As a water body that crosses numerous international political borders, the Nile River is subject to multiple disputes about water rights. Traditionally it is seen as the world's longest river flowing 6,700 kilometres (4,200 mi) through ten countries in northeastern Africa – Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Sudan and Egypt with varying climates. In terms of basin area of the Nile, Sudan has the largest size (1,900,000 km2 (730,000 mi2)) whereas, of the four major tributaries to the Nile, three originate from Ethiopia – the Blue Nile, Sobat and Atbara. The modern history of hydropolitics in the Nile Basin is very complex and has had wide ramifications both for regional and global developments.
Geography The following table demonstrates the water availability in each country within the Nile basin, and researchers' estimates of decrease in water availability to these countries, due largely to an increase in the countries' populations.
Sudan also has hydraulic potential and has created four dams in the last century. This has resulted in the development so far of 18,000 km2 (6,900 mi2) of irrigated land, making Sudan the second most extensive user of the Nile, after Egypt. While Egypt is highly dependent on the Nile, there are factors that may lead to conflict over the distribution of the Nile's water supply. For example, Egypt has such an agriculturally dependent economy. Further, Egypt is already dependent on virtual water imports, a strategy which may lead that country to attempt future water conflicts. Ethiopia's tributaries supply about 86 percent of the waters of the Nile. Over the years, the involved states have put agreements and treaties into place so that conflict can be controlled.
Egypt and the Nile Egyptian civilization has sustained itself utilizing water management and agriculture for some 5,000 years in the Nile River valley. The Egyptians practiced basin irrigation, a form of water management adapted to the natural rise and fall of the Nile River. Since around 3000 BCE, the Egyptians constructed earthen banks to form flood basins of various sizes that were regulated by sluices to floodwater into the basin where it would sit until the soil was saturated, the water was then drained, and crops planted. This method of agriculture did not deplete the soil of nutrients or cause salinization problems experienced by modern agricultural methods.
Treaties affecting Nile water use
April 15, 1891 – Article III of the Anglo-Italian Protocol Article III states that "the Italian government engages not to construct on the Atbara River, in view of irrigation, any work which might sensibly modify its flow into the Nile". The language used in this article was too vague to provide clear property rights or rights to the use of water.
May 15, 1902 – Article III of the Treaty between Great Britain and Ethiopia Article three of the treaty between Great Britain and Ethiopia has become one of the most contested agreements over the use of the Nile waters. The aim of this treaty was to establish the border between Ethiopia and the Sudan. One of its articles, number III, related to the use of Nile water. The English version, as reviewed by Britain and later by the Sudan, read: "His Majesty the Emperor Menilik II, King of Kings of Ethiopia, engages himself towards the Government of His Britannic Majesty not to construct or allow to be constructed any work across the Blue Nile, Lake Tana, or the Sobat, which would arrest the flow of their waters except in agreement with His Britannic Majesty’s Government and the Government of Sudan." The Amharic version, however, gave a different meaning and understanding to Ethiopia and "was never ratified by this country."
May 9, 1906 – Article III of the Agreement between Britain and Congo Article III of the Agreement between Britain and the Government of the Independent State of the Congo states "The Government of the independent state of the Congo undertakes not to construct, or allow to be constructed, any work over or near the Semliki or Isango river which would diminish the volume of water entering Lake Albert except in agreement with the Sudanese Government".
December 13, 1906 – Article 4(a) of the Tripartite Treaty Article 4(a) of the Tripartite Treaty (Britain-France-Italy) states “To act together... to safeguard; ... the interests of Great Britain and Egypt in the Nile Basin, more especially as regards the regulation of the waters of that river and its tributaries (due consideration being paid to local interests) without prejudice to Italian interests". This treaty, in effect, denied Ethiopia its sovereign right over the use of its own water. Ethiopia has rejected the treaty their military and political power was not sufficient to regain its use of the Nile water.
1925 Exchange of notes between Britain and Italy The notes concerning Lake Tana state: "...Italy recognizes the prior hydraulic rights of Egypt and the Sudan... not to construct on the head waters of the Blue Nile and the White Nile (the Sobat) and their tributaries and effluents any work which might sensibly modify their flow into the main river." Ethiopia opposed the agreement and notified both parties of its objections:
"To the Italian government: The fact that you have come to an agreement, and the fact that you have thought it necessary to give us a joint notification of that agreement, make it clear that your intention is to exert pressure, and this in our view, at once raises a previous question. This question which calls for preliminary examination, must therefore be laid before the League of Nations."
"To the British government: The British Government has already entered into negotiations with the Ethiopian Government in regard to its proposal, and we had imagined that, whether that proposal was carried into effect or not, the negotiations would have been concluded with us; we would never have suspected that the British Government would come to an agreement with another Government regarding our Lake." When an explanation was required from the British and the Italian governments by the League of Nations, they denied challenging Ethiopia’s sovereignty over Lake Tana.
May 7, 1929 – The Agreement between Egypt and Anglo-Egyptian Sudan This agreement included:
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