HENOK MERHATSIDK 1.pdf - Addis Ababa University

esources. They have also agreed to establish joint technical committee that can accelerate
the efforts of the two countries (Abebe, 2010:53-56).
After the EPRDF regime came into power in 1991, Ethiopia and Kenya have signed Treaty
of Friendship and Cooperation. The treaty emphasizes cooperation in specific areas, that is,
in irrigation, water resources and energy. In 1997 a memorandum of understanding on
political, social and economic cooperation, which is wider than the previous one, was also
signed. In 2004, they continued the previous discussions on the shared water resources of the
two countries, and they have agreed to utilize the trans-boundary water resources of Lake
Turkana, Dawa River and underground water (Abebe, 2010:50-58)
Kenya and Ethiopia have their own visions in their countries: GTP (Growth and
Transformation Plan) in Ethiopia and vision 2030 in Kenya. According to GTP “the country
will shift from a strategy dependent on foreign investment to a locally driven economy and
targeted an economic growth of 14.9 %”. Moreover, the plan envisaged huge expansion of
infrastructure such as the construction of power plants aimed at increasing the existing
capacity which is 2,000 MW to10, 000 MW (Ethiopian Embassy in London, 2010). This
obviously demands the exploitation of its rivers like the Nile, OMO and Tekeze. Similarly,
Kenya’s 2030 vision generally aims at making Kenya “a middle income country. The country
allocated for 2008/9 budget Ksh 65 billion for road works, rural electrification, port dredging
and the submarine fiber optics.” Hence, the two countries need to exploit their rivers
extensively to realize their visions. Despite this, Ethiopia and Kenya have not yet signed
binding legal framework regulating their utilization of cross-border resources, rivers (ADB,
2009: 28).
Another trans-boundary resource is the Nile Basin to which both Kenya and Ethiopia are
upper riparian states and they are actively participating in NBI (Nile Basin Initiative). This
trans- boundary river initiative composed of ten countries and it established in 1999. The
member states of NBI are Burundi, Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya Republic of Congo,
Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. As Egypt and Sudan have bilateral agreements on
the full utilization of the Nile waters, the rest of countries were suffering due to frequent
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