Nile water colonial treaty nears end
2007-11-21 09:49:23
By Lusekelo Philemon
The Government has announced that discussions to phase out the controversial dominance of Egypt over the use of the Nile River waters are in the final stages.
The imminent agreement will soon be endorsed by nine riparian Heads of State for implementation.
The deputy minister for Water, Shamsa Mwangunga, said the Council of Ministers of Water Affairs had finished discussions over the Cooperative Framework.
`Some 38 out of the 39 Articles of the Cooperative Framework have been negotiated and concluded. The one remaining Article 14 is to be referred to Heads of State of the Nile Basin for their final decision,` the minister said.
Without mentioning the exact time frame, Mwangunga said completion of the negotiations would automatically nullify the colonial treaty that gave Egypt a mandate to have full dominance over the use and control on the basin.
`Every thing is clear. What we are waiting for is agreement on the article that focuses on water security and equity utilization without objections.
Let the people in the riparian states be patient,` Mwangunga said when opening a sensitization meeting of media owners and editors on the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) in Dar es Salaam yesterday.
According to the minister, the Nile Basin shelters lives of 160 million people along the river basin�who in one way or the other�depend their lives on the Nile River�the longest river in the world.
She said an interim agreement to cooperatively develop, sustainably utilise and manage the Nile water resources; and address challenges facing the basin was established in 1999 in Tanzania, which provided the first Executive Director.
The move started ten years back involving, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.
`Our aim is to set out modalities on the proper ways of managing the valuable endowment of Nile River for poverty alleviation, resource protection and mutually beneficial gains,` she said.
She said the Nile River offered various opportunities that could easily be tapped if there were agreed modalities on the Shared Vision Programme projects among riparian member states.
The minister said Egypt, which was reluctant to make concessions some years back, had now changed its attitude and there were already several projects within and outside the Nile Basin which were financed by Egypt.
`Egypt has financed more the drilling of 30 wells in Tanzania and has promised to provide assistance of drilling another 70 wells,` she said.
`Lack of legal status of the NBI in the Basin countries has delayed implementation of SVP projects,` said Lister Kongola, Assistant Director, Water Resources Division in the Ministry of Water.
In his presentation Kongola said: `Limited public awareness on the NBI process and its benefits to the countries retards efforts to address this challenge.`
Commenting on the matter, Henry Muhanika, MOAT Executive Secretary, said the NBI needed more publicity for its tangible benefits to be known by people living in the river basin.
SOURCE: Guardian
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2007-11-21 09:49:23
By Lusekelo Philemon
The Government has announced that discussions to phase out the controversial dominance of Egypt over the use of the Nile River waters are in the final stages.
The imminent agreement will soon be endorsed by nine riparian Heads of State for implementation.
The deputy minister for Water, Shamsa Mwangunga, said the Council of Ministers of Water Affairs had finished discussions over the Cooperative Framework.
`Some 38 out of the 39 Articles of the Cooperative Framework have been negotiated and concluded. The one remaining Article 14 is to be referred to Heads of State of the Nile Basin for their final decision,` the minister said.
Without mentioning the exact time frame, Mwangunga said completion of the negotiations would automatically nullify the colonial treaty that gave Egypt a mandate to have full dominance over the use and control on the basin.
`Every thing is clear. What we are waiting for is agreement on the article that focuses on water security and equity utilization without objections.
Let the people in the riparian states be patient,` Mwangunga said when opening a sensitization meeting of media owners and editors on the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) in Dar es Salaam yesterday.
According to the minister, the Nile Basin shelters lives of 160 million people along the river basin�who in one way or the other�depend their lives on the Nile River�the longest river in the world.
She said an interim agreement to cooperatively develop, sustainably utilise and manage the Nile water resources; and address challenges facing the basin was established in 1999 in Tanzania, which provided the first Executive Director.
The move started ten years back involving, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.
`Our aim is to set out modalities on the proper ways of managing the valuable endowment of Nile River for poverty alleviation, resource protection and mutually beneficial gains,` she said.
She said the Nile River offered various opportunities that could easily be tapped if there were agreed modalities on the Shared Vision Programme projects among riparian member states.
The minister said Egypt, which was reluctant to make concessions some years back, had now changed its attitude and there were already several projects within and outside the Nile Basin which were financed by Egypt.
`Egypt has financed more the drilling of 30 wells in Tanzania and has promised to provide assistance of drilling another 70 wells,` she said.
`Lack of legal status of the NBI in the Basin countries has delayed implementation of SVP projects,` said Lister Kongola, Assistant Director, Water Resources Division in the Ministry of Water.
In his presentation Kongola said: `Limited public awareness on the NBI process and its benefits to the countries retards efforts to address this challenge.`
Commenting on the matter, Henry Muhanika, MOAT Executive Secretary, said the NBI needed more publicity for its tangible benefits to be known by people living in the river basin.
SOURCE: Guardian
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