Editor,

RE: "No one has monopoly over Nile waters” (February 20, 2016)

Our water flows to Egypt and we are told on how much we may consume.  One time they may ask us to pay them for the water we consume. This is not fair.

Much as we may like our fellow Africans to share our natural resources they should know that we also need to use it.

I don’t think by telling us how much water of the River Nile to consume, Egypt is acting fair. The law that was signed a hundred years ago by the British cannot be applied today.

We need the River Nile to produce electricity for our people and we shouldn’t be asking Egypt for permission on how to use our natural resources.

Mwakenya

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Actually it isn’t a matter of fairness but the ability of the various riparian states to effectively exercise their rights.

Egypt fulminated against Ethiopian plans for the construction of the latter’s 6,000 MW Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, going to the extent of threatening military action and other sabotage as well as lobbying regional states and a wide range of foreign powers and financial institutions to try to block the dam’s construction.

It also demanded that its set-aside share of the Nile’s water be increased from the 66 per cent, set by anachronistic colonial-era agreements on which none of the subjugated downstream peoples were consulted let alone accede to, 90 per cent.

Ethiopia, however, with almost total support from the other upstream countries showed it would not be intimidated into scrapping the project and tapped into its own internal financial resources for its construction.

Egypt now seems to have come to terms with the fact threats won’t work - might in fact become counterproductive - and has realized that engaging with its upstream counterparts who effectively own all resources, including water, originating from and/or flowing through their territory, is the best - no, only - way to proceed to try and come up with a win-win outcome for all.

Yes, Egypt needs the waters of the Nile to survive. But increasingly so do the countries from which the Nile waters spring, especially with mostly agrarian populations which must shift towards irrigation-based all-year agriculture and also a growing need for clean hydro-electric supplied energy for greater industrialization.

With such rapidly growing demand across the 10 countries - including all of the member states of both the East African Community (EAC) and the Economic Community of the Great Lakes Countries (CEPGL in French), both of which Rwanda is a member - comprising the Nile River Basin, everybody needs to get off their high horses and negotiate water sharing arrangements that take account of each country adequately.

Failing that, every country will look to safeguard its own interests without considering anybody else’s. And should that be the case, Egypt, and to a lesser extent Sudan, would be the biggest loser. No amount of threats will prevent the other countries from exercising their right to use all resources on their territory.

Egypt should know that and engage with the other countries, not try to impose agreements the upstream countries see as colonial imposition - i.e. illegitimate because those Egypt seeks to apply them to had absolutely no role in their negotiation and conclusion.

Our ancestors went to war to rid ourselves of the iniquities of colonial subjugation, not to perpetuate the vestiges of that subjugation.

Mwene Kalinda