War clouds gather as nations demand a piece of the Nile

The Times ^ | 6/4/2010 | Tristan McConnell, Nairobi and Addis Ababa

[bruinbirdman]

The Nile supplies almost all of Egypt’s fresh water and three quarters of Sudan’s. Both countries claim historic rights over it but neither controls its sources. For thousands of years Egypt has jealously defended its right to use the Nile’s waters as it pleases.

Now, amid warnings of conflict and crop failure, the balance of power is starting to change as other countries make new claims on the water.

Last month most of the countries that occupy the Nile’s headwaters signed an agreement granting themselves greater control of the river and removing a colonial-era veto, held by Egypt for more than 50 years, over how it is used. Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda have already signed up, disregarding a refusal by Egypt and its ally, Sudan, to co-operate. Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo are expected to follow.

Egypt has threatened legal action and said it will not sacrifice a drop of its historic entitlement. Yet a new Ethiopian hydroelectric dam, which opened last month, further emphasises Egypt’s diminishing control over the river that is its lifeblood.

The new World Bank-backed Nile Basin Initiative agreement was a decade in the making. It is intended to replace two existing Nile treaties that ignore the upstream countries.

In 1929 Britain, as the colonial power, signed a deal in the name of its colonies giving Egypt almost all of the Nile water and the veto power over its use upstream. In 1959 a revised treaty gave three quarters of the Nile waters to Egypt with Sudan taking the rest.

However, in recent years the countries to the south have grown more vocal in their demands for a greater share of the water and an end to Egypt’s veto, which includes stopping hydroelectric and irrigation projects that might disrupt the river’s flow

[muawiyah]

Annexation of the entire watershed ~ that's the old solution. We need new solutions ~ it should be possible in the reasonably near-term future to simply bring the storm clouds in directly over the Great Western Desert and by-pass the "source" areas.

BTW, that would be the Chinese approach to things, and one of the big reasons why they are working so hard on getting control of the weather.

[Brilliant]

I would guess Egypt will win this war.

[MinuteGal]

THE EGYPTIAN DOG AND THE MUZZIE CATZ

The Egyptian dog and the Muzzie Catz
Side-by-side on the river bank satz
The British lords and Clinton at State
Appeared to know as sure as fate
There was going to be a terrible spat
The only question was the date
One morning where the animals satz
They found no trace of dog or catz
But the truth about the kits and pup
Is this: THEY ATE EACH OTHER UP!

Let all the thirsty Muzzies attack each other with missiles and scimitars so they forget about Israel for a while.

Leni

[deadrock]

The wonder of the world is that we all haven’t yet gone mad.

[xkaydet65]

1898. Captain Marchand of the L'Infanterie Coloniale arrives at Fashoda on the White Nile with the intent to claim it for France France will then construct a dam to control the Nile's water to Egypt and thereby control Egypt. Marchand is ensconced in a fort at Fashoda with 600 Senegalese riflemen, but he is confronted by Kitcherner's Army, victorious at Omdurman, The French accede to British control of the Nile.

Plus ca change. Plus ca meme chose.

[Joe Boucher]

I just love these regional skirmish’s.

[GoCards]

click click wink wink. Like it!!!!

[bruinbirdman]

"Another region of the world becomes a hotspot."

Ethiopia, Sudan = ChiComs

yitbos

[bruinbirdman]

"We’ve got water issues all over the place in this country too."

Current level of Lake Meade

yitbos, bbm in Boulder City, NV

[Army Air Corps]

Indeed.

[SunkenCiv]

Some years back, Ethiopia was *rumored* to be employing Israeli engineers on some kind of dam or irrigation project, using Nile waters, and Sudan threatened war; Sudan also threatened to stop the entire flow of the Nile from reaching Egypt (Lake Nasser actually crosses the border of the two countries) if the so-called Peace Canal carried Nile water all the way to Israel, which had been proposed (by the Israelis — it was one of the reasons for giving the Sinai back to Egypt). Nile waters flow into a number of open-air canals in Egyptian territory, which isn’t too brainy.

The entire Middle East could be transformed using Israeli techniques of water management.

Not gonna happen.

There are similar struggles over water in other Muzzie countries, mostly pertaining to the flow of the Euphrates. Syria was almost to the point of rattling sabers due to allegations of Turks’ withholding of tributaries to the Euphrates, which is pretty crappy, considering Syria illegally withholds water from Jordan — one of the reasons Jordan signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994.

Thanks BIGLOOK.

[BIGLOOK]

The entire Middle East could be transformed using Israeli techniques of water management.

I'm familiar with those techniques, even though they're not needed here. Very efficient as well as very inexpensive, something even dummies can afford and employ (but the tech is Israeli and invincibly ignored by despotic regimes in Africa and the Middle East.)

[Bob Ireland]

***attack each other with missiles and scimitars so they forget about Israel for a while***

I second the motion!

Leni, when I wrote that book on prophecy [of which you have a copy], many scratched their heads wondering why I mentioned MuHAMmed... traditional interpretation pointed towards Europe and Rome. Who are we looking at now? :-)

[bert]

California is certainly doomed.

A leftwing SCOTUS will certainly take the international Nile Precedent to allow Utah, Nevada and Arizona control over the rivers flowing into the Colorado and deny California any right what so ever to any of the water.

If it is precedent in Africa then certainly it must be followed in the Southwest.

[aculeus]

bttt!

With thankz.

[SunkenCiv]

Note: this topic is from June 4. Thanks again, BIGLOOK.

• Uganda 'Draining Lake Victoria' [blam]
• Give Us DDT
• DDT use starts in July
• EU position on DDT violates human rights
• Osama, terror of Lake Victoria, is caught at last
• Uganda Nabs 16-Foot-Long, Man-Eating Croc

[blam]

Water?

Not a problem when you live in:

The Rainest City In The USA

[rmlew]

You do know that Ethiopia is Christian as are most Kenyans, right?

[SunkenCiv]

Well, the rainiest state title may be obvious, eh?