Nile basin water ministers meet in Entebbe

Water ministers of the Nile-basin countries began their meetings in the Ugandan city of Entebbe on Monday to discuss controversial clauses in the Cooperative Framework Agreement (CFA) or the Entebbe Agreement.

The CFA, which has been signed by six Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) members so far, outlines principles, rights and obligations for cooperative management and development of the Nile Basin water resources through a permanent institutional mechanism.

The Entebbe meeting comes upon the request of Ugandan Water Minister Sam Cheptoris, whose country presides over the current session of Nile Council of Ministers.

Speaking to MENA, Assistant Foreign Minister for African Affairs Mohamed Idris said the meeting comes as part of efforts to agree on joint interests that serve all Nile Basin states as it is the only way to move forward and make the best use of Nile River. 

Egypt had frozen its NBI membership in 2010 in protest of the Entebbe Agreement.

Egypt wants to amend three clauses in the agreement. The first amendment calls for upstream countries to notify Egypt before starting any project along the Nile. The second one defines the concept of water security, which includes recognizing Egypt's quota of the Nile's water, and the third calls for all decisions to be made in consensus with all basin countries.

Source: MENA