Egypt and Ethiopia are finally working on a water deal — what that means for other Nile River states

Subject: Geography

Section: Places in news

Context:

Egypt and Ethiopia have waged a diplomatic war of words over Ethiopia’s massive new dam — the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam — on the Blue Nile, which started filling up in July 2020.

Details:

Now the two countries have finally agreed to conclude “a mutually acceptable agreement” within four months.
Countries in conflict are: Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan.

What is the context of the current tussle?

Ethiopia, whose highlands provide more than 85 per cent of the water that flows into the Nile, has long argued that it has the right under international law to manage resources within its own borders for its national development.
Egypt, which depends on the Nile for more than 90 per cent of its fresh water, has argued that the Ethiopian dam represents a threat to its water security and its very existence as a people.
In February 2022, the Ethiopian dam started producing electricity. Egyptians claimed that Addis Ababa (Capital of Ethiopia) was “violating its obligations under the 2015 Declaration of Principles” and endangering Egyptian “water interests”.

Rights over Nile river:

The most important are Egypt’s and Sudan’s historically acquired rights to Nile waters.
The rights were granted by the 1929 Anglo-Egyptian Treaty and the 1959 bilateral agreement between Egypt and Sudan (1959 Nile Treaty).
After estimating the average annual flow of the Nile River as measured at Aswan to be 84 billion cubic metres, the two treatises granted 66 per cent of Nile waters to Egypt,22 per cent to Sudan and 12 per cent to account for seepage and evaporation.
Egypt was also granted veto power over all construction projects on the Nile and its tributaries.
These rights came to be known as Egypt’s and Sudan’s acquired rights.
- They have been the main sticking point in efforts to conclude a treaty between all 11 Nile riparian states for the allocation of the waters of the Nile, as well as between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan over the Ethiopian dam.
While Ethiopia and other upstream riparian states see these two treaties as colonial anachronisms that have no relevance to modern Nile governance, Egypt and Sudaninsist that they are binding.

Other issues include:

Ethiopia’s right to water for agriculture and household consumption is an issue that has not yet been agreed upon by all three countries.

Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam

It is formerly known as the Millennium Dam and sometimes referred to as Hidase Dam.
Led by Ethiopia, the 145 meter tall hydropower project will be Africa’s largest dam after completion.
It is located in the Horn of Africa which is a peninsula and the easternmost extension of the African continent, consisting of the countries namely, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia.
The construction was initiated in 2011 on the upper Blue Nile tributary.

Nile river:

The Nile, the longest river in the world, has been at the centre of a dispute involving several countries that are dependent on the river’s waters.
The main waterways of the Nile run through Uganda, South Sudan, Sudan and Egypt and its drainage basin runs through several countries in East Africa, including Ethiopia.
Blue Nile and White Nile are two tributaries of the Nile.
While the White Nile is the longer tributary, the Blue Nile is the main source of water and fertile soil.
The White Nile is called so because of the light-coloured clay sediment in the water giving the river a light graycolor.
The Blue Nile flows for about 1,400 km to Khartoum from Lake Tana which is 1,800 meters above sea level in the Ethiopian mountains.
The White Nile and Blue Nile merge near Khartoum, becoming the proper Nile.