The Ethiopian Government is pressing Burundi and the DR Congo to sign the new River Nile sharing agreement to allow the upstream River Nile countries of Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Burundi, Rwanda and DR Congo use the River Nile water to develop infrastructure like Hydro-electric power dams without the consent of the River Nile lower stream countries of Egypt and Sudan.

Karuma falls on river Nile

Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, and Rwanda recently signed the new water sharing agreement in the Uganda town of Entebbe. Egypt and Sudan refused to sign the agreement because it threatens their use on the River Nile waters.

The signatories of the agreement agreed to collectively work towards conserving river Nile and equitably using it’s water.

The existing agreement which the River Nile upstream countries are resisting was made during the colonial times and allows Egypt and Sudan to use over 80 percent of the river Nile water.

Meanwhile, water ministers from the ten Nile Basin countries are meeting today in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa to discuss water sharing of the Worlds longest river.

A video of the signing of the new river Nile framework agreement

Also see

River Nile treaty talks hit deadlock

Four nations sign Nile agreement

Egypt warns that new Nile agreement could prove a ‘death sentence’

Disputed Nile agreement signed

Solomon Akugizibwe, Ultimate Media