By Patrick Jaramogi
New Vision

LIBYA’s quest to use the River Nile water for development in the desert country has been rejected by the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) member states, a senior official has disclosed.

The New Vision learnt that the formal request by the Libyan president, Col. Muammar Gaddafi, was rejected by the ministers from the ten countries supplied by the River Nile.

They are Burundi, Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, DR Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Sudan and Uganda.

The revelation came during a meeting at the Imperial Resort Beach Hotel in Entebbe.

“Libya put forward an appeal to join NBI so as to benefit from the Nile waters, but the water ministers from the Nile basin saw no merit in Libya joining,” said Gordon Mumbo, the NBI programme manager.

Mumbo, who was addressing journalists at the Nile Resort Hotel, said the ministers wondered why Libya insisted on joining the Nile Basin Initiative yet it was hundreds of miles away from the River Nile.
“Their objective was not clear. But we presumed that following the drying up of Lake Chad, they wanted to make the best use of the Nile.”

Commenting on the negotiations on the sharing of the River Nile, Mumbo said 38 of the 39 articles formalising the formation of the Nile Basin Commission were signed.

“The ministers failed to resolve Article 14, which talks about the security of the Nile, and referred the matter to their respective heads of state,” he explained.
He noted that it was upon the presidents to resolve the issue.

Mumbo regretted that Egypt and Sudan had refused to adhere to the new terms stipulating the utilisation of the Nile waters.

“It will be a disaster for countries that do not ratify the articles because they will lose out and suffer dire consequences,” he warned.

The water ministers promised to resolve the contentious issues regarding the joint sharing of the River Nile by the states.