BWIRE: Process to establish Nile River Basin Commission should be finalised
![BWIRE: Process to establish Nile River Basin Commission should be finalised BWIRE: Process to establish Nile River Basin Commission should be finalised](https://citizentv.obs.af-south-1.myhuaweicloud.com/98160/conversions/Eng-Dr-Isaac-Alukwe-Regional-Coordinator-NELSAP-CU-1024x881-og_image.webp)
Eng Dr Isaac Alukwe Regional Coordinator NELSAP-CU. PHOTO| COURTESY
Mistrust, emotional attachment and what appears extreme nationalism by countries in the Nile Basin will continue denying the inhabitants access to the benefits of this God-given resource.
Residents will continue facing challenges including those associated with adverse effects of climate change because of unending hydro diplomacy wars within the capitals in the region.
Cairo and Khartoum have been the most
extreme in their approach to the access, control and use of the Nile basin
resources, to the detriment of the process of ensuring peaceful transboundary
cooperation and development of the
region.
Huge multi-billion
projects are going on across the borders with very promising results for the
residents, including power projects, water dams, climate change mitigation and
adaptation interventions that have big economic potential and wealth creation
for the region more that the continued national suspicion and narrow national
view currently prevailing.
The water disagreements are rooted in the Nile Water Treaty of 1929, which gave Egypt the right to veto upstream projects it thought could interfere with the flow of the Nile, which stretches more than 6,600km from Lake Victoria to the Mediterranean Sea.
Other countries have struggled to convince Cairo for a review
of the approach, so that a more open and inclusive use of the resources in the
basin are used through a transboundary project management intervention.
Given the poverty in the region and the more much-needed joint approach to improve the livelihoods in the region, countries in the basin signed the 2010 Cooperative Framework Agreement that allows development of projects along the Nile without approval from Egypt.
Under the framework, it was envisaged that the River Nile Basin Commission shall be established to act as a forum for cooperation and a clearinghouse for the planned measures that could cause any harm to other riparian states.
The Nile Basin Initiative has been working
around the clock as a platform for the country’s
discussion for peace and sustainable use of the water resources in the region,
to have the framework signed, and to accelerate the development of the region. There is a need to minimise these tensions and allow the residents to benefit from the
resources.
The reluctance to sign the agreement by some countries including Kenya seem to indicate that they are not appreciating the role that the advantages that come with good cross-border relations and development.
The Regional Coordinator for
the Nile Equatorial Lakes Subsidiary
Action Plan (NELSAP), Dr. Eng Isaac Alukwe, in a recent conversation noted that he
hopes the remaining bottlenecks will be overcome and the remaining countries
sign the cooperation framework, to establish the commission, which will elevate
the development of the basin, through the political goodwill.
Alukwe noted that once established, it will guide
and promote integrated management,
sustainable development, and harmonious utilization of the water resources of
the Nile Basin, as well as their conservation and protection for the benefit of
present and future generations.
“It will be very instrumental in ensuring
that national projects in the regions including dealing with the use of the
water resources are well coordinated to minimise conflicts and promote
transboundary relations in the region, which is a more strategic approach to
attracting partner support, and community benefit than the current situation,”
he noted.
The Commission shall serve as an institutional framework for cooperation among Nile Basin States in the use, development, protection, conservation and management of the Nile River Basin and its waters.
Upon the entry into force of this Framework the Commission shall succeed to all rights, obligations and assets of the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI). The Nile River Basin Commission shall maintain regular contact and shall cooperate closely, with any sub-basin organization or arrangement.
Each Nile Basin State shall establish or designate a National Nile
Focal Point Institution and notify the Commission thereof. The Agreement has
dispute settlement provisions.
As a case study, he gave the example of the Regional Rusumo Falls Hydroelectric Project located at the Rusumo Falls at the Tanzania and Rwanda border, that once completed will be shared equally among Burundi, Rwanda, and Tanzania.
The 80 MW power plant will supply power
to Gitega in Burundi, Kigali in Rwanda,
and Nyakanazi in Tanzania as part of a
transboundary program to support the sustainable management of the Kagera River
Basin and support wealth creation in the area.
Hopefully, Kenya will see reason in signing the framework agreement soon, so that we change the situation of people in the Lake Victoria basin, which currently has the one of the highest poverty rates globally.
The 13 Counties from the Like Victoria Regional Economic block will be big beneficiaries of the transboundary development support from partners, once this political goodwill from the national government, through appending their signature to the framework cooperation agreement is done.
Among projects identified include water, power, blue economy, climate change adaptation projects among others.
Victor Bwire works at the Media Council of Kenya as the Director for Media Training and Development and is an environmental journalism tutor and writer.
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