http://www.worldbulletin.net/news/138172/uganda-s-sudan-oppose-nile-deal-review
Uganda, S. Sudan oppose Nile deal review
Tanzanian Foreign Minister Bernard Kamillius Membe has called for a review
of the agreement to consider Egypt's water needs.
World Bulletin / News Desk
Uganda and South Sudan have both expressed their opposition to a Tanzanian
proposal to review a 2010 Comprehensive Framework Agreement (CFA) signed by
upstream Nile Basin countries, known as the Entebbe agreement, in order to
consider Egypt's water needs.
"Tanzania was the one pushing for the agreement; it would be a surprise to
see them backtracking now," Callist Tindimugaya, Uganda's representative to
the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI)'s technical advisory committee, told
Anadolu Agency.
"International water law recognizes that once you have signed an agreement
you cannot backtrack," Tindimugaya said. "What you can do is keep quiet;
you may not say 'I signed because I was under threat'."
Tanzanian Foreign Minister Bernard Kamillius Membe has called for a review
of the CFA to consider Egypt's water needs.
"Tanzania feels that the chapter providing equal and fair share of the
natural resources of the Nile to all states ought to be reviewed in favor
of Egypt, considering that it is a desert country whose lifeline is the
Nile," Membe told parliament last week.
In 2010, upstream states Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania
signed the Entebbe Agreement in an effort to increase their traditional
allotments of Nile water.
The following year, Burundi signed on to the agreement.
The deal aims to replace a colonial-era treaty that gives Egypt and Sudan
the lion's share of river water.
Both Egypt and Sudan, for their part, rejected the treaty, fearing it would
affect their historical share of water.
Tindimugaya criticized plans by Tanzania to call for a meeting of all Nile
Basin states to discuss the agreement.
"Tanzania cannot invite us; they are not the current chair of the NBI," he
said. "Tanzania is a sovereign state and they can do as they please, but
they do not have the capacity to do that."
The NBI was launched in 1999 by the ten riparian states of the Nile as a
temporary institution until CFA negotiations were concluded and a permanent
institution created.
According to its website, the NBI provides "the only all-inclusive regional
platform for multi stakeholder dialogue, information sharing, as well as
joint planning and management of water and related resources in the Nile
Basin."
Intact
South Sudan's Foreign Ministry said the Entebbe agreement had to be
maintained, since it took into consideration the right of all riparian
states to Nile water.
"The agreement speaks of freedom to use the Nile water. Any country along
the Nile has the freedom to use the water for their good," ministry
spokesperson Mawien Makol Arik told AA.
He went on to criticize calls to review the water treaty.
"South Sudan cannot accept this because - as a developing country - we rely
a lot on the Nile," said Arik. "We know it is a critical issue to Egypt,
since they feel the initiative will reduce the water volume reaching them -
but we also need to use the water."
"The Entebbe initiative came as a result of the domination of Egypt on the
Nile water based on an old colonial agreement. It [the new agreement] is to
help the countries use the water and share it based on each country's
economic development," he added.
"We have to sit down as countries along the Nile and support each other on
using the Nile. That is why we supported the Ethiopian [hydroelectric] dam
initiative," the ministry spokesperson said.
Relations between Ethiopia and Egypt have been strained due to a
multibillion hydroelectric dam now being built by Addis Ababa on the Nile's
upper reaches.
Egypt is worried that the Ethiopian dam project will reduce its historical
share of Nile water.
Addis Ababa insists the new dam will benefit downstream states Sudan and
Egypt, both of which will be invited to purchase the electricity thus
generated.
Ambassador Arik, meanwhile, urged Egypt to forget the colonial-era
agreement and work with other Nile basin countries to everyone's benefit.
"The agreement by the colonial powers cannot hold now and Egypt cannot hold
on to it. They have to let go and sit down to discuss how the Nile can
benefit everybody," he said.
Received on Wed Jun 04 2014 - 09:35:45 EDT