An Abay issue...

The Blue Nile supplies the lion’s share of the water flowing through Sudan and Egypt and on to the Mediterranean Sea. Ethiopia, as the source country, has historically been shut out of negotiations conducted between our Western and Northern neighbors. It is only of recent years that Ethiopia has firmly put its views plain to all. It is ready for an equitable system of Nile water usage with other riparians acknowledging its unlimited rights as a source. The Nile Basin secretariat is charged with co-coordinating equitable division of Nile water and is an initiative bolstered by the collective will of all riparian states except Eritrea. Capital’s Tsion Aklilu discussed the sensitive issue with Ato Tesfaye Wolde Mihiret , NBI - National Project Coordinator for Ethiopia. Excerpts follow:

What is the status of the relationship among Nile riparian countries?
So far, I can say, the relation among Nile riparians is quite good. The countries have a shared division project since 1999, which mainly deals with proper water management, equitable sharing of the water and investment development projects based on the Nile. They have been working very closely on their differences for almost seven years, which by itself is a great achievement for the countries. On the other hand, NBI is growing from year to year. It has become a hope for stakeholder development associations; these show that the relation among the countries is good. They are even thinking beyond water. For instance, Ethiopia used to import cement from s meat from Ethiopia, which they used to bring from Argentina.
Another example can be the good relations between Ethiopia and Sudan, and Ethiopia and Kenya respectively. NBI is helping them to work beyond the Nile water. Since they endorse the shared division of projects, things are going very well. Every country contributes to run the Nile Basin Secretariat which is based in Entebbe, Uganda.

Why isn’t Eritrea among the NBI countries?
There is no political explanation to this. There are no special criteria for countries to be NBI members, except to be one of the riparian countries. Only a simple statement of interest is enough to be a member. We are optimistic they will come and join us when their right time comes.

When we think of projects, the obvious ones are dams and irrigation. Are there any other Nile projects?
NBI have two projects. The first one is a shared project with seven subdivisions, which are facilitations of other jobs.
We also have projects that help countries to work on trust building among them, linking stakeholders to work closely, providing current information to the public, power, trade, environmental protection and efficient water use in agriculture. Our water management system is not effective. These shared vision agreements are Basin wide, every project is part of the duties of member countries, the benefit is for the basin and not for a single country- it is one for all and all for one.
The other projects are subsidiary. These projects are tangible and their outcome estimated. NBI divide the projects into two-sub divisions, the first being the Blue Nile riparians. Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt, the other are lake and equatorial countries; Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and D.R Congo including Egypt and Sudan, because the two countries are the beneficiaries of both Niles. Therefore, in these regions NBI have investment projects. For instance, in Ethiopia, about 100 hectares is on the fast track for irrigation through the projects of Tana, Megecha, Redu and so on.
Building dams is also one of the subsidiary projects we are working on for hydropower and water shade management. The areas where the Nile travels through are degraded, especially in Ethiopia. The only way to preserve the water is by working on environmental protection. Dams will serve for longer periods if the regions work on the water shade management. The other tangible investment project is flood prevention. If you remember, areas like Fogera and Jana have high risk of flood. The Sudanese are victims of flooding too, because what rains in Ethiopia affects them directly. Floods also fill up the canals and dams with silt.
The countries are taking this into consideration and are even working on an early warning system.

We cannot talk about the Nile with out mentioning Egypt. What is Egypt’s level of involvement?
Of course, issues differ from country to country depending on their interests. Even though, we say Egypt has no especial seat in the initiative, they are very conscious of every single movement because they are solely dependent on the Nile; they would even want the old treaties. Since NBI is a new idea, countries are working on justified water management. There is intense Egyptian involvement on the Nile issue. Call it diplomacy, influence or institutionalizing the issue, they invest and lobby more than we do. We did almost nothing at all, so for me it is right if they claim more authority in the NBI. There are issues of agenda where countries are negotiating on, for instance, there were treaties like in 1950, which saw Egypt and Sudan agree to share the Nile for 50 bln to 11 bln respectively; Ethiopia was not a participant of that in famous agreement.
NBI has been established to work on the previous unfair agreements. We are not saying lets forget the previous agreement, we simply are looking for another solution.

What kind of agreement are we expecting?
It is a cooperative framework agreement, which includes most of the articles discussed except on two or three topics. Water security is one of the main issues. For the Egyptians, it is a big deal, but for other countries the concept is not even clear. We can not have an article or proclamation with any ambiguity. Only when countries reach certain levels of agreement can we sign on and establish an institution like NBI.

Does that means NBI is going to dissolve?
Yes, NBI is a transitional mechanism to a permanent office.

Equitable sharing of the Nile water is important to Ethiopia. Is our country utilizing more of the Nile?
As an owner of the water source, Ethiopia has the right to utilize it in any way needed if the country has the investment capacity. NBI is not established to restrict the right of countries on their source but rather to implement the shared division project.
There are irrigation projects where the initiative is working on for instance. However, what Ethiopia is implementing here does not have to affect other riparian countries. Every country has the right to invest on their portion by considering the benefit or loss of other countries. Ethiopia uses only a very small amount of the water resource, and speaking of that, we have a small level of irrigation potential compared to Sudan. This shows it is not risky for the others if we use the water for that particular area. The other option is hydropower that really consumes no water.

If we have only a small level of irrigable land, why are we so concerned about the Nile?
The Nile is the biggest source of our water. Benishangul, Gambella, Amhara, Tigray and part of Oromia are places the Nile encircles. The water potential of Ethiopia resides in these areas. From the point of view of potential water accumulation, the Nile is in the forefront.

So hydropower seems to be the best way we can utilize the Nile…
Of course, hydropower has high potential. The riparian countries have shortages of power and do not have a strategy to implement a grid system. Ethiopia would be a beneficiary if we can produce more power than we are. The NBI plan is to go to Sudan, Egypt, and then to the European market. However, Ethiopia is a food insecure country so we must evaluate the comparative advantage between hydropower and irrigation. At the end, the conclusion is obvious that we need to prioritize food security. In comparative advantage, hydropower would be the best in the long term.

Some informal reports indicate that Ethiopia is gradually affecting the overall flow by harnessing tributary rivers. How true is this?
People who see it from the point of view of tourism argue it has a great impact and on the other hand, expertise denies the argument with logical reason that what is done can not affect the Nile flow. I can not say more than this, but I believe it won’t affect the longevity of Tana.

Where does NBI funds?
Mainly from the World Bank, Canada, and the EU through the assistance of the Nile Trust Fund.