By Abraham Telar Kuc.
For years tensions have been rising between the Nile river basin countries over the sharing and management of the Nile water, as Ethiopia, Uganda and many other countries questioning and refusing the water allocation percentages and the rights given to Egypt and Sudan in different agreements concerning Nile river water sharing, usage and management; saying that all the agreements governing the Nile water were signed between Great Britain and Egypt during the colonial era but former British colonies and current independent African nations are saying that all those agreements didn’t represent their interests and do not reflect their past and current needs because it allocate most of the Nile waters to two countries out of ten which are only Egypt and Sudan.
As a continued disagreement between Nile basin countries in 2010 Uganda, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, and Kenya signed the Cooperative Framework Agreement known as Entebbe agreement in Kampala- Uganda while Eritrea and the Democratic Republic of Congo did not singe the Agreement; with Egypt and Sudan boycotted the negotiations sessions and decline the signing of Entebbe agreement as it not preserve Egypt historic rights.
Adding more tensions Ethiopia uses its rights according to the provisions in CFA or Entebbe agreement; Ethiopia proceeded constructing its African largest dam under the name” the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD)” on the Nile which will have storage of around 74 billion cubic meters from Nile water.
All stakeholders and countries in the Nile river basin should cooperate and use the diplomatic means to help addressing disagreement and rising tensions concerning Nile water allocation and management. The diplomacy as a practice of human interaction has been there from the beginning of the organized society of states, Diplomacy as an art and practice in conducting and management of international relations through negotiations and treaties between certain states (Hamilton and Langhorne, 1995). And since it’s exiting in international relation system, diplomacy has been always a way of settling political and international differences, religious and ideological conflicts, boundaries dispute and other territorial conflict.
Regardless South Sudan is been protesting the Nile water distribution agreements signed between British, Egypt and Sudan in 1959, and considering it’s planning to sign and ratify 2010 Cooperative Framework Agreement of the Nile basin countries; but it did not join what know commonly as Entebbe Agreement and South Sudan maintain a very strong and strategic relations with all the Nile Basin countries specially Uganda, Ethiopia, Sudan, Egypt and others which could be great opportunity for South Sudan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation to initiate a diplomatic approaches to encourage the member states of the Nile Basin for diplomatic, political, socioeconomic, sports, arts and cultural engagements as cooperative means in the Nile Basin.
With South Sudan being a member of East Africa Community which includes Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, Burundi and South Sudan and all the mentioned countries make up six out of eleven members of the Nile Basin adding to that South Sudan, Ethiopia, Eretria and Democratic Republic of Congo some time face shaky and complexities relations but they have a stable diplomatic and cooperative relations; meanwhile South Sudan maintain stable and strategic bilateral relation with the Arab Republic of Egypt where their two government nearly agree on everything about their relations and cooperation.
In the same regarding with the Republic of Sudan the two countries are been recently shifting their relations to a very fruitful stage of their cooperation; the Ministry Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation in collaboration with relevant cultural and public diplomacy institutions such as office of the President, Ministry of Water Resources, Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, South Sudan Football Association, education and learning institution like the Institute for Peace, Development and Security Studies in the University of Juba, media houses and other related bodies which can help the Ministry Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation to develop diplomacy farm work initiative by creating different projects in the field of enhancing cooperation practice between the member countries.
A sit’s been stated clearly in the article 43 of the Transitional Constitution of South Sudan that Foreign policy of the Republic of South Sudan shall serve and promote the international cooperation between the United Nations members, African Union and the other regional bodies and organizations with respect to international laws establishing international order based human peace and security justice and common human destiny to achieve economic cooperation among worlds countries; South Sudan can be the middle ground for solving Nile Basin initiative.
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The author is Journalist, Blogger, TV Producer, Cultural, Political and Youth Activist, postgraduate student of Diplomacy and International Relation at the Institute of Peace, Development and Security Studies- University of Juba; and working currently with South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation and be contacted through E-mail : telar.abra@gmail.com or tell No : +211912577222
