سد النهضة : وضعه القانوني، و أثره على الأمن القومي في حوض النيل

الملخص EN

The River Nile is the longest river in the world.

Its length from the southern upstream to the northern downstream “the Mediterranean sea”, is 6650 Kilometers.

It has many tributaries.

The most important tributaries originate from the tropical lakes gathering in the White Nile that streams from the 2nd biggest lake in the world (Victoria lake).

This tributary supplies the River Nile with 14% of water.

The other tributary is the rivers of the Ethiopian plateau that feed the River Nile with 86% of water.

The Blue Nile is considered the most important river of the Ethiopian plateau.

It supplies the River Nile with 59 % of water.

The total water of the River Nile is estimated with 84 billion cubic meters in the Egyptian city of Aswan.

The Ethiopian government is currently constructing a huge water project “The Renaissance Dam”.

This project creates a state of disagreement between Ethiopia; the country dominating the water supplies of the River Nile, and Egypt that has a historical acquired right in the River Nile.

Egypt depends in its demands on the principle of the fair and reasonable utilization stipulated in the provisions of international law.

It also sees that this dam will decrease its water allotment guaranteed for Egypt by previous international agreements.

In spite of the length and huge amounts of water in the upstream of the River Nile, it is considered one of the poorest rivers in the light of the water amount pumped to the downstream areas.

This constitutes the main factor for conflict between the countries of Nile Basin that witness a continuous increase of population.

Accordingly, their water needs have increased.

Moreover, the climate changes and environmental deterioration impacting the River Nile region play an important role in the increment of water needs in the Nile Basin countries.

The main problem is that the countries of downstream “Egypt and Sudan” are sharing the River Nile water coming to Aswan according to agreements mutually signed by both countries in 1929 and 1959.

By such agreements, Egypt and Sudan shares of water were successively 55.5 and 18.5 billion cubic meters of water.

The remaining amount of water is subject to evaporation from the High Dam lake in Egypt that includes about ten billion cubic meters of water.

This enrages the upstream countries ; especially Ethiopia, that has made efforts for utilizing all its water resources by putting a long-term plan for constructing some dams for saving water.

The Renaissance dam is the one creates the current conflict.

The current disagreement between Egypt and Ethiopia on the Renaissance Dam is an international conflict on an important natural resource; water.

Water is the lifeline and a main factor for development base.

It is a base for stability and welfare for all peoples.

Some international studies predict that water shares will be decreased by 2030.

Therefore, Egypt, that depends on the River Nile by 90 % of its national economy, should put water case on the head of its priorities to be a national security issue.

On the other side, Ethiopia that suffered in the previous decades from famines, in spite of its rich water resources, should use all possible ways for utilizing its water resources in order to achieve the economic development and welfare of the Ethiopian people.

The Egyptian-Ethiopian conflict on water has originated by the end of 19th century ; the era of European colonization of Africa.

There were many agreements demonstrating this conflict.

The agreement signed by Britain and Italy in 1890 on the utilization of the Blue Nile water.

There was also another convention in 1902 between Ethiopia emperor, after Ethiopia independence, and Britain who represented both Egypt and Sudan.

The agreement signed by Egypt and Britain; representing Sudan, in 1929 was another attempt for settling any futuristic disputes.

After the independence of all Nile Basin countries, an agreement between Egypt and Sudan has been made in 1959.

All these agreements tried to settle the escalating conflict on the Nile water.

Unfortunately, no agreed upon provisions satisfying all Nile Basin countries have been drafted.

The conflict has culminated after signing an agreement on the Nile water sharing by the Nile Basin countries in May, 2010.

The representatives of such countries met in the Ugandan city “Entebbe” and signed “Entebbe Agreement”.

Egypt, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

In March 2013, the Republic of South Sudan declared that it would sign Entebbe Agreement.

In April 2011, the former Ethiopian prime minister “Meles Zenawi” put the foundation stone for the Renaissance Dam.

Subsequently, Egypt and Sudan declared that they completely refused the construction of this dam.

However, Sudan expressed its formal acceptance on renaissance dam construction, and turned to be a mediator between Egypt and Ethiopia.

The negotiations between Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia agreed on formation of an international tripartite commission in order to evaluate the Ethiopian studies on the dam.

In 31 May 2013, the commission recommended in its report with reviewing and completing the structural, hydrological, environmental, economic, and social studies on the under-construction dam.

However, Egypt and Ethiopia disagreed on getting the help from international experts to be members in the commission evaluating the studies on renaissance dam.

So, the commission stopped working many times in 2014.

But the representatives of Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan met in August in the same year, and agreed on forming an quadripartite commission including experts from the three countries.

Moreover, they decided to request an international consulting company for preparing the two additional studies on the project of the Ethiopian dam.

The final declaration of this meeting announced the selection of international experts for settling any disputes that may rise.

Furthermore, the tripartite agreement confirms on the three countries commitment to agree upon specific rules for filling the dam’s storage reservoir and annual operation according to the findings of the required studies.

The three countries agreed to make a permanent coordinative technique for cooperating on the dame operation to avoid any damages affecting the interests of downstream countries.

By the beginning of 2016, the discussions on the renaissance dam achieved high level of understanding.

The concerned countries agreed on the international commission and nominated the international experts.

The international technical offices were selected and two French consultations bodies were authorized to examine all environmental and social impacts resulting from the dam construction.

Finally, an accord concerning these points was made in September 2016.

The concerned countries determined the date of the final report presented by the technical offices to be in September 2017.

However, this accord came into force in March 2017, so the final report should be in February or March 2018.

Although the above-mentioned political and diplomatic activities, the engineering preparations of the renaissance dam project are rapidly made.

Many Ethiopian officials have recently declared that more than 75% of the dam project had been made.

Accordingly, this dam turns to be a real situation that should be recognized and dealt with in order to maximize the benefits and gains for all parties, and avoid any possible negative consequences.

Each party involved in this case depends on legal evidences that are acceptable and considerable according to the international law provisions.

Therefore, all parties should resort to negotiation as the only way for maintaining the common interests.

The enhancement of cooperation between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan will assist in achieving all desired goals and sustaining the national security in the Nile Basin countries.

In 23 March 2015, a summit including the presidents of Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan was held.

The three countries presidents agreed on an agreement called “The Declaration of Principles”.

It includes then main principles for maintaining the Egyptian water rights and resources.

These principles are in conformity with the general rules of international law principles governing the use of the international rivers.

The principles of Declaration are as follow: • Cooperation.

• Economic development and integration, • Commitment to not causing significant damage for any country.

• Fair and appropriate use of the Nile water.

• Cooperation on the first filling of dam’s storage reservoir and annual operation.

• Trust building.

• Exchange of information and data, • Maintaining the Dam safety and security.

• Respecting the sovereignty and the unity of the three countries.

• The peaceful settlement of disputes.