Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga said a new framework agreement on redistributing Nile water signed by his country along with four other sub-Saharan African countries will replace the old agreement, after declaring yesterday that Egypt’s quota from the Nile won’t be changed.
“Of course any new agreement cancels the previous one,” said Odinga during a joint press conference with his Egyptian counterpart, Ahmed Nazif. “I’m talking about actions, not intentions, and I assure you, as I assured Mr. Mubarak yesterday and Mr. Nazif today, that neither Kenya nor any other basin country has any intention of affecting Egypt’s rights or its annual quota,” he said.
Odinga denied his country had been under foreign pressures when signing the agreement, even though it hesitated for a week before signing.
“In Kenya, we know that the Nile is Egypt and Egypt has been the Nile since the Pharaohs,” he added.
The Egyptian government responded through continuing its policy of developing friendly relations with Nile basin countries. Amin Abaza, the minister of agriculture and land reclamation, declared a comprehensive plan for cooperation with Nile basin countries, including Kenya.
Football seems to be part of the plan. Samir Zaher, head of the Egyptian Football Association, called for holding some friendly matches in Cairo next January.
Nazif asserted that there were no disputes concerning Egypt’s historical rights, clarifying that the debate surrounds only the wording of an article on Nile water security, and that a solution to the issue could be found.
Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources Mohamed Nasr Eddin Allam also mentioned that Egypt had received a number of students from Nile basin countries to study at Egyptian universities, sponsored by Egyptian businessmen.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
