As the conflict continues in Egypt, regardless of who ultimately leads the nation....the Waters of the Nile River will become an International Affair of Immense Proportions IMO.....and could easily create a War sitution for the next Administration.....it is a 'huge hot button issue'....
Exerts from various news sources indicate:
Currently Ethiopia is pressing forward with the construction of its 'Grand Renaissance Dam' on the Blue Nile River, which will be the 10th largest dam worldwide.
The conflict is that Egypt believes its "historic rights" to the Nile are guaranteed by two treaties from 1929 and 1959 which allow it 87 percent of the Nile's flow and give it 'veto power' over upstream projects.........But a new deal was signed in 2010 'by other Nile Basin countries', including Ethiopia, allowing them to work on river projects.... 'without Cairo's prior agreement'.
The conflict between Sudan and Egypt (downstream states) and the rest of Nile Basin countries (upstream countries) began when Cairo and Khartoum refused to sign the NBI Framework Convention since it did not explicitly guarantee Egypt’s right to 55.5 billion cubic square metres of water annually and did not allow Egypt its traditional veto of upstream projects.
The Renaissance Dam is 'one of four' dams which Ethiopia plans to construct on the Blue Nile, one of two main tributaries that provide Egypt with 60 per cent of its annual share of 55.5 billion cubic metres of water....Egypt can expect to lose at least seven billion cubic metres of its share of water once the Grand Renaissance Dam is finished.” ...expected completion 2016.
“Ethiopia will be the biggest exporter and controller of energy in East Africa. It will soon be exporting energy to Somalia and Djibouti in the east, Kenya and Uganda in the south, Sudan and South Sudan in the west, and to Egypt and Europe in the north
