Changing Power, Changing Tides: Conflicts over Water in the Nile Basin
The Nile Basin Initiative (NBI), founded by 9 out of 10 riparian countries in 1999 with backing from major donor institutions, has achieved some successes in its attempts to strengthen cooperation. Yet, since 2007, diverging interests between upstream and downstream countries have brought the negotiations on a Comprehensive Framework Agreement (CFA) to a standstill, pitting Egypt (and to a lesser extent Sudan) against upstream riparians, especially Ethiopia. In 2015, trilateral negotiations between these three countries on a major dam under construction in Ethiopia led to a framework agreement that may in time prepare the ground for a broader agreement.
For more detailed analyses on the background of the dispute over Water in the Nile Basin, see the factsheet.
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