President Yoweri Museveni has called on Egypt to focus on increasing the quantity of water in the River Nile which has restricted the equitable use of the river across the basin. These agreements have been a longstanding source of disagreement between downstream and upstream countries along the Nile.
The President was represented by Vice President Jessica Alupo, at the 7th Nile Basin Development Forum (NBDF).
It’s important to note that the Nile produces an estimated 84 billion cubic meters of water annually, and the basin is home to a population of approximately 487.3 million people.
Museveni believes that shifting the focus to environmental conservation and protection will help increase the volume of water in the Nile. This, in turn, would allow all countries in the basin to use the river’s resources more fairly for various purposes, including agricultural production and electricity generation.
The President notes that this will potentially lead to increased production and greater use of clean energy from the Nile, which would benefit the entire basin. It would also help reduce the reliance on biomass energy sources and preserve the biodiversity in the Nile River catchment area.
These remarks are especially significant given Egypt’s recent reduced involvement in the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI), an organization it helped establish in 1999. The NBI was created to foster cooperation among Nile basin countries in managing shared water resources. However, Egypt’s participation has waned.