Ethiopia can have the power and Egypt the water

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A conference titled “The Nile is a Cooperation not a Clash” was held on April 5 by the Arab Healthy Water Association.

International water-law experts offered an integrated vision of the dangers that would emanate from the Renaissance Dam and the ways to prevent them.
Maghawri Shehata, an international water expert and president of the conference, told Azzaman that the experts taking part in the conference will clarify the reality of the water situation, the water crises and shortages in Egypt’s share of the Nile’s waters.
Shehata noted that for the first time, the conference would discuss the report of the tripartite technical committee on the assessment of the environmental and technical impact of the dam on the two downstream countries, and on the danger of Ethiopian plans to build a series of dams on the security of Egypt’s water. This issue will be discussed by Mohamed Nasr Allam, former Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation, in a working paper — which will be submitted to the conference — in a technical and neutral way, so that facts will be clarified without exaggeration or underestimation.
He added that in a study conducted by Mufid Shehab, head of the Egyptian branch of the International Law Association, the conference would present the legal aspects and the chronology of the issue. He will also talk about how Egypt can apply its legal rights to use the waters generated by the Renaissance Dam and to secure its share of water in general, according to the documents, conventions and treaties that Egypt has signed, and under the Law of Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses.
He noted that the conference would be discussing a study on the political dimensions of Egypt’s water security within the framework of Egypt’s water policy in the Horn of Africa. The study will be presented by Mohammad Salman Taya, a professor in the Faculty of Economics and Political Science at Cairo University.
He added that the conference aims at finding solutions to ensure a win-win situation — namely to ensure Ethiopia has the power and Egypt the water — by developing a map that would allow the upstream and downstream countries to reap the benefits of the Renaissance Dam. He pointed out that the conference will prepare a report that consists of the suggested solutions to the crisis of the Renaissance Dam and will submit it to the relevant authorities and institutions, most notably the presidential and governmental institution.