RIVER NILE NATIONS TO FIGHT ANOTHER WAR SOON

The River Nile dates back to the time of the famous Pharaohs of Egypt

RIVER NILE NATIONS TO FIGHT ANOTHER WAR SOON

BY ABDULMUMINI ADEKU.

Nations like Uganda, Ethiopia ,Sudan ,and Egypt ,Eritrea ,Burundi ,Rwanda ,Congo Kinshasa, Kenya may soon fight a major war if care  is not taken over the management of the resources of River Nile as it rips through Africa from the Delta around the Mediterranean Sea into Lake Victoria in Uganda where it empties its content.

In a fact finding, the Proprietor of Top Max City Schools in Lagos, Nigeria, Mr Jake Topa Peji told Paedia Express Multimedia that water plays a significant role in our daily lives and that a lot of battle by the military of nations around the River Nile will be fought very soon because of a large number of people competing for a limited resource.

He explained that some of the nations have fought a war in the past over River Nile  with Egypt promising to provide electricity after a truce was reached but sadly the land of the Pharaohs did not fulfill there promises after constructing the Aswan High Dam.

His Words"Do not forget that the Suez Canal is over the same River Nile and because Egypt broke its promises now Ethiopia is building about three dams on  the same River Nile"

"in the future I can assure you that a lot of war will be fought over water and its resources, in Darfur in Sudan ,the Janjaweed militia are fighting the natives and the government over water" In a desert country where 80,000,000 people are living off the water supplied by the river Nile… Egypt is facing a water crises.

The Nile has always been the life blood of Egyptian society and it’s importance can be dated back to the time of the Pharaohs.

Egypt gets almost all of its water from the Nile. The quality of the river water is seriously threatened by untreated industrial and agricultural wastes, sewage, and municipal waste-water. In addition, the Aswan High Dam, which was completed in 1970, has reduced the flow of the Nile and trapped the nutrient-rich silt, which once fertilized the country’s farmland, behind it.

To compensate for the loss of the silt, farmers make more use of chemical fertilizers, which add to the water pollution. To increase crop yields they use modern herbicides and pesticides, which also contribute to the pollution. Furthermore, the reduced flow of the river increases the concentration of pollutants in the remaining river water. The reduced amount of silt deposited in the Nile Delta has caused the delta to shrink, resulting in coastal erosion that threatens the lagoons that are important sources of fish. Finally, year-round irrigation, using the water impounded behind the Aswan High Dam, causes salts to accumulate in the soil, leading to the loss of some agricultural land.

The Aswan Dam,  completed in 1970 is being blamed for the loss of farmland, causing many traditional farmers to seek alternate employment in order to survive.

In a related story… Hundreds of people in the Egyptian town of Menoufia have fallen ill after drinking contaminated water raising further concerns over the Egyptian water crises.

Many experts from around the globe fear that water will become the “new oil”. Clean drinking water is a basic right and it has been speculated that wars will rage in the future over who owns the water supply.

In some parts of the world massive desalination plants are being built to meet the demands of an ever increasing population.

Egypt is expected to spend some $393.8m per year on building and operating desalination plants  by 2016 according to Desalination Markets 2010.

In the meantime there is real world solution to the water crisis in Egypt.

As we continue to pollute our water supplies and disrupt the river systems in order to generate hydro electricity… We will see an ever increasing water problem around the globe.

The other biggest factor in the water issue is the global population explosion.

If you are living in Egypt or have recently travelled there… Tell us of your experience with the water crises.

The Nile Basin Initiative  is a partnership among the Nile riparian states that “seeks to develop the river in a cooperative manner, share substantial socioeconomic benefits, and promote regional peace and security”. The NBI began with a dialogue among the riparian states that resulted in a shared vision to “achieve sustainable socioeconomic development through the equitable utilization of, and benefit from, the common Nile Basin water resources."^[1] It was formally launched in February 1999^[1] by the water ministers of nine countries that share the river: Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), as well as Eritrea as an observer. From its beginning the Nile Basin Initiative has been supported by the World Bank and by other external partners. The World Bank has a mandate to support the work of the NBI, as lead development partner and as administrator of the multi-donor Nile Basin Trust Fund.^[2] One of the partners is the "Nile Basin Discourse", which describes itself as "a civil society network of organizations seeking to achieve positive influence over the development of projects and programmes under the Nile Basin Initiative".^[3]

In May 2010, five upstream states signed a Cooperative Framework Agreement to seek more water from the River Nile — a move strongly opposed by Egypt and Sudan.^[4] Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania were original signatories with Burundi signing in February 2011.^[5] The DRC is also expected to sign, while Egypt and Sudan are not expected to do so. Representatives of upstream countries said they were "tired of first getting permission from Egypt before using river Nile water for any development project like irrigation", as required by a treaty signed during the colonial era between Egypt and Britain in 1929.^[6] The new agreement, once effective, is designed to replace the Nile Basin Initiative.