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Regional Cooperation Initiatives

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Nile Water Rights

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Abstract

Toward the end of the twentieth century, Nile Basin states intensified cooperative efforts, correlating with an increasing number of riparian states worldwide establishing joint institutions for their cooperation in managing and utilizing transboundary watercourses. The Nile riparian states’ attempts at collaboration have faced various challenges and for decades failed to produce a comprehensive management regime. This chapter describes the main regional cooperation initiatives along the Nile and their significance in the basin’s broader context. As such, it briefly addresses Hydromet, the Kagera Basin Organization, Undugu, TECCONILE, the Nile 2002 Conferences, and the Lake Victoria Basin Commission, before concentrating on the Nile Basin Initiative and its institutional structure and programs. This initiative, founded in 1999 as a temporary institution, still represents the fundamental institutional framework for broader and more meaningful cooperation among Nile riparian states. The Initiative has institutionalized cooperation both at a basin-wide level and at the level of the two major Nile sub-basins, facilitating improved cooperation and consensus. This has brought new depth to the cooperation. However, the success of the Initiative will ultimately be determined by whether or not it can enable the conclusion of a framework agreement that includes all riparian states and establishes a more permanent joint Nile Basin commission.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    On the cooperation initiatives along the Nile, see Brunnée and Toope (2002), pp. 132–140; ‘Alī Ṭāhā (2005), pp. 161–179.

  2. 2.

    See Oloo (2011), p. 160; ‘Alī Ṭāhā (2005), p. 161.

  3. 3.

    On Hydromet, see ‘Alī Ṭāhā (2005), pp. 162–163; Arsano (2006), p. 344.

  4. 4.

    Waterbury (2002), pp. 76–77; ‘Alī Ṭāhā (2005), pp. 162–163.

  5. 5.

    Taha (2010), p. 215.

  6. 6.

    Godana (1985), p. 260.

  7. 7.

    See Arsano (2006), p. 344; Taha (2010), p. 215.

  8. 8.

    See Waterbury (2002), pp. 76–77; Abseno (2009), p. 88.

  9. 9.

    Elemam (2010), p. 227; Taha (2010), p. 215.

  10. 10.

    Taha (2010), p. 215; Godana (1985), p. 260.

  11. 11.

    See Adar (2011), p. 175; Brunnée and Toope (2002), pp. 132–133.

  12. 12.

    Maḥfūẓ Muḥammad (2009), p. 484; Bosire (2011), p. 206.

  13. 13.

    The KBO was established by the Agreement for the Establishment of the Organization for the Management and Development of the Kagera River Basin (signed 24 August 1977), UNTS, Vol. 1089, p. 171. This agreement was amended with the accession of Uganda in 1981, see FAO (1997), p. 75.

  14. 14.

    Art. 2 Agreement for the Establishment of the Organization for the Management and Development of the Kagera River Basin (signed 24 August 1977), UNTS, Vol. 1089, p. 171.

  15. 15.

    Waterbury (1987), pp. 98–99.

  16. 16.

    See Adar (2011), p. 175; Brunnée and Toope (2002), pp. 132–133.

  17. 17.

    Insofar critical Godana (1985), p. 192.

  18. 18.

    See Baligira (2010), p. 54; Nkurunziza (2010), p. 24.

  19. 19.

    Bosire (2011), p. 208.

  20. 20.

    The name Undugu comes from the word “ndugu” in Swahili and means “brotherhood”, Collins (2000), p. 260.

  21. 21.

    Peichert (2002), p. 121.

  22. 22.

    See Arsano (2006), p. 345.

  23. 23.

    See e.g. Mekonnen (2010), p. 426.

  24. 24.

    For example Collins (2000), p. 260.

  25. 25.

    Mekonnen (2010), p. 426; Peichert (2002), p. 121.

  26. 26.

    Mekonnen (2010), p. 426. See also Collins (2002), p. 225.

  27. 27.

    Arsano (2006), p. 345.

  28. 28.

    Ibid., pp. 345–346; Brunnée and Toope (2002), pp. 133–134.

  29. 29.

    Caponera (1993), p. 659; Arsano (2006), p. 345.

  30. 30.

    Mekonnen (2010), p. 426.

  31. 31.

    Arsano (2006), p. 346.

  32. 32.

    Mekonnen (2010), p. 427.

  33. 33.

    Brunnée and Toope (2002), p. 134.

  34. 34.

    ‘Alī Ṭāhā (2005), pp. 172 and 179–180; Mekonnen (2010), p. 427.

  35. 35.

    See Brunnée and Toope (2002), pp. 133–134.

  36. 36.

    Arsano (2006), p. 346. Ethiopia had proposed in the Council of Ministers that the Action Plan should prioritize the drafting of a cooperative framework agreement for the Nile Basin, see Tadesse (2008), p. 18.

  37. 37.

    See e.g. Mekonnen (2010), p. 427; ‘Alī Ṭāhā (2005), p. 173; Adar (2011), p. 175; Tadesse (2008), p. 18.

  38. 38.

    Brunnée and Toope (2002), p. 135.

  39. 39.

    Oloo (2011), p. 158; Brunnée and Toope (2002), p. 135.

  40. 40.

    ‘Alī Ṭāhā (2005), p. 172; Brunnée and Toope (2002), p. 135.

  41. 41.

    Oloo (2011), p. 158.

  42. 42.

    See also ‘Alī Ṭāhā (2005), p. 172; Brunnée and Toope (2002), pp. 135–136.

  43. 43.

    The six Nile riparian states of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda form the EAC. The EAC was founded in 2000 as a regional intergovernmental organization by Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. Burundi and Rwanda joined in 2007 and South Sudan in 2016. The objective of the EAC is to expand and intensify cooperation between member states in the political, economic, and social fields. To this end, EAC countries established a customs union in 2005 and created a common market in 2010. In 2013, the Protocol on the creation of an East African Monetary Union was adopted which shall be implemented within 10 years. The ultimate goal of the regional integration is the formation of a political federation of East African states in order to create a strong and sustainable East African economic and political bloc. For detailed information on the EAC, see http://www.eac.int/ (accessed 30 June 2019).

  44. 44.

    Further cooperation initiated by the East African Nile riparian states alone, which also concern water use aspects of Lake Victoria, are the Lake Victoria Environmental Management Project (LVEMP) and the Lake Victoria Fisheries Organisation (LVFO), both established in 1994 with the aim to promote joint management and optimal use of Lake Victoria.

  45. 45.

    The Commission was established through the Protocol on Sustainable Development of Lake Victoria and its Basin of 29 November 2003.

  46. 46.

    Ward and Roach (2012), p. 68; see also Kagwanja (2007), pp. 321–322.

  47. 47.

    Kagwanja (2007), p. 326.

  48. 48.

    Ibid., p. 321.

  49. 49.

    Ward and Roach (2012), p. 68; Kagwanja (2007), pp. 330–331.

  50. 50.

    Similarly Brunnée and Toope (2002), p. 137; ‘Alī Ṭāhā (2005), p. 161; Swain (2002), p. 155.

  51. 51.

    Kaška (2006), p. 255.

  52. 52.

    Maḥfūẓ Muḥammad (2009), p. 485.

  53. 53.

    These were Burundi, DR Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda.

  54. 54.

    ‘Alī Ṭāhā (2005), p. 175; Vinogradov et al. (2003), p. 60.

  55. 55.

    NBI, Member States, http://www.nilebasin.org/index.php/south-sudan (accessed 30 May 2019). Under customary international law, a successor state does not automatically succeed to membership of international organizations enjoyed by the predecessor state. Accordingly, the new state of South Sudan, after its separation from Sudan, was subject to the admission procedure of the NBI. Sudan, on the other hand, is deemed identical with the predecessor state and therefore retains its membership. Generally on the succession to the membership in international organizations, see Bühler (2001), p. 288.

  56. 56.

    NBI, http://www.nilebasin.org (accessed 30 May 2019).

  57. 57.

    Salman (2013), p. 20.

  58. 58.

    Vinogradov et al. (2003), p. 60.

  59. 59.

    NBI, http://www.nilebasin.org (accessed 30 May 2019).

  60. 60.

    Tadesse (2008), p. 18; Check (2011), p. 92.

  61. 61.

    Brunnée and Toope (2002), pp. 140–141.

  62. 62.

    Ibid., p. 140. See also Whittington et al. (1995), pp. 167–168.

  63. 63.

    Swain (2008), p. 209; Ward and Roach (2012), p. 72.

  64. 64.

    Arsano (2006), p. 347.

  65. 65.

    See Salman (2013), p. 20.

  66. 66.

    NBI, Governance, http://www.nilebasin.org/index.php/nbi/governance (accessed 30 May 2019).

  67. 67.

    Ibid.

  68. 68.

    NBI, Nile-SEC, http://nilesec.nilebasin.org (accessed 30 May 2019).

  69. 69.

    See NBI, ENTRO, http://entro.nilebasin.org (accessed 30 May 2019). See also Sanchez and Gupta (2011), p. 368.

  70. 70.

    NBI, NELSAP, http://nelsap.nilebasin.org/index.php/en/ (accessed 30 May 2019).

  71. 71.

    In 2001, the Nile Basin Trust Fund was established by 10 development partners as a trust fund to support the pursuit of the NBI’s shared vision in a coordinated manner. The fund was administered by the World Bank and monitored by a committee representing donors, the NBI, and the World Bank. International donors financed basin-wide projects mainly through this trust fund. The fund was closed in 2015. On the Nile Basin Trust Fund, see World Bank (2016).

  72. 72.

    For detailed information on the programs of the NBI, see World Bank (2015), pp. 20–31.

  73. 73.

    See Council of Ministers of Water Affairs of the Nile Basin States, Policy Guidelines for the Nile River Basin Strategic Action Program, 1999, www.africanwater.org/Nile-TACPolicyGuidelines.html (accessed 30 May 2019).

  74. 74.

    Check (2011), p. 93.

  75. 75.

    Council of Ministers of Water Affairs of the Nile Basin States, Policy Guidelines for the Nile River Basin Strategic Action Program, 1999, www.africanwater.org/Nile-TACPolicyGuidelines.html (accessed 30 May 2019).

  76. 76.

    ‘Alī Ṭāhā (2005), p. 179; Brunnée and Toope (2002), p. 138.

  77. 77.

    Quoted at McCaffrey (2001), p. 247, note 104; Mason (2004), p. 194. See also ‘Alī Ṭāhā (2005), pp. 179–180.

  78. 78.

    For an overview of the components of this project, see NBI, Nile-Sec, Basin Cooperation Program, http://nilesec.nilebasin.org/index.php/what-we-do/basin-cooperation-program (accessed 30 May 2019).

  79. 79.

    Nicol (2003), p. 25; Elemam (2010), p. 230.

  80. 80.

    NBI, NELSAP Projects, http://nelsap.nilebasin.org/index.php/en/ (accessed 30 May 2019).

  81. 81.

    NBI, ENTRO Projects, http://entro.nilebasin.org/index.php/our-projects (accessed 30 May 2019).

  82. 82.

    See e.g. Nicol (2003), p. 25; Oloo (2011), p. 159; Elemam (2010), p. 230.

  83. 83.

    Nicol (2003), p. 25; Elemam (2010), p. 230.

  84. 84.

    To the same effect see ‘Alī Ṭāhā (2005), p. 194.

  85. 85.

    See also Godana (1985), p. 238.

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    Philine Wehling

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Wehling, P. (2020). Regional Cooperation Initiatives. In: Nile Water Rights. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-60796-1_7

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