Cooperation over the Use of Nile Water Resources The Only Option for Peaceful Coexistence

Abstract

The Nile, the longest transboundary river constituting eleven riparian states, had been and remains to be one of the most controversial river basins with no peacefully settled agreement on the modalities of use and shares of water acceptable to all member states. The colonial era agreements of 1902, 1929, and 1959 are nullified and voided by all upper riparian states. This is because most of the agreements are entirely biased to the lower riparian states (specifically Egypt) in sharing the Nile water resources and none of these nations assume international legal obligations due to their exclusion from being parties to the agreements (Muluneh and Assefa, 2011). To the assertion of this fact, Mbote (2007) stated that Egypt and Sudan hold absolute rights to use 100 percent of the river’s water under agreements reached in 1929 between Egypt and Britain and in 1959 between Egypt and Sudan. Moreover, none of those agreements comply with internationally accepted legal principles such as the United Nations Water Course Convention (1997). The Convention stipulates the equitable and reasonable utilization, obligation not to cause significant harm, exchange of data and information and peaceful settlement of disputes.