International Water Law, International Agreements, and the Eastern Nile Dispute

Authors

  • Author

  • Sahar Farid Yousef

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31430/WBPC1949

Keywords:

The Nile Basin, Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, International Water Law, Nile Basin Initiative, Cooperative Framework Agreement

Abstract

There is no supranational authority that can solve international water disputes; thus, the UN Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses (UN Watercourse Convention) may be the answer. However, as is shown in this article, when it comes to the Eastern Nile water dispute, namely between Egypt and Ethiopia, both sides can use different articles of the UN Watercourse Convention to support their legal arguments. As a result, there is little that the UN Watercourse Convention can offer to solve this dispute. This article summarizes the relevant articles of the UN Watercourse Convention and discusses the contentious, historical treaties that allocated the rights to the Nile River water over the past century. The paper also discusses how both Egypt and Ethiopia can use principles from the international water law to support their legal position rendering the dispute difficult to be solved legally. Thus, we turn to a discussion of the current state of the recent initiatives to solve the ongoing water dispute between the riparian countries in the Nile River Basin. The article concludes with the current state of dispute after the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile.

Author Biography

  • Sahar Farid Yousef
    أستاذة مساعدة، برنامج اقتصاديات التنمية، معهد الدوحة للدراسات العليا.

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Published

2023-11-01

Article dates

Received: August 20, 2023 Revised: May 18, 2023 Accepted: June 3, 2023

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Issue

Vol. 11 No. 064-065 (2023): Issue 064-065

Section

Studies

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Copyright (c) 2023 Sahar Farid Yousef (Author)

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