Could the north African battle over the Nile river become the world's first water war?:
The Democratic Republic of the Congo and Burundi have not signed yet either and analysts are divided on whether they will or not. Six Nile countries must sign the agreement for it to have any power but Egypt says even that wouldn’t change its mind. The five signatories — some of the world’s poorest countries — have left the agreement open for debating and possible signing for up to a year.
Tensions were clearly still running high after two days of negotiations in Addis and despite grinning around the table and constantly referring to each other as “my brother”, the ministers always seemed in danger of breaking into bickering.
When the Sudanese water minister said his country was freezing cooperation with the Nile Basin Initiative — the name given to the ten-year effort to agree on how to manage the river — Ethiopia’s water minister loudly protested to the media that his Sudanese colleague had not revealed that during their private meetings.
However interesting a read this story is though, the real gem comes in the comments at the end of the article:
Posted by Ethio:So the Nile is a God-given resource like the oil in Sudan or the pyramids in Egypt??? Uh, I know the average African who sputters on about "colonials" and "elders" isn't particularly bright, but in any of those histories you want people to read did you happen to notice the bit about how Egyptians built the pyramids themselves? God didn't give that to the denizens of the Nile delta, they did it on their own.
The treaty that has been signed during the period when the colonial power was in a position to impose their will on Ethiopian leaders never ratified by Ethiopians and the rest nations (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, etc). It has never been accepted and will not be accepted by Ethiopians. We don’t care if some groups came together and sign only for their own sake. Blue Nile is a God given resource for Ethiopians as Sudan has oil and Egypt possesses its own Pyramid and other resources. No one let me repeat it; no one has a legal base to stop Ethiopians and the rest people from using our precious resources. And for this, we will pay what ever the cost will be; we are a brave and reactive if some one tries to impose us, go to read our respected histories: who we are.
We will never repeat the mistake that has been made by our elders. From now on wards, no more for free we will give them water and they will provide us oil, it should be mutual. What surprised me is their cheap say, they said we don’t have water; we are totally dependent on it. Yes no doubt, every nation has its own recourses and ever nation is buying from others to satisfy its own need. This can be the only solution.
We Ethiopians call to Nile “Abbay” and Abbay is our blood!!!
Which just leads us to the notable fact that Africa still has trouble with: as the cradle of civilization why are there no pyramids or historic constructs in the rest of Africa.
