The 1959 agreement “For the Full Utilization of the Nile Waters”: The crux of the problem in the Nile Basin water use

Abstract

The introduction of the 1959 agreement between the United Arab Republic and Sudan for the full utilization of the Nile waters notes that the earlier 1929 agreement “….provided only for the partial use of the Nile waters and did not extend to include a complete control of the river waters….” (United Arab Republic and Sudan, 1963: 64). With this aim of “fully utilizing” and controlling the Nile water, Sudan and Egypt signed a new updated agreement on November 8, 1959. Neither Ethiopia nor the other upstream riparian countries, which are the natural sources of the water, were parties to this agreement. As a bilateral agreement between Egypt and Sudan, this agreement has no legal hold over Ethiopia or the other riparian counties. However, the ramifications of this agreement for water use in the Nile basin extends beyond the two countries in the agreement and affects the whole basin and hence merits analysis.