Daily News Egypt CAIRO: Representatives from all 10 Nile basin countries are convening in Alexandria today to discuss water resource allocation.
Ministers from Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan met Sunday in advance of the conference, which organized by the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI), reported AFP.
Controversy has arisen around the meeting, with rumors that Egypt is considering withdrawing from the NBI or is making a bilateral plan with Sudan for new projects.
Reports in the media have expressed confusion as to Egypt s course of action with respect to the group, the only one of its kind which aims to promote cooperation and equality as well as the most efficient use of Nile water.
NBI was founded in 1997 as the Nile Council of Ministers under the auspices of the World Bank. It took its current form as NBI in 1999 and consists of all countries through which the 6,660 km river runs.
Member states are now forcing Egypt and Sudan to reassess their water needs. Since 1959, Egypt has received 55.5 billion cubic meters of water per year, the most of any Nile riparian state.
Countries further up river are now demanding a greater share of water to meet their own growing populations needs and economic aspirations.
In an attempt to bring equality to water access a new framework convention is being proposed.
Some reports in the press speculated that Egypt s Water Resources Minister Mohamed Nasr El-Din Allam was considering pulling out of the initiative in recent weeks.
The ministry initially adamantly denied such rumors.
But Allam and the ministry have since sent mixed messages, indicating simultaneous support for fellow basin states while presenting the possibility of unilateral action.
In an interview with Al-Masry Al-Youm, Allam described relations between Egypt and member nations as favorable.
He was quoted as saying we are calm and there is no tension. Egypt is capable and has water – through the High Dam we have enough.
He went on to say our relationship is stronger than any political differences with respect to the Nile Basin countries. But he also said that Egypt s continued membership in NBI would be a political decision and that Egypt was evaluating a number of alternatives.
In the same piece he reiterated Egypt s three demands of water security, advance notification of projects in the Upper Nile and veto power for projects in other countries.
In June NBI members met in Kinshasa to formulate the Nile Basin Initiative Framework Convention. Egypt refused to sign on. Reports said that the framework did not acknowledge Egypt s historical entitlement to 55.5 billion cubic meters or its veto power over any projects up river.
Egyptian officials feared the loss of water rights and thus are stalling the process.
Some Egyptian officials claim that water loss in source countries is the real problem, particularly with regard to water absorbed by weeds and surrounding vegetation. They point to statistics which indicate that source countries still have a far higher per capita annual water level.
Egypt s stands at 850 cubic meters per capita per year, below the water poverty level of 1,000 cubic meters.
Reuters reported earlier this month that the Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resources is attempting to curb wasteful agricultural water practices and create desalination programs.
This month Al-Ahram said that Egypt and Sudan have made plans to construct the Gongli Canal, which could provide an additional two billion cubic meters of water. The canal would avoid water loss by diverting water from swamps.
Earlier this summer UN-appointed expert Catarina de Albuquerque toured Egypt in preparation for a report on water access and usage in Egypt. Her initial findings revealed a significant number of Egyptians still lack access to clean, safe water and sanitation.
The river traces its roots as far south as Burundi with the Ruvyironza River, the White Nile s source.
At Lake Victoria the Ruvyironza drains and the White Nile commences. The Nile s other source, the Blue Nile, begins in the Ethiopian Higands.
In Khartoum the two rivers join and flow northward as one all the way to the Mediterranean. Egypt receives close to zero rainfall each year and is highly dependent on the Nile – its main source of freshwater. A majority of Egyptians also live in close proximity to the banks of the Nile, which is the lifeblood of an otherwise arid region.
