Negotiations for a Nile-Cooperative Framework Agreement

This paper aims to explain the geopolitical set-up of the Nile Basin, the processes of the upstream-downstream negotiations and cooperation.

This paper aims to explain the geopolitical set-up of the Nile Basin, the processes of the upstream-downstream negotiations, and the imperatives for upstream-downstream cooperation. It argues that the Nile basin countries must have a new agreement that paves the way for fresh and vibrant cooperation in the economic, environmental, security and legal/institutional spheres. These further enhance deeper cooperation in the cultural, scientific and technical fields among the riparian countries. In the final analysis, the paper concludes that a mutually acceptable cooperative engagement among the riparian nations in the Nile basin is `conditio sine qua non` for enhancing sustainable development in each country, as well as for achieving much desired peace and security among the riparian nations.

About the author

Dr Yacob Arsano is associate professor of political science & international relations, formerly Dean of the College of Social Sciences and chairman of the Department of Political Science & International Relations at Addis Ababa University. Currently he is a visiting professor at Uppsala University and the Nordic Africa Institute, Sweden, where he also serves as the Claude Ake Memorial Chair for 2010. His main research interest is hydropolitics of trans-boundary waters with a special focus on the Nile basin. His recent book is entitled Ethiopia and the Nile: Dilemmas of National and Regional Hydropolitics.