HENOK MERHATSIDK 1.pdf - Addis Ababa University

draught and famine. 20 Under the banner of NBI, the upper riparian states now exerted
significant pressure on Egypt and Sudan to force them signing a new agreement that could
benefit all NBI member states. For example, in the 17 th annual meeting of the Nile council of
ministers held in Alexandria, Egypt, from July 27-28, 2009, all the member states agreed to
approve the draft Cooperative Framework Agreement of the NBI, while Egypt and Sudan
claimed a six-month extension. During this time the water resources minister of Ethiopia
reportedly said “he was dismayed at the continued refusal of Sudan and Egypt to sign the
water sharing agreement. The on going dispute was holding Ethiopia back from harnessing
the economic potential of the Nile River” (Debay, 2009:11-12).
The refusal of Egypt and Sudan to sign agreement on the use of the Nile waters forced
member countries to take a unilateral action on the Nile waters. For instance, “In 2004,
Tanzania Unilaterally announced the establishment of a 170 kilometers water pipeline from
Lake Victoria (where 14 % of the Nile waters originates) to supply water to some dry areas
in the country.” Kenya in its part declared that it would not reserve itself from using Lake
Victoria and River Nile (Debay, 2009: 7-9). The upper riparian states also gave chance to
Egypt and Sudan to come into terms with them on the allocation of the Nile waters. Having
no positive response from Egypt and Sudan, the rest seven countries decided to sign the
agreement beginning May 14, 2010 and the duration of signing the agreement will be more
than a year then after the ratification process will be started (Solomon, 2010).
The ever-increasing population size of Ethiopia and Kenya, the repeated famine, draught,
climate change and other factors are pushing Ethiopia and Kenya to use their trans-boundary
resources. They have embarked on large projects that consume large volume of water. In
order to sustain the supply of water and to scale up their efforts, the two countries need to
approach donor institutions, have to abide by international laws, and cooperate with other
states that share these cross-border resources.
20 Interview with Masimba Laban,a Kenyan origin working in AU,on 3/1/2011.
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