A 40-member Egyptian delegation has held talks with Uganda's president on a new treaty signed by upstream countries for the equitable sharing of Nile waters, an official said Thursday.
The Egyptian delegation reportedly included three potential presidential candidates, Ayman Nour, Hamdeen Sabahy, and Hisham al-Bastawisi, as well as representatives from the Muslim Brotherhood and other political groups.
Former President Hosni Mubarak’s government had long clashed with Nile Basin countries over the issue of water resources, in what is widely perceived in Egypt as one of the late government’s foreign policy failures. This was the first visit by an Egyptian delegation to a non-Arab African country since Mubarak resigned on 11 February.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni told the Egyptians that all Nile states should equally benefit from the waters over which Egypt and Sudan have long retained 90 percent control by virtue of a colonial-era treaty.
The visit came after Burundi last month signed a new deal reached by other upstream countries, paving the way for its ratification to strip Egypt and Sudan of what the two countries consider their Nile water rights.
"They met the president and they discussed the sharing of the Nile water," said Tamale Mirundi, Museveni's spokesman. "Our president was categorical; he said it must be a win-win situation for all [countries]."
Burundi joined Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Kenya in agreeing to the deal, which is to be ratified by the countries' parliaments.
The countries want to implement irrigation and hydropower projects without first seeking Egypt's approval.
For decades, Egypt held veto rights over all upstream projects, following powers granted by a 1929 colonial-era treaty with Britain.
The Ugandans and Egyptians agreed that the development of industry and service-based economies in Nile Basin countries would solve natural resource problems in the region, a Ugandan newspaper reported.
