News Analysis By Leo Odera Omolo In Kisumu City.
The decade old controversy surrounding the century old Nile Treaty signed between the British Colonial rulers and Egypt in 1929 was the subject of a heated debate at the just concluded meeting in Entebbe, Uganda.
Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania were all represented at the talks at a ministerial level. And all the four appended their signature to the controversial document on May 14, 2010.
Kenya which was represented at the Entebbe meeting by her High Commissioner to Kampala Geofrey Okanga did not sign the document, which only required a ministerial signature. But on Wednesday this week, the country’s Minister for Water and Irrigation Madame Charity Kaluki Ngilu signed the treaty in her Nairobi Office. This has now left out only the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi to sign the contentious document, which has been rejected by Egypt and Sudan.
The document, will, however, remained open for more signatures until on May 13, 2011. The new known a the Nile Basin Agreement is vehemently opposed by both Egypt and Sudan.
And after more than a decade of talks driven acrimonious, intimidation, walkouts and anger o9ver the perceived injustices of the previous Nile Water Treaty signed in 1929, the four upstream riparian countries of Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda, which were represented at the Entebbe meeting at a Ministerial levels signed the document last week a move that Egypt and Sudan promptly challenged as described as ‘illegal”.
”Despite Egypt and Sudan contributing little to the flow of River Nile, a colonial agreement signed in 1929 and 1959 made the two the biggest beneficiaries in terms of exploiting the river resources for development activities downstream. The treaty also gave Egypt the rights to veto all upstream development projects.
In international law and the rules governing these negotiations, once two third of the members {six in this particular case} have signed the agreement become operational and members are required to observe its provisions though it I still non-binding until after it is ratified.
Egypt, a country,. Which almost entirely depends on the Nile, has warned that the new agreement lacks legitimacy adding it reflects only the views of the seven states.
The negotiation between nine member states of the Nile Basin Commission, which comprises Kenya, Egypt, Sudan, Dr Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania and Ethiopia started in 1997, but have been held back intermittently by Egypt and Sudan who vehemently raised objection to Article 14{b}, which they claims takes away their historical rights on the use of River Nile Waters.
THE Article itself states as follows;”Nile Basin states agreement in a spirit of cooperation, to work together to ensure that all states achieve and sustain water security and its current use and rights of any other Nile Basin States.”
Egypt and Sudan insisted that the last part of the article be re-Para-phrased to read “Not to a directly affect the states security and current users and rights of the other Nile Basin States.”
With hope and expected more talks with upstream states now seemed doomed, Egypt is understood to be secretly approaching and piling pressure on the development partners including China, European and Arab countries in a bid to block them from financing economic projects such as dams and hydro-power as well as irrigation schemes and projects in the upstream nations.
At the last meeting of negotiations held in Egypt last month, Egypt and Sudan were reported to have introduced a new proposal seeking to establish a common mission before concluding negotiations on the agreement, a move that upstream states objected and described as the cart before the horse’. It was shrouded with claims of bribery, intimidation and walkouts.
In the new proposal, the downstream states wanted all the Nile Basin countries to issue a presidential declaration to launch the commission as negotiations to reach a comprehensive agreement continue. The was promptly rejected by the upstream riparian states.
With Kenya now soigni9ng the document, the upstream states will now only wait for one more country- Dr Congo-or Burundi to sign before the treaty is ratified and the document is deposited with African Union and the United Nations.
Minister Ngilu yesterday joined the other four countries in bringing Kenya on board leaving Egypt and Sudan completely isolated.
The previous treaty had given Egypt the right to veto the upstream states from conducting economic projects such as farm irrigation, construction of dams and hydro-power plants if think such projects could interfere with the flow of Nile river waters. as already threatened by the global climate change.
To ensure the free and safety flow of waters of River Nile, Cairo has posted on permanent basis a team of military engineers at the jinja Town the sources of Nile and also in Nairobi and Dar Es Salaam to monitor the flow of water.
After signing the treaty Minister Ngilu told reporters in her office that with the signing of the document, the upstream countries can from now onward make good use of the Nile waters for their own projects as they wished.
Ends
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