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Under the Nile Basin Initiative, the ten African countries which are sharing the River Nile are Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Egypt and Uganda.
They are replacing the old agreement of 1929 by the Nile Cooperative Framework.
As per the 1929 agreement Nile water belongs to Sudan and Egypt, which was affirmed by 1954 treaty. The launching of The Nile treaty coincided with the British colonization over Egypt.
The Nile Cooperative Framework
The Nile River Basin Cooperative Framework Agreement, came as a result of negotiations between the members of the Nile Council of Ministers, responsible for Water Affairs (NILE-COM),which concluded its negotiations on the on June 26, 2007 in Entebbe, Uganda. The agreement recommended the establishment of a permanent Nile River Basin Commission which supports countries to develop the resources of the Nile.
Sudan & Egypt
Sudan and Egypt encourage the new treaty in order to enable them to use of the Nile waters, but Uganda and some other countries opposed this agreement, as the Uganda’s water minister, Jennipher Namuyangu said “There is a particular clause on water security where Egypt and Sudan are saying that the states in the lower basin of the Nile should not use water to the detriment of another country,” and he confirmed that the implication is that constructing hydro-electric dams and irrigation initiatives would have to get the consent of the other countries, he mentioned that this had been part of the 1929 law, which includes the amount of water released to the upper Nile countries.
In 12th December 2003, BBC reported Egypt disappointment, after Kenya announced its intention to withdraw from the 1929 Nile Basin Treaty.
The Kenyan government said that the treaty benefits Egypt and Britain and the Kenyan parliament called on the government to re-negotiate the Nile Basin Treaty.
While Egypt expressed its disappointment and regarded this action as violation of the international law, saying it would badly affect the diplomatic co-operation.
Meanwhile, Sudan and Egypt criticized the demand of Ethiopia for a revision of the Nile treaty.
On 27th January 1998, BBC reported that a Sudanese government official, the irrigation undersecretary, Ahmed Mohamed Adam has called for Ethiopia to accept an international Nile agreement.
Some Ethiopians believe that because Egypt is almost totally dependent on the Nile's water, it is doing its best to block any large upstream irrigation project that might threaten its supply.
And Egypt is reported to have said it would regard any attempt to alter the Nile status as an act of war.
On 24th February 2005, Ethiopia's deputy minister of water, Misfinta Genny, told BBC that his country generate about 85% of the total Nile waters, and they do not utilize this resources at all, and the falling water in Ethiopia hampered crops growth, and Ethiopia expressed its frustration by its inability to make use of Nile’ water.
In Tanzania the water pipeline is designed for domestic use and livestock, where about 400,000 benefits from water, but this number is expected to rise above 900,000 in the next two decades.
United Nations Environment Programme:
A deputy director of the United Nations environment programme, Halifa Drammeh questioned the number of people that have access to safe water, and the numbers who have access to sanitation.
"There is a tremendous pressure on these governments to sustain the needs of their populations and to raise their standard of living” "After all, there is nothing we can do in life without water.Wherever there is sharing, there is potential for conflict."
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