- Title: KENYA / EGYPT: NILE RIVER WATER
- Date: 16th April 2004
- Summary: (L!1) KISUMU, KENYA (RECENT) (REUTERS) KENYAN FARMER BARNABAS CUTTING DOWN CANE ON HIS FARM (3 SHOTS) KENYAN FARMER WIFE & FARM HAND DIGGING SOIL ON FARM (5 SHOTS) (KENYA FARM SHOTS = 33 SECONDS) SOUNDBITE: (Kiswahili) BARNABAS OKWACH FARMER SAYING: "This treaty was written when our parents were probably children. It was a very long time ago but it does not benefit us.
- Embargoed: 1st May 2004 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: KISUMU, AHERO PLAINS, BUDALANGI AND NAIROBI, KENYA/CAIRO, EGYPT
- City:
- Country: Egypt Kenya
- Topics: Environment
- Reuters ID: LVADUNSH4A1X0A7IQVZ1Z07ZH05H
- Story Text: Pan African resource -- ten countries share the continent's longest river, so the use of the Nile's water is a hotly debated issue.
Barnabas Okwach has lived on the shore of Lake Victoria in western Kenya for most of his sixty-seven years. He has almost an acre of land -- not a big farm, but it's been in his family for generations.
He's raised his seventeen children off the produce he's grown over the years. But Barnabas has broken the rules; he's the only one here who irrigates his farm using water from the lake. His neighbours are too afraid to join him.
They've been warned from generation to generation not to use the water -- and most are not entirely sure why.
Barnabas knows the reason -- it's a treaty that was signed in 1929 by two countries that are many miles away from him -- Egypt and Britain. He says the treaty's stopping him from expanding his farm; he doesn't dare draw attention to himself by irrigating further inland.
"This treaty was written when our parents were probably children. It was a very long time ago but it does not benefit us. We don't have enough food here because of it."
Barnabas said.
Lake Victoria is the source of the world's longest river -- the Nile. The 1929 treaty gave Egypt control of the Nile, and all the water that feeds in to it. So Egypt can veto any use of Lake Victoria that could threaten the Nile's levels.
The river stretches over 6,000 kilometres through ten countries. Many of the sub-Saharan countries have, over the years, been pushing for what they say would be fairer use of the Nile's waters.
Egypt lies downstream of all the other countries and depends on the Nile to survive.
Over ninety-five percent of its water resources come from the river, and most Egyptians live in the fertile Nile Valley -- although it makes up only four percent of Egypt's available land.
The population's growing -- so Egypt's need for water is likely to increase.
Zakria Abdullah has been farming on the banks of the Nile for thirty years, growing mostly vegetables and rice.
He is naturally wary of any arrangement that might make it easier for countries upstream to use the water that sustains him.
"Water is our life and soul, without it we are lost.
Machines have helped us a little but if there is now water we die. Countries fight for water. Water is the main source of our living. Since the time of Pharaoh Egypt has depended on the Nile." He says.
Egypt's economy is built on farming; it's wealthier than most of the other basin countries, and more technologically advanced. So for many here, changing the status quo is out of the question.
The government's taken a rather more diplomatic stance.
Rather than argue over the treaty itself, they're trying to get sub-Saharan countries to look for other sources of water -- like rain, which is so scarce in Egypt.
In March, Water Ministers from the ten basin countries met in Kenya's capital Nairobi after East African countries threatened to break the treaty.
But in a surprising turn of events, the ministers dispelled all reports of tension between Egypt and East Africa. And rather than reviewing the treaty itself, they focused on alternative solutions -- coming up with development projects to improve collection of water -- which are unlikely to affect the levels of the Nile.
"We have to realise that the Nile Basin has tremendous potentialities which none of us have tapped or utilised so far. There is great hope and opportunities for all the people of the basin, and we should work towards that rather than creating issues." said Mahmoud Abu Zaid Egyptian water minister.
Kenya is also optimistic about the future.
"If we were satisfied with the status quo we wouldn't be meeting in this cooperative framework. So we are dealing with the reality as it is today and looking to the future and looking for a comfortable way forward." Said Martha Karua, Kenya's water Minister.
The people of Western Kenya also have another battle to fight. During the rainy season, the rivers that feed Lake Victoria overflow, causing flash floods. Last year alone, 30,000 people were forced to free from their homes. 40 died.
The government's yet to build any dykes or dams to control the flow of the water. To do so, it would need Egypt's approval -- under the 1929 treaty. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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