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By Andualem Sisay - Capital
12 March 2007
Under the theme ‘Empowering the next generation-Youth in the Development of the Nile River Basin’, the National Nile Youth Network was launched on Saturday March 10, 2007 after a two-day conference at Global Hotel here in Addis.
The conference is organized by the Ethiopian Nile Basin Dialogue Forum (EtNBDF), which is founded in 2005 with the objective of making Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) live up to its stated objective of reducing poverty among other things.
“ Nile Basin riparian countries realize that the issue of the Nile can not only be addressed at governmental level,” says Tesfaye WeldeMihret, Confidence Building Stakeholders National Coordinator under Nile Basin Initiative (NBI). “The reason for forming this youth network is to let the youth understand clearly about the activities of the Nile Basin Initiative and the Nile itself.”
The Nile Basin Initiative was formed in 1999 by the ten riparian countries -Ethiopia, Egypt, Sudan, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi, and Democratic Republic of Congo with Eritrea as observer. It is to build confidence and trust among members and use the water resources for mutual and equitable benefit. The Nile Basin area comprise 3.35 mln sq. kms.
The Blue Nile (Abay), which is the sum of Ethiopian rivers Tekeze, Mereb and Baro Akobo, contributes 86 percent to the Nile. “But so far Ethiopia is a zero user of the Nile,” says Prof. Kinfe Abreha, President of Ethiopian Intellectuals Institute for Peace and Development and Special Envoy of the Prime Minister. “Nevertheless, the lower riparians, Egypt and the Sudan (Egypt more so) have exploited the water resources of the Nile extensively both for irrigation and hydro-power. In short, the upper riparians have been the suppliers and the lower riparians, the consumers of the Nile.”
It is not fair to be starved while sitting and looking at a resource at hand that can change the lives of millions of people. Therefore, these countries have to quickly sign and start implementing their projects, according to Prof. Kinfe.
Cooperation on the Nile began in 1967 by forming Hydromet (the Hydro Meteorological Survey of the Equatorial Lakes) by all riparian countries with the objective of collecting and analyzing hydro-metrological data of the equatorial lakes for the purposes of deriving the water balance of the Upper Nile Catchment and possibly make prognosis.
Following Hydromet’s failure, Undugu (Swahili for ‘brotherhood) was founded in Khartoum, the Sudan in 1983 under the aegis of the African Unity (OAU) with the objective of forging cooperation in areas of infrastructure, environmental cooperation, culture and trade. Ethiopia, Tanzania and Kenya chose to remain as observers. Undugu also failed with out accomplishing any part of its program on the ground after spending the time organizing conferences.
TECCONILE (Technical Cooperation Commission for the Promotion and Development of the Nile) was formed as an extended version of the previous Hydromet through the agreements reached by the Nile Council of Ministers of Water Affairs (hereafter Nile-COM) in 1992 in Kampala, Uganda. At this time Kenya, Burundi, Ethiopia and Eritrea opted to participate as observers.
TECCONILE is succeeded by NBI and included ‘ensuring cooperation and joint action between the riparian countries, seeking win-win gains’ as one of the five objectives. Poverty eradication and promotion of economic integration and ensuring that the program results in a move from planning to action are also among the objectives of NBI.
Although many projects are prepared under NBI, until now the old treaty of 1959 made between Egypt and the Sudan to use 100 per cent of the water, ignoring other riparian countries is not replaced by a new agreement which benefits all riparian countries. “We wait and see if NBI also fails like the previous initiatives or the long expected agreement will be signed, to change the lives of the 300 mln people living under extreme poverty in these riparian countries,” says Tesfaye Tafesse, Phd, who presented a paper under the topic ‘An appraisal of shared water dispute resolution mechanisms in the Nile’.