BY: SINTAYEHU TAMIRAT
Ethiopia has announced that the Cooperative Framework Agreement (CFA), which came into force on October 13th, 2024, will significantly alter its water utilization practices on the Nile River. This news has raised concerns among downstream countries Sudan and Egypt.
Among several goals it entails, the CFA aims to establish the Nile River Basin Commission, which would inherit all the rights, obligations and assets of the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI), which was launched in 1999.
Briefing media on the coming into force of the CFA Monday Oct. 14, 2024, Ethiopian Minister of Water and Energy, Habtamu Itefa (PhD) congratulated citizens across the Nile basin on the achievement.
“As of yesterday, the CFA became a binding principle, rule and regulation, so I’d like to congratulate not only Ethiopians but also all the entire citizens of Nile Basin member states. It’s a wonderful achievement for all of us who have been demanding justice and equal rights to utilize our water resource.
Unprecedentedly, the CFA is inclusive and representative of all riparian states, he said. “All the previous agreements over the Nile River were not inclusive. Why we are critically viewing the CFA is because all the agreements on the Nile Basin were not inclusive. They were formulated for few groups of people downstream and ignored the people upstream.”
The minister also underscored how the CFA will address the injustice over the Nile water use. “We strongly believe that previously there was injustice regarding how the Nile has been utilized specially affecting upstream states. Nonetheless, with this CFA no one gets harmed for it is inclusive and representative of both upstream and downstream states. It is about not leaving any riparian state behind without benefiting from the Nile.”
Pointing out a case for his remark, he said Ethiopia, the contributor of 85% of the Nile water, had no say within the previous agreements on the River, “but now with the CFA, we Ethiopians and other riparian states, especially upstream, can sit together and plan for the betterment of our efforts of utilizing the Nile water resources.”
Despite Ethiopia’s and other upstream states posture over the progress made with the CFA, the Permanent Joint Technical Committee for the Nile (PJTC), which works only for Sudan and Egypt and had a two-day session in Cairo just before the coming to force of the CFA, said in a statement it rejects the agreement.
“The six-state commission established on the basis of the incomplete draft of the CFA cannot, under any circumstances, be considered representative of the Nile Basin as a whole.”
Egypt and Sudan, who strongly need to maintain the 1929 and 1959 agreements over the Nile and view the CFA as a violation to these colonial-era contracts, which did not involve none of the upstream states, said with their PJTC statement restoration of “inclusiveness within the initiative is the best way to achieve a comprehensive and permanent framework for cooperation in the Nile Basin.”
Reacting on this, the Ethiopian Minister of Water and Energy said what the PJTC Committee’s statement shows the need for sustenance of hydro-hegemony and undermining the other nine Nile riparian states.
“They say permanent committee, but they are two countries. This is what we say hydro-hegemony. We believe that the committee to talk on the Nile basin need to include all the 11 member states of the basin,” he said.
Minister Habtamu also urged downstream states to settle concerns on the CFA through an inclusive dialogue in a way that all countries along the basin can benefit from the Nile and without letting anyone behind.