Agreement on the Nile River Basin Cooperative Framework presented to Parliament

The Agreement on the Nile Basin Cooperative Framework (CFA) was on Wednesday presented to the transitional national legislative assembly by Ruben Madol Arol, the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs.

By Benjamin Takpiny

The Agreement on the Nile Basin Cooperative Framework (CFA) was on Wednesday presented to the transitional national legislative assembly by Ruben Madol Arol, the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs.

The Agreement presented for deliberation establishes principles, rights and obligations to ensure long-term and sustainable management and development of the shared Nile waters.

Arol said that this agreement applies to the use, development, protection, conservation and management of the Nile River Basin and its resources, and also establishes an institutional mechanism for cooperation among the Nile Basin states.

The Speaker of the national transitional legislative assembly, Jemma Nunu Kumba submitted the agreement to the three committees of water resources and irrigation, legislation and justice and foreign affairs and international cooperation.

 John Agany Deng, the spokesperson of the the transitional national legislative assembly said that under the CFA, all countries within the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) where South Sudan belongs will have equitable share of the Nile waters.

“This cooperation agreement is something the region had to contribute to, and its has already been spelled out in the presentation of the minister, all the countries need to benefit from the water. We are not part of it because we were not a country by then when it was signed by other countries, and this framework needs to be evaluated by the Republic of South Sudan and we need to see ourselves in the use of the Nile water,” Agany told journalists after parliamentary session in Juba.

 He said that the committees will scrutinize the CFA and see whether South Sudan will benefit from it or not.

In 2010, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania were original signatories of the CFA with Burundi signing in February 2011.

The Democratic Republic of Congo is also expected to sign, while Egypt and Sudan have restrained from signing the deal because the deal seeks to provide equitable share of the Nile waters contrary to the colonial agreements which gave them large share of the waters.

Minister Arol said that countries within the NBI affirm the importance of the Nile River to the economic and social well-being of their people.

He also said that countries within the NBI are convinced that a framework agreement governing their relations with regard to the Nile River Basin will promote integrated management, sustainable development, and harmonious utilization of the water resources of the Basin, as well as their conservation and protection for the benefit of present and future generations.

The Republic of South Sudan was admitted to the NBI by the Nile Council of Ministers during their 20th  regular meeting held on 5 July, 2012 in Kigali, Rwanda.

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