AFRICA: Ministers appeal for more funding to tap rivers' potential

Government ministers from 19 African nations appealed on Wednesday for more international financing to help them tap the enormous potential of the continent’s rivers. They warned that funding was a major obstacle preventing them from taking advantage of the economic potential of Africa's waterways. The ministers' comments came at the close of a two-day meeting in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, that marked the beginning of Africa's dialogue on the use of its water resources. But ministers aiming to better utilise three main river basins that run through the 19 countries - the Nile, the Zambezi and the Senegal - told journalists that hurdles remained. “There is great potential for hydroelectric power in Ethiopia,” that country’s minister of water resources, Shiferaw Jarso, said at a press conference. “There is no country that has developed without utilising its water resource, by management of its water resource, either by irrigation or drainage. But our goal now is for future investment in water resources, especially in areas like hydropower.” Ugandan water minister Maria Mutagamba echoed his view, stressing that money was needed to back good projects in Africa. “We are finance strapped so we need to establish how we are going to get the finance to support these ideas,” Mutagamba told journalists. Egyptian water minister Mahmoud Abu-Zeid said that through effective management, countries could set up “win-win” projects where all nations benefitted. He said cooperation between Ethiopia and Egypt was at an all-time high as they both sought to harness the benefits of the Nile. A mere four percent of the continent's fresh water is being properly utilised, according to the African Development Bank. Finance sources told IRIN that billions of dollars would be needed to begin establishing infrastructure to fully harness the rivers in Africa. But even so, analysts were hailing the conference as a major breakthrough in bringing together governments to discuss ways of developing the potential of the continent's rivers. More than two-thirds of Africa's 60 river basins are shared by more than one country. The United Nations Development Programme warned in a recent report that water wars could flare up in those areas as they competed for scare resources. The ministerial roundtable on ‘Africa’s Experience of International Waters’ was established so that governments could develop joint plans to use rivers on the continent.