The Nile Council of Ministers establishes the Nile River Commission

The Nile Council of Ministers, Nile COM, (Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda,) held an extraordinary meeting in Kinshasa on Friday last week [22^nd May]. The meeting was convened by the current Chairperson of Nile COM, Minister Jose B. Endundo, the Environment Minister of the DRC, who had recently visited all the Nile Basin Riparian States to carry out consultations on the issues still outstanding on the Cooperative Framework Agreement (CFA). The chairperson noted that all states were eager to reach agreement and emphasized the importance of establishing the Nile River Commission as the foundation for cooperation. He also highlighted a number of other points: that the rainfall in the Nile Basin was highly variable, that infrastructure was still inadequate, that better agricultural development and improved trade relations were necessary and that environmental degradation posed grave dangers. Referring to the outstanding issues under Article 14(b), which has continued to be the sticking point in the negotiations, Minister Endundo said this was more of an issue of trust and confidence, and he proposed three alternative solutions to provide for the finalization of the Cooperative Framework Agreement: either deleting Article 14(b), or reformulating it; or as an alternative to set up a commission and allow for Article 14(b) to be considered by an international audit committee to fine tune the above article. After careful deliberation, in a closed meeting, Nile COM agreed on the third option. This would allow for a clean text of the CFA ready for presentation to the riparian states for signature and ratification, and leave the issue of Article 14(b) to the permanent Nile River Commission which will work to resolve the matter within six months of its formation. Egypt registered a reservation explaining its position on the matter; Sudan was not represented in the meeting when this decision was taken.

This is an historic decision which lays the ground for a lasting institutional and legal arrangement on the utilization of the Nile River by all riparian states. The Agreement will enter into force once it has been adopted by six states. It will enable the establishment of a Nile River Commission as the basin-wide river management organization. The most fundamental aspect of the Agreement is that it is rooted in accepted international principles of equitable and reasonable utilization of the water, of not causing significant harm, and of environmental protection of trans-boundary rivers. The CFA is the result of hard and relentless work by the negotiators from all the riparian states, working as a collective body. It now remains for each riparian state to undertake internal consultations to allow for the signing of the CFA and for its subsequent ratification by the legislative bodies of all the riparian states. This inclusive process has been the first of its kind for the Nile River and it has enjoyed sustained support from development partners through the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI). The shared vision of joint development and confidence-building measures and the number of multi-purpose projects, identified by the Subsidiary Action Programs of the Eastern Nile and Equatorial Lakes Region, have significantly helped to lay the foundation for the imminent establishment of the Nile River Commission. However, until the Commission gets actually under way, the NBI will continue its functions, programs, projects and, most critically, the work of preparing the ground for the Commission through the Institutional Strengthening Project. The next meeting of Nile COM will be in Egypt in July.