The Nile: Why is Egypt Agitated?

Egyptian president Mohamed Mursi’s rhetoric and threats can’t go without being reprimanded. Mursi was quoted as saying, "I confirm that all options are open to deal with this subject," He added, "If a single drop of the Nile is lost, our blood will be the alternative."

Another source quoted Younis Makhyoun, leader of an ultraconservative Islamist party as saying, "If all this fails, then there is no choice left for Egypt but to play the final card, which is using the intelligence service to destroy the dam,"

Mursi was reacting after Ethiopia started constructing The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam that will produced 6000 MV. When Mursi dispatched his threats Ethiopia’s PM Hailemariam Desalegn was in Beijing meeting his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang after meeting with President Li Jinping. He was quoted as saying that the project is 'unstoppable' and that Egypt must be mad shall it think about war.

How many times ‘many drops’ were lost and Egypt did not do anything. It started when Tanzania wanted to divert water from Lake Nyanza to nourish dry central regions in the country. Despite Egypt’s barking, Tanzania stood its ground and the project was executed as planned.  Up till now, the first phase of the project has already been completed and Egypt has nary done anything.

At the time Mursi issued his empty outbursts Ethiopia parliament endorsed a New Initiative that annuls the 1929 colonial treaty that dubiously gave Egypt an upper hand over Nile waters.  Five other Nile-basin countries - Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya and Burundi have already endorsed a new Nile River Co-operative Framework Agreement that annuls the former. This speaks volumes when it comes to who should have an upper hand over Nile.

 To counter Mursi’s threat Ethiopia was quoted by BBC as saying, "We have a principled stance on the construction of dams. We are determined to see our projects brought to completion."

If Egypt wants to fight over waters that are out of its territory it means that in the future should we fight over clouds hovering over another country simply because they can drift to our country and bring rain?

Canada has the largest clean water in the world that the most powerful nation on earth US needs the most. Again, there’s no time in the history of these two neighbours that they've flexed their muscles against each other just over water.

Methinks water even clouds become the property of a country after the same enters the territory of the said country.  A simple example is of elephants living in Tanzania. These elephants become Kenyan property once they enter its territory. Again, once they cross the border from Kenya to Tanzania they become Tanzania’s property per se as they’re Kenyan property per se.

When it comes to the use of Nile waters, Egypt wrongly and arrogantly thinks has an upper hand. It has reached the stage whereby Egypt has tried to teach the upper regions how to use the water of Nile. Egypt normally bases it claim on the colonial treaty that British colonialist enacted. Who signed the said treaty while current countries were nonexistent legally?

For Egypt to legally employ this bogus treaty, it must deny the independence of the upper Nile countries.

Any war over Nile will suck in all upstream countries knowing that if they don’t aid their colleague over Nile enemy, they’ll follow suit shall one of them be defeated. China ---that’s constructing the disputed dam--- will also be sucked in shall war break.  Ethiopia can use water as a weapon to annihilate Egypt shall war break. After all, Egypt currently can’t confront any country militarily thanks to being paralyzed by her home problems since the Arab Spring kicked in. Egypt’s economy is not in shape currently and international financial institutions have chipped in to help subjecting it under tough conditions.

Essentially, Mursi is issuing threats not just to fulfill them. He does so to please, and thereby, win the confidence of his electorates and citizenry.

Suffice it to say, Mursi needs to face reality and negotiate a deal regarding how to benefit from Nile water instead of basing his claim on pseudo and dubious legal and colonial fallacy. Upper-stream countries are independent country. Joke aside, it laughably striking. Upper-stream countries did not append their signatures on an illegal treaty Egypt bases its claims on. Egypt should stop making a big deal out of nothing.

Source: The African Executive Magazine June 19, 2013.