Thank you for the stimulating article.
It appears evident to me that the many contradictions among the member states in the Nile Basin Initiative, the general hositlity to the British colonial (1929) legislation of the majority and the differing visions of the optimal use of the Nile river system resources; compounded by the sheer magnitude and scale of the monumental economic, cultural, social and ecological issues involved in the matter; sets up a crisis situation that can only be successfully resolved in the context of effective insitutions of the Pan-African scale.
Both the immediate and long-term solutions will have to take into consideration the fact that the river system, just like other natural elements central to the general African ecosphere, are not the exclusive domain of any one particular geographic region or realm; or social strata. These natural resources are part of the heritage of the entire African people; and most particularly those African communities who are part of the physical and socio-economic structure of the river system. There has to be a political / legisilative process that can operate at the apex level to prevent these kinds of conflicts, which are inevitable given our past, from becoming another in a series of unending hot wars on our continent. We all agree these hot wars are detrimental to sustainable development everywhere in Africa. We do not need more such wars; at the same time the legitimate aspirations and needs of each individual citizen of each African state, demography and society must be fully satisfied based on thouroughly equitable democratic basis, and founded on solid humanist and egalitarian principles consistent with international and African standards of Human Rights.
In short this situation can only be resolved by the African Union taken on the role of federal nation government to regulate these matters of intra-state sovereignty, trade, commerce, civil and human rights. These are trans-state matters which can only be addressed peacefully by a trans-state executive, judicial/legal and parliamentary authority.
Let us remember that water is an essential natural resource, and wars have been fought for century over water...
In a message dated 02/09/2004 10:54:31 AM Central Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
Tanzania risks Egyptian ire over Nile waters
By Daniel Wallis
DAR ES SALAAM, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Tanzania appeared on a collision course with Egypt on Monday over the waters feeding the Nile, declaring it would use Lake Victoria to supply parched communities.
The announcement of the 170-km (105 mile) water pipeline project by Tanzania's water minister threatens to deepen a long-running dispute with Egypt, which says a colonial-era pact allows it to veto use of the Nile headwaters.
Tanzanian water minister Edward Lowasa said the pipeline would supply the towns of Kahama and Shinyanga and 24 villages in the country's arid northwest.
"These are people with no water," he told Reuters. "How can we do nothing when we have this lake just sitting there."
Work will begin on the $85 billion shilling ($78.7 million) project next month, he said. It is expected to be completed by late 2005 and to supply 940,000 users by 2025.
Under a 1929 pact between Egypt and Britain, acting on behalf of its then east African colonies, Egypt can veto any use of Lake Victoria water it feels threatens levels in the Nile.
The lake is the source of the White Nile and British explorer David Livingstone became the first white man to see the Victoria Falls in 1855.
Lowasa stressed the pipeline would not feed agricultural irrigation systems, which require huge amounts of water.
"The water will not be for irrigation," he said. "It will be for domestic use and livestock only."
Led by Kenya, the east African lands where the Nile originates have fiercely criticised a treaty that gives effective control to Egyptian users far downstream.
They say the accord was negotiated by foreign rulers without their best interests at heart.
Tanzania, an impoverished country of 35 million people, suffers recurrent droughts caused by inadequate rainfall, deforestation and soil erosion. It rejected the pact shortly after independence from Britain in 1961.
Egyptian officials say the Nile is crucial for Egypt's survival, and any change in its level could be disastrous.
Most Egyptians live in the Nile Valley on four percent of the country's land. Over 95 percent of Egypt's water resources come from the Nile.
The 6,741 km (4,189 mile)-long river is fed by the White Nile and the Blue Nile, which rises in Ethiopia.
Kenya plans a conference in March of governments belonging to a so-called Nile Basin Initiative -- Kenya, Tanzania, Egypt, Uganda, Sudan, Burundi, Rwanda, Congo, Ethiopia and Eritrea -- to try to hammer out a peaceful solution between its members.
02/09/04 08:09 ET
"The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth becomes the greatest enemy of the state."
- Dr. Joseph M. Goebbels - Hitler's propaganda minister
