Nile River riparian states have continued to dither over ratification of a key cooperation framework agreement stalling development projects in the Nile Basin.

This was observed as Rwanda celebrated the Nile Day on Wednesday in Kigali.

The agreement is geared at coming up with a new arrangement on the use of the Nile waters.

Remy Mugunga, director of water resources monitoring and development at Rwanda Natural Resources Authority (RNRA) and the technical advisory committee member at the Nile Basin in Rwanda, said dithering over ratification hinders the implementation of various initiatives.

Rwanda, Tanzania and Ethiopia ratified

Some countries yet to sign include DR Congo, Egypt, Sudan and South Sudan.

"Congo says it will sign when Egypt has signed, while Egypt refuses [to sign] arguing "unless you understand our positions”.

The issue dates back to 1959 when Egypt and Sudan decided that all the Nile water, estimated at 84 billion meter cubic (m3), be shared between them claiming the water belonged to them.

The deal gave Egypt over 55.3 billion m3 of the waters, while the Sudan took 18.5 billion m3, then.

"The Nile River is one, our interests are the same and countries should equally share the natural resource,” Mugunga said.

Countries yet to ratify tell donors not to give us funding because they have not yet understood our positions (stand), which has an impact on the progress of the undertaken projects, he added.

Benefits

Mugunga noted that equitable use of the waters comes with several benefits, including agriculture, natural resources management and energy generation projects.

He said there is hope that, in the near future, more tangible gains will be witnessed, mainly in the energy sector, citing the interconnection power projects which will benefit Nile Basin member countries.

John Gakumba, the coordinator of Nile Basin Discourse Forum (NBDF), a civil society group for the lay people living near the Nile River in Rwanda, said the states should embrace ‘One Nile One Family as motto.”

He also urged the states to ratify the cooperation framework to allow each country to have the same rights on the world’s longest river.

"This is what we should focus on and those are the campaigns we have to engage in so that they [all countries] understand it as we do,” he said.

Fatina Mukarubibi, the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Natural Resources, observed that the water supports all countries’ economic development and people’s welfare.

The theme for this year’s annual Nile Day celebrations was "Nile Cooperation: Gateway to Regional Integration.”The Nile Basin has 237 million inhabitants.

The Nile Basin Initiative (NBI), a regional inter-governmental partnership, has initiated the investments of over $1.5 billion in various environment-related projects in the Basin, including the $496 million 80 megawats Rusumo Hydropower Plant that is expected to benefit 1,146,000 people from Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania.

Works are expected to commence in September this year.

The ten riparian countries include Uganda, Sudan, Egypt, Ethiopia, DR Congo, Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania and South Sudan.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw