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JOHANNESBURG, May 15, 2004 (IPS/GIN) -- When water affairs ministers from countries along the Nile met recently to discuss the fate of the river, Boutros Boutros-Ghali was not in the room. But his comment that future wars would be fought over water was clearly in evidence.
The former United Nations Secretary-General first made the remark in the 1980s. The notion of potential 'water wars' has also been explored in a book of the same title and in numerous reports. In addition, the phrase crops up repeatedly in articles that deal with water scarcity in Africa, and the possibility of conflict amongst communities desperate to ensure access to water.
In addition to the Nile Basin, various sources have identified other trans-boundary river systems in Africa that are subject to increasing demands from growing populations, agriculture and industry. These include the Niger River basin in West Africa (which comprises nine countries), and the Okavango system, shared by Botswana and Namibia.
According to the Amherst-based Global Water Policy Project in the United States, about 36 percent of Africa's population currently lacks access to safe drinking water.
The United Nations Development Programme has also estimated that by 2025, about one in two Africans will be living in countries that are confronted with water stress or water scarcity. (The term water stress describes a situation in which each person in a country has access to less than 1,500 cubic metres of water every year. In cases of water scarcity, this amount is reduced to 1,000 cubic metres.)
But, has the continent awakened to the fact that water scarcity presents a challenge that should be tackled with far more vigour than was previously the case?
The ongoing talks about a more equitable sharing of the Nile's waters provide some cause for hope, even if they have been peppered with angry demands and even threats of retaliation.
At present, use of the water is governed by a 1929 agreement (revised 30 years later) that gives Egypt and Sudan the right to determine whether and how other states along the Nile and its tributaries should use this resource.
Although the accord is clearly a reflection of outdated colonial realities, attempts to revise it have previously been resisted by Egypt, which is utterly...