Hydropolitics of the Nile

‘The only matter that could lead Egypt to war again is water’ – Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, 1979 

This quote reflects how integral water is in the world of politics and specifically how it plays critical role in the power dynamic and authority over water allocation of the Nile basin. The river Nile, the longest river in the world, has been a major source of freshwater for over 250 million people. For decades, clashes over Nile waters have been frequent between Egypt and Ethiopia resulting in transboundary water conflicts over hegemonic power of management of the Nile. 

During Egypt’s colonial time, in 1929, an Anglo-Egyptian treaty was concluded between Great Britain and Egypt to establish water management of Nile basin, giving Egypt a hydro hegemony over the Nile and control of the majority of Nile water, with the right to reject any reservoir construction in other states. Then in 1959 a new bilateral treaty was issued between Egypt and independent Sudan, which provided them access to 55.5 billion cubic meters and 18.5 billion cubic metres, respectively, out of an estimated annual total of 84 billion cubic metres. However, both agreements did not consult other riparian states, and especially Ethiopia, which supplies more than 80% of water that flows into the Nile. As such, Ethiopia challenges Egypt's hegemony in the Nile, refusing to acknowledge these treaties, and have their own right over the Nile's resources. 

It can be argued that colonial era treaties are to blame for the unresolved dispute between Egypt and Ethiopia, making it clear that these treaties prioritised colonial interest to control the water management of the Nile, continuing to create tense, unequal power relationships between the countries. 

While actions were taken to resolve this conflict, such as the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI), by creating a partnership between the riparian states on the Nile to improve the national water policies, hydropolitics of the Nile are still dominated by Egypt. As Egypt’s water infrastructures were developed unilaterally, the basinwide initiatives have mostly failed due to lack of cooperation between the countries. With development of Cooperative Framework Agreement (CFA), to establish and develop a sustainable and shared management of the waters of the Nile, the upstream states, especially Ethiopia, are challenging Egypt’s position of control over the Nile waters. However, both Sudan and Egypt demanded that their current uses and rights, which were acquired under the treaties mentioned earlier, be protected under CFA, it sparked arguments between the upstream and downstream riparian states, not aiding the diffusion of already existing tensions. 

Moreover, another example of a strong political statement to confront the ‘status quo’ is the construction of Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), which I will delve deeper into this topic in my next post.