Cooperative Diplomacy, Regional Stability and National Interests: The Nile River and the Riparian States

Contents

iii The Nile River and the riparian states Contents Acknowledgements viii About the Editors ix About the Contributors xi Abbreviations, Acronyms and Concepts xiii Introduction: The Nile River Basin – An introductory context xvii Korwa G. Adar and Nicasius A. Check Physiographic and Statistical Appraisal of the Nile River Basin xx Politico-Legal and Conceptual Frameworks xxii Contents and Sections of the Book xxiii PART 1 TREATIES AND AGREEMENTS OF THE NILE RIVER BASIN: LEGAL QUESTIONS AND CASE STUDIES 1 The interpretation of the 1929 treaty and its legal relevance to and implications for the stability of the region 1 Patrick Loch Otieno Lumumba 1.1 Introduction 3 1.1.1 Is the Nile River part of res communis (common heritage of humankind)? 4 1.2 Historical Background 5 1.2.1 Salient features of the 1929 treaty 8 1.3 Interpretation of the 1929 Treaty 8 1.3.1 The 1929 treaty and third parties 13 1.3.2 The implications for regional stability: Making a case for more effective riparian dialogue 14 1.4 Latter-day Efforts: Agreement on the Nile River Basin Cooperative Framework, 2010 16 1.5 Conclusion and Policy Recommendations 17 2 The Democratic Republic of Congo and the Nile Cooperative Framework Agreement 23 André Mbata B. Mangu iv Contents Africa Institute of South Africa 2.1 Introduction 23 2.2 International Conventions under the DRC’s Constitutional Law 25 2.3 The DRC’s Position on the 1929 Egypt-Britain and the 1959 Egypt-Sudan Agreements on the Nile River 26 2.4 DRC’s Conflict and Involvement in the NBI 27 2.4.1 Background to the DRC’s involvement in the NBI: Conflict and foreign aggression 27 2.4.2 DRC’s involvement in the NBI 28 2.5 The DRC and the CFA 29 2.5.1 The CFA 30 2.5.2 General principles of the CFA 30 2.5.3 Rights and duties of the states under the CFA 31 2.5.4 The NRB Commission 31 2.5.5 The DRC and its role in the negotiation, signing and commencement of the CFA 34 2.6 Conclusion and Policy Recommendations 36 3 Cooperation between Egypt and Sudan over the Nile River waters: The challenges of duality 39 Biong Deng 3.1 Introduction 39 3.2 Research Questions on the Equitable Sharing of the Nile Waters 40 3.3 International Legal Theories and Conflict-resolution Mechanisms on Uses of Water Resources 40 3.4 Egypt and the 1929 Nile Waters Agreement 45 3.5 Egypt and the 1959 Nile Waters Agreement 48 3.6 Egypt’s Geopolitical Strategies and the Nile 50 3.7 Sudan and the Use of the Nile Waters 53 3.7.1 Sudan: Political developments and Egypt’s imprints 54 3.8 Cooperative Frameworks in the Nile Basin 59 3.8.1 The Nile Basin Initiative 60 3.9 Conclusion and Policy Recommendations 63 4 Ethiopia’s position on the Nile water agreements 67 Tesfaye Tafesse 4.1 Introduction 67 4.2 Appraisal of Nile Water Agreements 68 4.2.1 Rome, 15 April 1891 68 4.2.2 Addis Ababa, 15 May 1902 68 4.2.3 London, 13 April 1906 69 4.2.4 9 May 1906 70 4.2.5 7 May 1929 70 4.2.6 The 1959 agreement 71 4.3 Ethiopia’s Position with Regard to the Nile Water Agreements 73 4.4 The Cooperative Framework Agreement 75 4.5 Conclusion and Policy Recommendations 78 v Contents The Nile River and the riparian states 5 Rwanda and the Nile Cooperative Framework Agreement: Assessing the 1929 Nile treaty 85 Nicasius A. Check 5.1 Introduction 85 5.2 Conceptualising Transborder Water Management 87 5.3 History and Hydropolitics of the Nile Basin: Assessing the 1929 Nile Water Agreement 89 5.4 The Nile Basin Initiative 92 5.5 Rwanda’s Water Need 93 5.6 Nile Basin Cooperative Framework Agreement 95 5.7 Rwanda and the Nile Basin Cooperative Framework Agreement 97 5.8 Conclusion and Policy Recommendations 100 PART 2 NATIONAL AND REGIONAL INTERESTS IN THE NILE RIVER BASIN: COUNTRY CASE STUDIES 105 6 Burundi’s national interests and the Nile Basin Initiative 107 Jean S. Muntunutwiwe 7 The Nile River and Egyptian foreign-policy interests 131 Hamdy A. Hassan and Ahmad Al Rasheedy 7.1 Introduction 131 7.2 Egypt and the Nile Civilisations...