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East Africa: Tanzania challenges Uganda on "secret" Nile pact Print E-mail
Written by David Malingha Doya - East African   
Thursday, 04 September 2008
A row is simmering between Uganda and Tanzania over the latter’s demand that Kampala share details of secret bilateral arrangements on the use of the River Nile’s waters that were allegedly agreed with Egypt during a brief stopover in Entebbe by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak at the end of July.

Tanzania suspects that the two leaders entered a pact to take more water out of the river for their mutual benefit.

Tensions were fanned further after Uganda Water and Environment Minister Maria Mutagamba made three unofficial visits to Cairo that Tanzania now suspects could have been intended to draw up the framework for the Mubarak-Museveni pact.

President Mubarak made a brief stopover in Uganda on his way from South Africa where he had gone to rally support for Sudanese President Omar El Bashir against his likely indictment for crimes against humanity by the International criminal Court. According to a source who sought anonymity, among other bilateral issues, the two presidents also had specific discussions on the use of the Nile waters.

Neither of the countries, however, shared the minutes of these talks with the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI), an inter-governmental organisation that brings together the Nile Basin countries of Burundi, DR Congo, Egypt, Eritrea (still an observer), Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania Sudan and Uganda. The EastAfrican has learnt that Tanzania requested the meeting’s minutes from NBI in vain, and consequently asked the organisation to use its mandate to follow up on the matter.

Tanzania’s interest in the matter is said to arise from concerns that Uganda is releasing water beyond the normal flow from Lake Victoria into the river for purposes of hydropower generation, which in the process ensures more water flowing towards Egypt, but hurts the ecosystem of the lake. Kampala confirmed that the Nile was high on the agenda of the presidents’ meeting, but said that Tanzania should not intervene in the two countries’ bilateral relations, because whereas Uganda hosts the major exit to the Nile, Egypt’s lifeline depends on the river.

Meanwhile, NBI member states are yet to agree on a new deal that will govern the use of the Nile waters, after throwing out the outdated bilateral agreements between Egypt and former colonialists Britain because not all the countries in the basin had consented to them. Against that background, Uganda’s recent behaviour on issues regarding the Nile is being seen as potentially undermining the confidence and trust that had so far developed among the members over the past 10 years of negotiating a new agreement.

One of the sticking points preventing an agreement is a clause in its draft pertaining to the security of water for all the riparian states.

There have been concerns expressed within and outside Uganda that the country is releasing more water than flows naturally from Lake Victoria into the Nile in order to achieve enough water-pressure to run the turbines at the twin Nalubale and Kiira power plants in Jinja, in order to generate more electricity to reduce the energy deficit facing the country.

Uganda has in the past argued that the real cause of falling water levels in Lake Victoria is tied to the climate change phenomenon and catchment-area degradation in countries where the major rivers that discharge into the lake originate.

The falling levels have affected the ecosystem of the lake, resulting in declining fisheries, difficulties in water navigation and hydropower production. But for Egypt, it means more water flowing towards it.

It is noteworthy that Uganda, while chairing the Nile Basin last year, had the opportunity to call a heads of state summit, but did not because it was busy hosting the Commonwealth Heads of Governments Meeting, according to government officials. DR Congo is the current chair of the inter-governmental organisation, but has yet to show any intentions of calling the crucial summit.
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 03 September 2008 )