NEW NILE WATERS TREATY TO BE SIGNED A FRESH BY NINE COUNTRIES IN FEBRUARY

01/05/2007
GRANTS ARCHIVES AGAJA KUYO BARUPE WECHE DONGRUOK MBAKA NONRO JEXJALUO NGECHE LUO GI GWENG' THUM TEDO LUO KITGI GI TIMBEGI SIGENDNI LUO THUOND WECHE ;	Leo Odera Omolo LUOCOME Kisumu NEW NILE WATERS TREATY TO BE SIGNED A FRESH BY NINE COUNTRIES IN FEBRUARY Ministers from nine countries who share the Nile River waters are scheduled to meet in February and sign a new treaty .The new treaty will replace the existing one which forbade countries with rivers flowing into Lake Victoria from using their waters without permission from Egypt and Sudan. The signing of a new treaty was supposed to have taken place in December, but it was pushed to February 2007 when Ministers responsible for water Development from the affected countries will be available. Members of the Nile basin Initiative are Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania and Democratic of Congo (DRC) According to Mr. Gordon Mumbo, the regional project manager of the confidence building and stakeholder involvement (CBSI) of the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) the signing of the new treaty will be held in Cairo, Egypt. Mr. Mumbo disclosed this during a regional media workshop held in Bujumbura, Burundi in December. Eritrea which is also a major stakeholder in the Nile Waters and has been attending the Nile Basin Initiative talks as an observers and has also asked to be given time before joining it. "We hope they will join the Nile Basin Initiative soon, because they are important stakeholders," said Mr.Mumbo. The aim of the initiative is to achieve sustainable socio-economic development through the equitable utilization of the Nile water resources." This is a milestone because once this treaty is signed, the waters of the Nile will benefit close to 200 million people in the Great Lakes Region Among the key issues in the new treaty are utilization of the water source in Agriculture, fishing, irrigation and land use. The old treaties signed in 1929 and 1959 and giving Egypt and the Sudan control over the Nile waters while preventing other riparian countries from using them were discriminatory. The two treaties have been the subject of heated debate and argument in the past few years. The colonial agreements were said to be unrealistic because they did not allow the riparian countries to use the Nile and Lake Victoria water or to amend the treaties. The existing treaties also prevent countries with rivers that flow into Lake Victoria from using their waters for irrigation purposes without permission from Egypt and the Sudan. Infact Egypt had stationed team of military engineers which is monitoring the flow of the Lake Victoria waters into the Nile .The Engineers are stationed both in Nairobi and in Eastern Ugandan town of Jinja and the source of the Nile. There is also a team of experts posted to Egyptian consulate in Nairobi, Daresalaam and Kampala. The two agreements meant that Tanzania current plans to tap Lake Victoria waters for irrigation projects in the cotton growing regions of Mwanza and Shinyanga could not be undertaken without permission from Egypt and Sudan, though the two countries have irrigation scheme of their own that rely entirely on water from the Nile. Forming schemes in the downstream of Lake Nasser in Egypt depended on Lake Victoria waters. At one time Egypt government threatened Ethiopia with the consequent of going into full scale war when that country had initiated a plan to divert the Blue Nile waters which are sourced in Ethiopia for irrigation schemes upstream. The riparian states are also prevented from the use of Nile waters on other projects such as electricity generation and other capital projects that could reduce poverty among member states. The Tanzanian parliament, while pushing the other East African governments to persuade Egypt and Sudan to review the existing treaties, which are considered discriminatory, has been threatening to block rivers that flow into the Nile and Lake Victoria. During the workshop, Burundi's Minister for Land Management, Tourism and Environment Odette Kayitesi, challenged the media to sensitize the people on the sustainable use of the Nile Waters. Ms Kayitesi launched the Nile Basin Initiative magazine, which is published in English, Arabic and French. The slogan of the magazine is "One River, One People." She also launched the Nile Basin Initiative website and advised the participants to help translate subsequent issues into other local languages to reach out to more people. She told newsmen that conflict among countries sharing Nile waters will be resolved if there were concerted efforts to ensure fair utilization of the waters for the mutual benefits of the people in the region. She was quoted as saying that unless member countries were ready to share common water resources of the Nile basin and the arising benefits, peace would be elusive in the region. Dr.Sammy Tayie, a communication specialists, said NBI would ensure that the magazine was translated into Kiswahili, which is spoken in five countries among the nine members of the NBI "As a matter of priority, we are going to have this issues translated into Kiswahili and have subsequent issues also in Kiswahili because there are five countries within the NBI where the language is almost the lingua franca. ENDS leooderaomolo@yahoo.com The writer is LUOCOME REPORTER based in Kisumu. We urge all LUOCOME members with pressing issues pertaining to media and press releases to kindly contact him from any where in world. He will assist you to get true picture of your Village Developement. LUOCOME-MEDIA ===================================================== Joluo.com Ka in gi mari moro ma di wandik ka to orni Akelo nyar Kager, jaluo@jaluo.com Daher winjo dwondi in bende, iwinjo?	IDWARO TICH? INJILI GOSPEL GALAMORO : Riwruok mar JOLUO e Piny Ngima, orwaku uduto mondo ubed e kanyakla mar burani. Ornwa nyingi gi nondi kaka obedo. Riwruok e teko joka Nyanam. WENDO MIWA PARO OD PAKRUOK

Leo Odera Omolo
LUOCOME
Kisumu

NEW NILE WATERS TREATY TO BE SIGNED A FRESH BY NINE COUNTRIES IN FEBRUARY

Ministers from nine countries who share the Nile River waters are scheduled to meet in February and sign a new treaty .The new treaty will replace the existing one which forbade countries with rivers flowing into Lake Victoria from using their waters without permission from Egypt and Sudan.

The signing of a new treaty was supposed to have taken place in December, but it was pushed to February 2007 when Ministers responsible for water Development from the affected countries will be available.

Members of the Nile basin Initiative are Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania and Democratic of Congo (DRC)

According to Mr. Gordon Mumbo, the regional project manager of the confidence building and stakeholder involvement (CBSI) of the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) the signing of the new treaty will be held in Cairo, Egypt.

Mr. Mumbo disclosed this during a regional media workshop held in Bujumbura, Burundi in December.

Eritrea which is also a major stakeholder in the Nile Waters and has been attending the Nile Basin Initiative talks as an observers and has also asked to be given time before joining it. "We hope they will join the Nile Basin Initiative soon, because they are important stakeholders," said Mr.Mumbo.

The aim of the initiative is to achieve sustainable socio-economic development through the equitable utilization of the Nile water resources." This is a milestone because once this treaty is signed, the waters of the Nile will benefit close to 200 million people in the Great Lakes Region

Among the key issues in the new treaty are utilization of the water source in Agriculture, fishing, irrigation and land use.

The old treaties signed in 1929 and 1959 and giving Egypt and the Sudan control over the Nile waters while preventing other riparian countries from using them were discriminatory. The two treaties have been the subject of heated debate and argument in the past few years.

The colonial agreements were said to be unrealistic because they did not allow the riparian countries to use the Nile and Lake Victoria water or to amend the treaties.

The existing treaties also prevent countries with rivers that flow into Lake Victoria from using their waters for irrigation purposes without permission from Egypt and the Sudan.

Infact Egypt had stationed team of military engineers which is monitoring the flow of the Lake Victoria waters into the Nile .The Engineers are stationed both in Nairobi and in Eastern Ugandan town of Jinja and the source of the Nile. There is also a team of experts posted to Egyptian consulate in Nairobi, Daresalaam and Kampala.

The two agreements meant that Tanzania current plans to tap Lake Victoria waters for irrigation projects in the cotton growing regions of Mwanza and Shinyanga could not be undertaken without permission from Egypt and Sudan, though the two countries have irrigation scheme of their own that rely entirely on water from the Nile. Forming schemes in the downstream of Lake Nasser in Egypt depended on Lake Victoria waters.

At one time Egypt government threatened Ethiopia with the consequent of going into full scale war when that country had initiated a plan to divert the Blue Nile waters which are sourced in Ethiopia for irrigation schemes upstream.

The riparian states are also prevented from the use of Nile waters on other projects such as electricity generation and other capital projects that could reduce poverty among member states.

The Tanzanian parliament, while pushing the other East African governments to persuade Egypt and Sudan to review the existing treaties, which are considered discriminatory, has been threatening to block rivers that flow into the Nile and Lake Victoria.

During the workshop, Burundi's Minister for Land Management, Tourism and Environment Odette Kayitesi, challenged the media to sensitize the people on the sustainable use of the Nile Waters.

Ms Kayitesi launched the Nile Basin Initiative magazine, which is published in English, Arabic and French. The slogan of the magazine is "One River, One People." She also launched the Nile Basin Initiative website and advised the participants to help translate subsequent issues into other local languages to reach out to more people.

She told newsmen that conflict among countries sharing Nile waters will be resolved if there were concerted efforts to ensure fair utilization of the waters for the mutual benefits of the people in the region. She was quoted as saying that unless member countries were ready to share common water resources of the Nile basin and the arising benefits, peace would be elusive in the region.

Dr.Sammy Tayie, a communication specialists, said NBI would ensure that the magazine was translated into Kiswahili, which is spoken in five countries among the nine members of the NBI "As a matter of priority, we are going to have this issues translated into Kiswahili and have subsequent issues also in Kiswahili because there are five countries within the NBI where the language is almost the lingua franca.

ENDS
leooderaomolo@yahoo.com

The writer is LUOCOME REPORTER based in Kisumu. We urge all LUOCOME members with pressing issues pertaining to media and press releases to kindly contact him from any where in world. He will assist you to get true picture of your Village Developement.
LUOCOME-MEDIA