Ethiopia’s commitment to fair utilization of transboundary rivers exemplary: MoWE

Addis Ababa, July 24, 2024 (FBC) – The commitment Ethiopia has shown in ensuring fair utilization of transboundary rivers is exemplary, according to Ministry of Water and Energy (MoWE).

Ethiopia has been exerting efforts for the establishment of Nile Basin Cooperation Framework in order to ensure legal and just use of transboundary rivers in the past decade.

Water and Energy State Minister Abrha Adugna said Ethiopia is a country with strong principle of utilizing transboundary rivers for development through mutual benefit and cooperation.

He noted also that the country has been exerting unstinted effort to make sure that the use of resource has a legal foundation without changing its stance on fair and rational utilization among the Nile Basin countries.

In this context, the state Minister highlighted the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam as a demonstration of Ethiopia’s commitment to making the Nile Basin Cooperation Framework have legal basis.

The realization of the cooperation framework will open a new chapter of collaboration by abrogating the iniquitous colonial water treaties of 1929 and 1959.

The state minister noted that the framework will be an internationally endorsed legal agreement that explicitly rejects the unfair colonial agreements Ethiopia has been opposing.

“This can be taken as a big victory because the unjust agreements that gives all the wealth to one or two countries and we did not sign would be null and void, giving also lesson to other countries. So others should learn from this that resource cannot be taken by power, position, or quantity of production. I assume that this will give a lesson for many that we should abide by the law,” Abrha elaborated.

He further said “the aim is not to divide the water into fixed allotments but to create a fair platform where we can collectively address challenges and pursue improvements. The existing Nile Basin Initiative, lacking legal standing, will now serve as a consultative forum and a commission with binding authority.”

According to the Nile Basin Cooperation Framework Agreement, at least six basin countries must ratify the agreement in their respective parliaments and submit the ratified documents to the African Union before a joint commission can be formed.

Consequently, if South Sudan and Burundi, which have recently approved the agreement, deposit their ratified documents with the African Union, the formation of the joint commission will be possible.

For many years, only 4 countries have ratified the agreement. But as the cooperation framework agreement stipulates that the Nile Basin Commission can be established and implemented three days after the 6 signatory countries have fully completed the deposit process, it was not implemented, he explained.

Ethiopia remains committed to cooperating with other nations in ensuring the fair utilization and sustainable development of shared water resources, Abrha stressed.

Recall that Ethiopia was the first country to ratify the Nile Framework Agreement in 2013. Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi, and more recently, South Sudan, followed suit, as reported by ENA.