Kenyan Minister of Water Charity Ngilu has slammed Egypt and Sudan after the two nations refused to endorse the agreement for the Nile Water Basin Cooperative Framework.
The minister accused the two countries of trying to monopolise the resources from the Nile.
She added that Kenya and six other nations had endorsed the agreement, which provides for the Nile Water Basin Cooperative Framework.
“We are being held back by Egypt and Sudan, but we are talking to them to reconsider their position,” she said, adding that Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, DR Congo and Ethiopia had endorsed the agreement.
She said Egypt and Sudan want to review Article 4 of the framework which says that the “countries of the Nile Basin have agree, in a spirit of cooperation, not to significantly erode the water security of any other Nile Basin country.
“Egypt and Sudan want to change the clause to read: ‘The Nile Basin States agree, in a spirit of cooperation, not to adversely affect the water security and current uses and rights of any other Nile Basin State’.”
Ngilu said the seven countries which had endorsed the agreement could go ahead to implement the provisions of the pact with or without Egypt and the Sudan.
“We can no longer wait for Egypt and Sudan,” said Ngilu, who chairs the nine-member council of ministers of the basin.
