-economic development through equitable utilisation of and the benefits from the common Nile Basin water resources.
NBI provides a unique forum for these countries to move forward a cooperative process to realise tangible benefits in the Basin and build a solid foundation of trust and confidence.
Speaking at the opening of the meeting in Addis Ababa on Sunday, Ethiopia Water Resources minister Asfaw Dingamo, said NBI member countries should further strengthen efforts to maintain the long-term vision of the Initiative.
“We need to demonstrate to the world now, as we have done before, that despite our disagreements we are capable of working together, maintaining the long-term vision. We have to demonstrate to the world that we are still focused on addressing our long-term concerns: eradicating poverty and hunger from our region, jointly and effectively responding to climate change, reversing environmental degradation, turning our region into a zone of peace, tranquility and economic growth and development,” the minister said.
“Let us give chance to reason, justice and fairness to provide us the foundation for building an enduring partnership and cooperation of riparians along the 7,000km of our Great Nile,” he added.
Speaking on his part, Teshome Toga, Ethiopian Parliament Speaker, said Nile cannot be a reason for disunity, rather it should be an opportunity to deepening cooperation and integration among Nile Basin countries.
The Speaker said the Nile riparian countries have no alternative other than cooperating among themselves.
He said geography, history and culture underscore the bond between the peoples of the region.
Egypt which is the current Chair of the Nile Council of Ministers, will hand over the chairmanship to Ethiopia effective this month, while DR Congo currently holding the position of Executive Director of the NBI Secretariat will hand it over to Egypt in September this year. It is a tradition within NBI to rotate the two positions among member states in alphabetical order whereas the position of Executive Director rotates every two years.
"The signed (agreement) can't be unsigned," Ethiopian minister for water resources Asfaw Dingamo, told reporters. "But we hope to reach a consensus and I hope it will be very soon."
The five signatories have given the other Nile Basin countries -- Egypt, Sudan, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo -- one year to join the pact.
Stretching more than 6,600km (4,100 miles) from Lake Victoria to the Mediterranean, the Nile is a vital water and energy source for the nine countries through which it flows.
Sudanese water minister Kamal Ali Mohamed said his country would now stop cooperating with the NBI because the agreement raised legal issues.
The statement drew immediate fire from Asfaw who said the Sudanese had not revealed their intention to freeze cooperation during the two-day meeting.
For his part, Egypt's Water Resources and Irrigation minister Mohamed Nasreddin Allam, told Reuters that a meeting to discuss the Nile agreement would be held in Nairobi between September and November. He did not give a precise date.
The official Egyptian news agency MENA said the meeting would be held but did not give more details. It said the other states had said they "understood Egypt and Sudan's position ... and based on this an exceptional ministerial ... will be held to decide how to move forward in a matter that serves all Nile Basin states."
Egypt, almost totally dependent on the Nile and already threatened by climate change, is closely watching hydroelectric dam construction in East Africa.
"Ask the Egyptians to leave their culture and go and live in the desert because (you) need to take this water to add it to other countries? No," Allam said.
Under the original pact Egypt, which faces possible water shortages by 2017, is entitled to 55.5 billion cubic metres a year, the lion's share of the Nile's total flow of around 84 billion cubic metres.
Some 85 percent of the Nile's waters originate from Ethiopia and the Lake Basin is estimated to harbour more than half of Kenya's surface water resources.
Upstream countries say they are "tired of first getting permission from Egypt before using river Nile water for any development project like irrigation", as required by a treaty signed during the colonial era between Egypt and Britain in 1929.The new agreement, once effective, is designed to replace the Nile Basin Initiative.
It should be noted that an agreement signed in 1929 between Egypt and Great Britain, which represented its African colonies along the river, gave Egypt veto power over upstream projects.
Another agreement signed in 1959 between Egypt and Sudan allowed Egypt alone to use 55.5 billion cubic meters (87 per cent of the Nile’s flow) and Sudan 18.5 cubic metres each year.
Ethiopia, the biggest water contributor to the Nile basin, and the rest of the riparian countries has been left out.
According to Report from the Ministry of Water Resources, Ethiopia, with an area of 1.08 million square kilometers, has twelve river basins with a mean annual flow of roughly 120.22 billion cubic meters of water.
Although the country is known as the water tower of Africa, the availability of water and the water resources potential in the eastern and western parts of the country is markedly different.
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