21 May 2010
NTS Bulletin (May 2010 – Issue 2)
Abstract
Transboundary rivers are highly political and can become a source of inter-state conflict if they are not managed well. The latest chapter in the long-running feud over the sharing of transboundary rivers came when an Extraordinary Nile Council of Ministers’ Meeting brought together all the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) member countries at Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt on 13 April 2010. The meeting, attended by both upper riparian countries (Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea and Burundi) and lower riparian countries (Egypt and Sudan) exposed the deep fissures that separate the two groups. Whereas the upper riparian countries pushed for a Cooperative Framework Agreement (CFA) that would allow for the equitable sharing of water, Egypt and Sudan, which between them take the lion’s share, refused to cooperate.
Abstract
Transboundary rivers are highly political and can become a source of inter-state conflict if they are not managed well. The latest chapter in the long-running feud over the sharing of transboundary rivers came when an Extraordinary Nile Council of Ministers’ Meeting brought together all the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) member countries at Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt on 13 April 2010. The meeting, attended by both upper riparian countries (Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea and Burundi) and lower riparian countries (Egypt and Sudan) exposed the deep fissures that separate the two groups. Whereas the upper riparian countries pushed for a Cooperative Framework Agreement (CFA) that would allow for the equitable sharing of water, Egypt and Sudan, which between them take the lion’s share, refused to cooperate.
