Thursday, February 28, 2013

Ethiopia calls for diplomatic solution for equal use of Nile water

(Feb 26,  ADDIS ABABA, (AFP))--Ethiopia on Thursday called for diplomatic negotiations, instead of confrontations, to find a solution for equitable use of the Nile River water by countries in its basin.

"We want to see equitable use of the Nile one way or the other, but we need to do it through negotiations and diplomatic understanding," Ethiopian water resources ministry spokesman Yetebark Mengesty said. "That is why we are working on the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI), with all Nile basin countries, on some projects which will lead us to equitable utilization of the Nile waters," Yetebark said.

"We need to build confidence among the countries, particularly Egypt and the people of Egypt, to show them our real need of the water and to make it clear that although we claim to own 86 percent of it, we are not saying we can do whatever we want with it," Yetebark stressed.

He was referring to Ethiopia being the source of the Blue Nile, which joins the White Nile from Lake Victoria in Sudan before the huge river flows on to Egypt. "Within the NBI, we have a project called D3, which aims at hammering out strategies and directions towards equitable utilization of Nile water, and by doing so, the Nile basin countries will be beneficiaries on equal footing," Yetebark added. Read more from Sudan Tribune »

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