Egypt Daily News – An agreement aimed at the management of the Nile River has been enacted despite objections from Egypt. This framework agreement, which has been in the making for over ten years, was officially put into effect on Sunday and is supported by the Nile Basin Commission, which consists of ten countries.
The Commission welcomed this development as a significant milestone.
The agreement seeks to correct historical inequities in the use of Nile waters, ensuring that all participating countries—both upstream and downstream—can benefit from this crucial shared resource.
To date, five out of the ten member countries have ratified the agreement originally established in 2010 in Entebbe, Uganda. These countries include Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania and Burundi.
The legal status of the “cooperative framework” was formally confirmed by the African Union after South Sudan joined the treaty, the Nile Basin Initiative said in a statement Sunday.
In contrast, Egypt and Sudan have rejected it, citing ongoing disputes with Ethiopia regarding the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, a major hydroelectric project that Ethiopia views as vital for its development and energy needs.
Egypt, which depends on the Nile for about 97 percent of its water supply, considers the dam a significant threat to its water security and asserts historical rights to the river. Egyptian officials, including Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources Hani Sewilam, have declared that Egypt will not concede any water rights and will not recognize the newly ratified agreement.
The lack of ratification by Egypt and Sudan — desert nations that have raised concern over any attempts to diminish their shares of Nile water — means the accord will prove controversial.
Additionally, a summit for Nile Basin countries was set to take place in Uganda on October 17 but has been postponed until early next year, reportedly due to disagreements among the nations involved.
The Nile Basin Commission includes Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda, while Eritrea has observer status.
