EQUITABLE and reasonable utilisation of water resources, protection and conservation of the Nile River Basin are some of the key issues covered in the Agreement on the Nile River Basin Cooperative Frame (CFA) that Members of Parliament (MPs) ratified here on Thursday evening.
Eleven Nile Basin states - Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan and South Sudan - have drafted the agreement to ensure optimal and sustainable use of the water resources.
Water Minister Jumanne Maghembe, tabling the agreement in the House, said under CFA, Tanzania will increase uses of Lake Victoria water from the current 0.1 per cent to a reasonable amount, saying Tanzania contributes about 28 per cent of water in Lake Victoria, which is the main source of all water to River Nile and its basin.
“Under the agreement, each basin state is entitled to an equitable and reasonable share in the beneficial uses of the water resources of the Nile River system,” said Professor Maghembe.
The member states are obliged to take all appropriate measures to protect, conserve and where necessary to rehabilitate the Nile River basin and its ecosystem through improving water quality within the basin as well as preventing the introduction of alien species.
The agreement further provides for member states to exchange readily available and relevant data and information on the use, development and protection of the basin and its water resources.
The agreement, which Dar becomes the third state to ratify after Ethiopia and Rwanda, obliges member states to use the water resources without causing significant harm to other members.
According to statistics availed in the House, the Nile basin has 3,112,363 square kilometers, with a population of 300. While Tanzania owns 3.73 per cent of the basin, Sudan has the largest share of 43.95 per cent.
Other states with their percentage share in brackets are Rwanda (0.65), Burundi (0.44), DRC (0.69), Egypt (9.52), Ethiopia (11.5), Eritrea (0.81), Kenya (1.62), South Sudan (19.54) and Uganda (7.56).
Usage of River Nile Basin has always created problems, with Egypt trying to restrain other states from using the water resources, citing the colonial agreements that gave the Egyptians authority to use the Nile water resources against other countries. But, under the CFA, all countries will share the precious resource equitabl
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