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Regional conference seeks agreement on sharing Nile waters

    NAIROBI

    A two-day conference of water ministers from 10 states with claims on the water of the Nile river opened in Addis Ababa on Wednesday, with calls for cooperation on the sustainable and equitable use of the river's water resources. The incoming chairman of the Nile Council of Ministers (Nile COM), Ethiopian Water Minister Shiferaw Jarsso, said the meeting heralded
    an era of transition "from confrontation to cooperation" in establishing an agreement for use of the Nile's water resources by riparian states.

    Nile COM is to come up with a final framework agreement for utilisation of the Nile's waters by 2002, to replace a 1959 agreement between Egypt and Sudan which allocates the largest share of the river's water between themselves. The other eight Nile states - Burundi, DRC, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda - have been lobbying for a fair share
    of the Nile's water ever since. The DRC is attending Nile COM for the first time, while Eritrea is being represented by the charge d'affaires of its embassy in Addis Ababa.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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