Ethiopia refused to negotiate with Mubarak’s regime over water, believing no one could stop its projects on the Nile – British Documents

Ethiopia refused to negotiate with Hosni Mubarak’s regime over the Nile water issue, believing that no one could stop it from pursuing its projects on the river’s source, according to declassified British documents. The documents also reveal that the UK had predicted, 36 years ago, that Egypt would face water shortages throughout the remainder of the 21st century due to the “improbability of an agreement” among the nine Nile Basin states regarding water distribution. In February 1988, Egypt, Sudan, Uganda, and Zaire signed an agreement to establish an international committee on drought and Nile waters. British officials considered this an encouraging move, but a limited one. Their assessment described the agreement as a “very small step” since it excluded key […]