Editor,

RE: "Does Egypt have monopoly over Nile waters?” (The New Times, February 16).

Not at all unexpected from people who have a history of cultural and geographical appropriation of not only African monuments and heritage, but also natural resources that were never theirs to begin with.

I’m not one to start conflicts but sometimes people need to be reminded of certain historical facts before they start screaming about "historical” treaties that have absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the Nile River nations.

That being said though, I’m certain everyone involved understands the importance of the Nile for modern-day Egypt (as it was in ancient times before the invasions of the current non-African occupants of that land).

The river runs upstream, so messing with it will cause serious problems with the millions of people now residing along its banks.

Ali Baba

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The Egyptian claim of ownership of natural resources on the territory of other states is clearly laughable. And if it ever tries to enforce its fantasy right to the waters of our rivers it will find itself in a Nile-sized problem.

That said, we all should understand and sympathize with Egypt’s concerns not to be deprived of such a critical resource for life as water and should work together to find workable arrangements that recognize the needs of all concerned.

But to be able to do that, Egypt will first need to climb off its haughty dune and understand the countries through which the headwaters of the Nile originate and flow own them and have rights too.

There is absolutely no part of our territories that are Egypt’s extra-territorial domains. And colonial-era agreements on which we were never consulted are binding only on those who signed on to them, not us.

Mwene Kalinda