New Nile water-sharing agreement promises major shifts in economies of riparian states

Water, the unlikely commodity that is expected to shape humanity’s future is threatening to direct public policy in Eastern Africa with the Nile -- the body of water that has for centuries shaped regional politics and social relations as its driver.

The Nile is a typical example of a transboundary water resource — one of many around the world that support 40 per cent of the globe’s population.

Stretching for 6,650km and serving 10 riparian countries of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan and Egypt, the River Nile basin covers an area of three million square kilometres and supports the livelihoods of about 160 million people.

As the population of the region rises, demand for water for agricultural and industrial uses is expected to rise.

The Nile holds great economic potential for the entire basin.

Except for Egypt and Kenya, all the riparian countries are among the world’s top 50 poorest nations with high susceptibility to famine and disease.

This disparity underscores the gravity and urgency of tackling the region’s problems with poverty alleviation and environmental sustainability being the guiding principles.

The genesis of the issue is a 1929 agreement between the British and Egypt, and the 1959 agreement between Egypt and Sudan that granted only Egypt and Sudan an absolute right to use the Nile waters.

This has impeded development of large-scale water-consuming projects in most of the other upstream countries because Egypt must veto such investments.

It is therefore not surprising that the other countries have expressed doubt over the validity of the agreement and asked for its revocation and entrenchment of a new framework that would guarantee a more equitable and efficient use of the Nile waters.

The recent attempt to agree on the Nile River Basin Cooperative Framework will formulate a mechanism that would accommodate other riparian nations in realising the benefits of the river.

From the view point of economics, the joint management of the river will optimise the mutual social and economic gains.

As a first step, water as a production factor in irrigation and energy generation can be enhanced through the cooperative management arrangements.

Currently, only Egypt and Sudan have the exclusive right to use Nile waters for large-scale irrigation.

As a consequence therefore, other riparian states have to depend on rain-fed agriculture.