Egypt urges Nile Basin countries to reconsider water agreement

Egypt yesterday called on the Nile Basin countries to reconsider the Cooperative Framework Agreement (CFA), also known as the Entebbe Agreement, which outlines principles, rights and obligations for management and development of the Nile Basin.

Egypt and Sudan have so far rejected the agreement while the CFA has been signed by upstream countries, including Ethiopia, Rwanda, South Sudan, Uganda, Tanzania, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

“We call on the Nile Basin countries that signed the Entebbe Agreement to review their position and return once again to discuss cooperation between countries in a way that does not harm any of the riparian countries,” Irrigation Minister Hani Sewilam said at a water event in Cairo.

“Egypt’s position is fair and consistent with international river agreements enforced internationally,” he added.

The Egyptian minister stressed that the discussions “must include all countries and don’t exclude the interests of one country over another.”

Sewilam said Egypt’s water supply does not suffice the country’s needs.

“Egypt will not concede even a single cubic metre of Nile water and firmly rejects the Entebbe Agreement in its current form,” he stressed.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi said early yesterday that preserving Egypt’s water resources is an “existential issue”.

“The Nile River is the primary source of water for Egypt, accounting for over 98%” of its water supply, he added.

The CFA represents the first multilateral effort by the Nile Basin states to create a legal and institutional framework to govern the use and management of the river.

The Nile River has been a source of tension, especially between Egypt and Ethiopia, as the latter began construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the Blue Nile, a major tributary of the Nile River.

Ethiopia views the dam as essential for its economic development and insists it poses no threat to downstream water supplies. Egypt views the GERD as an existential threat to its water share from the Nile and demands a binding agreement on the dam’s filling and operation.