Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene November 2018 Vol.13 No.5 | Page 20

Transboundary Waters
For the Survival of the Nile and its People
By Maged Srour
Egypt has tried to be master of
the river for centuries, seeking to
ensure exclusive control over its
use. Nevertheless, today upstream
countries are challenging this
dominance, pushing for a greater
share of the waters.
Egypt and Sudan still regard
two treaties from 1929 and 1959
as technically binding, while
African upstream nations – after
gaining independence – started
to challenge these agreements,
signed when they were under
colonial rule.
The 1959 treaty allocates 75
percent of the river’s waters to
Egypt, leaving the remainder to
Sudan. Egypt has always justified
this hegemonic position on the
Natural fertility is actually the Nile’s biggest legacy for Egyptians. A fisherman fishes for food on the Nile.
basis of geographic motivations
Credit: Cam McGrath/IPS.
and economic development, as it
is
an
arid
country
that
could
not survive without the Nile’s
ROME, Oct 17 2018 (IPS) - Running through eleven
waters,
while
upstream
countries
receive enough rainfall to
countries for 6,853 kilometres, the Nile is a lifeline for
develop pluvial agriculture without resorting to irrigation.
nearly half a billion people. But the river itself has been
a source of tension and even conflict for countries and
territories that lie along it and there have been rumours
of “possible war for the Nile” for years now. While to
date there has been no outbreak of irreversible tension,
experts say that because of increasing changes in the
climate a shared agreement needs to be reached on the
redistribution of water soon.
“Right now I do not think there is a concrete and
imminent risk of conflict between Egypt, Sudan and
Ethiopia, given the internal difficulties and the unstable
nearby area [Libya] of the first, the recent secession
suffered by the second and the peace agreement achieved
by the third with Eritrea,” Maurizio Simoncelli, vice
president of the International Research Institute Archivio
Disarmo, a think tank based in Rome, told IPS.
“However, it is certain that if a shared agreement is not
reached on the redistribution of water in a situation of
increasing climatic changes, those areas remain at great
risk,” he said.
No one master of the river Nile
All the cities that run along the river exist only because of
these waters. For Egypt, this is particularly true: if the Nile
wasn’t there, it would be just another part of the Sahara
desert.
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Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene • November 2018
“From the Egyptian point of view, it is right [to hold
this hegemonic position] because it is true, Cairo has no
alternative water resources. Without the Nile, Egypt would
die,” Matteo Colombo, associate research fellow in the
MENA Programme at the Italian Institute for
International Political Studies (ISPI) told IPS.
Egypt – according to Colombo – should therefore aim to
open regional forums focusing on cooperation in a broad
sense.
Cooperation among countries sharing this watercourse
is key. For example, Ethiopia could need more water to
produce more electricity, which could in turn diminish
the amount of flow towards Cairo. Indeed, Ethiopia’s
Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which is currently
under construction, will be the biggest dam on the African
continent and could diminish the amount of water flowing
to Egypt.
Water is not the only gift of this river for Egypt. Each
year, rainfall in Ethiopia causes the Nile to flood its
banks in Egypt. When the Nile flood recedes, the silt – a
sediment rich in nutrients and minerals and carried by the
river – remains behind, fertilising the soil and creating
arable land. Natural fertility is actually the Nile’s biggest
legacy for Egyptians.