Kasimbazi, Emmanuel B. --- "The complexities of developing a transboundary water resources management agreement: experiences from the Nile Basin" [2014] ELECD 980; in Kidd, Michael; Feris, Loretta; Murombo, Tumai; Iza, Alejandro (eds), "Water and the Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2014) 85

Book Title: Water and the Law

Editor(s): Kidd, Michael; Feris, Loretta; Murombo, Tumai; Iza, Alejandro

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781783479603

Section: Chapter 4

Section Title: The complexities of developing a transboundary water resources management agreement: experiences from the Nile Basin

Author(s): Kasimbazi, Emmanuel B.

Number of pages: 23

Abstract/Description:

The development of a comprehensive agreement for the Nile Basin has been riddled with various complexities. Its development is traceable from the colonial period when Britain, the colonial power that controlled most of the Nile Basin countries, set out to secure the waters of the Nile for the benefit of Egypt. It also realized the needs of the Sudan, the northern regions of which were as arid as most of Egypt. Britain sought to achieve this by entering into agreements with other European colonial powers on behalf of Egypt. In both cases, the presumption was that the upper riparian states such as Uganda and Ethiopia that have an equatorial climate with rain did not need the Nile waters for irrigation. The most recent negotiations of the Nile Basin countries for a River Nile Cooperative Framework Agreement (CFA) were started in 1997 by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The main goal of these negotiations was to achieve a multilateral legal framework that is the foundation of a permanent river basin organization called the Nile Basin Commission. In 2010, the Agreement was finalized and to date only six countries out of ten have signed it. The countries that have signed are: Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. Egypt, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Sudan have not signed and Eritrea remains an observer. Article 42 of the Agreement requires deposit of the ratification instrument with the African Union by a sixth country for the Agreement to enter into force.