---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: John Ashworth <[email protected]> Date: Wed, Mar 2, 2011 at 5:32 PM Subject: [sudan-john-ashworth] Fw: Egypt loses veto power on River Nile To: Group <[email protected]>
1. Egypt loses veto power on River Nile New Vision - http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/12/747927 Tuesday, 1st March, 2011 KAMPALA - Egypt is set to lose its veto power on rights to Nile waters after Burundi signed a deal paving the way for the ratification of a new treaty on the great river, an official said yesterday. “After Burundi signed (Monday), now the agreement can come into force,” Daniel Meboya, regional spokesman at the Entebbe-based Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) that led the negotiations, told AFP in Kampala. Burundi has now joined Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Kenya in agreeing to the deal, which seeks to strip Egypt of its long-held rights to the Nile. Now that six Nile countries have signed on to the accord, the country’s parliaments can move forward with ratification of the deal, Meboya said. All six parliaments are expected to ratify the Cooperative Framework Agreement, which is then expected to create the Nile Basin Commission, a body that will decide on river projects in the region. Last year, after a decade of talks, four Nile nations inked a deal that allowed upstream countries to implement irrigation and hydropower projects without first seeking Egypt’s approval. For decades, Egypt held veto rights over all upstream projects, following powers granted by a 1929 colonial-era treaty with Britain. Egypt’s subsequent 1959 deal with Sudan gave the two downstream countries more than 90 percent control of Nile waters. Egypt and Sudan boycotted the ceremony where the new treaty was unveiled, and vowed not to recognise any deal agreed without their consent. At the May 2010 ceremony, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania and Ethiopia agreed to scrap both Egypt’s veto rights and the 90 percent control provision. The signing ceremony marked the close of negotiations, and the other affected countries, including Kenya, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo were given one year to ink the deal. Kenya signed shortly after the ceremony and Burundi signed Monday, the last possible day for signature. “Now it is for the six individual legislatures to ratify the treaty,” Meboya said. Egypt and Sudan have argued their water supply would be dangerously reduced if upstream countries are able to divert the river flow without multilateral consultation. While the upstream nations refused to reopen negotiations, as Egypt requested, the NBI had scheduled an extraordinary meeting in January to help ease Egypt’s concerns about the pact. That meeting, according to Meboya, was cancelled due to the uprising in Egypt, but is slated to take place in Nairobi later this month. Eritrea and south Sudan were allowed to observe the protracted Nile Basin process, but were not recognised as negotiating parties. The 6,700-kilometre Nile River is a confluence of the White Nile, whose source is Lake Victoria in east Africa, and the Blue Nile that springs from the Ethiopian highlands. Egypt’s 80 million inhabitants draw about 90 percent of their water needs from the Nile. Cairo maintains that, even by the favourable terms of current agreements, its water needs cannot be met by the Nile alone after 2017. AFP END1 2. Tanzania: Nile Basin Countries Hopeful Framework Pact to Be Signed Ray Naluyaga allAfrica.com - http://allafrica.com/stories/201103020161.html 28 February 2011 Mwanza — The Nile Basin upstream states now hope the stalled Nile Basin Cooperative Framework Agreement (CFA) will be signed and put into effect following the Egyptian unrest. The CFA, which took ten years to negotiate between the nine Nile Basin states, had Egypt and Sudan rejecting to continue with talks of signing of the document in protest of the introduction of the water security article. Speaking during a two-day workshop organized by the Tanzania Nile Discourse Forum Multi stakeholders dialogue on Nile Basin Cooperation and National Socio-Economic Development, Mr Rayson Muhabuki said article nine of the CFA seeks to limit countries on the amount of water they can use from the Nile River. "The Nile Basin member countries have in principle agreed on all articles of the CFA except that of water security. Egypt and Sudan believe they have the right to unlimited use of Nile waters," said Mr Muhabuki, a Lake Victoria Basin officer. He said after ten years of negotiations seven upstream countries of the Nile Basin, referred to as the G7, decided to go ahead and opened the CFA for signature for one year beginning May 13, 2010. Mr Muhabuki told delegates that with only two months to go it is only Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Tanzania which have signed the document. The Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi, which were among the seven upstream countries that agreed to go ahead and sign the CFA, decided to pull out of the agreement "for reasons known to themselves," he said. He said negotiations to convince one DRAC [sic] and Burundi to sign the document were still going on because one more country was needed in order to get the majority that would automatically put the CFA into operation. Nile basin member states also hope that following the regime change in Egypt, the country's position will change. According to Mr Donald Kasongi, the Tanzanian Nile Basin official, the change is considered an opportunity to convince them to change their minds. END ______________________ John Ashworth Sudan Advisor Sudan Ecumenical Forum [email protected] +254 725 926 297 (Kenya mobile) +249 919 695 362 (Sudan mobile) +27 82 853 3556 (South Africa mobile) +44 750 304 1790 (UK/international) +88 216 4334 0735 (Thuraya satphone) PO Box 52002 - 00200, Nairobi, Kenya This is a personal e-mail address and the contents do not necessarily reflect the views of any organisation -- The content of this message does not necessarily reflect John Ashworth's views. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, John Ashworth is not the author of the content and the source is always cited. You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "sudan-john-ashworth" group. 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