The Nile in Legal and Political Perspective

Mahemud E. Tekuya, JSD/Ph.D. (2022), McGeorge School of Law, University of the Pacific, is a research and teaching assistant at Oregon State University. He has published extensively on the Nile River and the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.

Foreword


Preface


Acknowledgments


List of Table


List of Abbreviations


1 Introduction

1.1 The Global Water Crisis: Finite Supply, Growing Demand


1.2 The Looming Water Crisis in the Nile Basin


1.3 The Legal and Hydro-political Setting of the Nile Basin


1.4 Significance, Objective, and Organization of the Book




Part 1

Reconstructing the Legal and Hydro-political History of the Nile Basin

2 The Politics of the Nile Basin: Water Imperialism, Hydro-political Cold War, and Hegemonic Dominance

 Introduction


2.1 Pre-colonial Myths and Realities


2.2 The Nile in the Age of Colonialism: the Europeans Scramble for Nile, and the Tana Dam Concession


2.3 The Nile in the Age of Cold War: Hydro-political Rivalry and the Scramble for Dominance


 Conclusion




3 The Status of Colonial Nile Waters Treaties under International Law

 Introduction


3.1 The Colonial Nile Waters Treaties


3.2 Immediate Post-colonial Dispute over the Colonial Nile Waters Treaties


3.3 The Colonial Nile Waters Treaties and State Succession


3.4 Fundamental Change of Circumstances


 Conclusion




4 Legal Arguments Based on the 1959 Agreement and Customary International Law

 Introduction


4.1 The 1959 Agreement


4.2 Customary International Watercourses Law


 Conclusion




Part 2

Post-Cold War Attempts to Change or Maintain the Status Quo

5 Between Unilateralism and Cooperation: the Nile Basin in the Post-Cold War Era

 Introduction


5.1 Bilateral Cooperative Initiatives


5.2 Multilateral Cooperative Initiatives


5.3 Back to Competition: Unilateralism as Post-Cold War Modus Operandi


 Conclusion




6 The Cooperative Framework Agreement

 Introduction


6.1 Drafting and Negotiations of the cfa: Sisyphean Endeavors?


6.2 Basic Principles of the Cooperative Framework Agreement


6.3 Hydro-political Implications


 Conclusion




Part 3

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and the Current Dispute over the Existing Nile Water Agreements

7 The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and Declaration of Principles

 Introduction


7.1 The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam: the Beginning of De-Facto Change in the Status Quo?


7.2 The Declaration of Principles on gerd: a New Paradigm?


 Conclusion




8 Sink or Swim: Unlocking the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam Dispute

 Introduction


8.1 First Filling and Annual Operation of the gerd


8.2 The gerd Washington Talks: Illuminating the Sticking Points


8.3 The Role of the United States in the gerd Talks under International Law


8.4 Post-Washington Negotiations


8.5 The Way Forward: towards Unlocking the gerd Dispute


 Conclusion




Part 4

Looking into the Future: towards Building a Flexible Legal and Institutional Framework in the Nile Basin

9 Governing the Nile under Climatic Uncertainty: the Need for Climate-Proofed Basin-wide Treaty

 Introduction


9.1 Building Flexibility into Treaty Regimes


9.2 Adapting the Nile Basin to Climate Change: Analysis of Treaty Flexibility


9.3 The gerd Negotiations: towards a Flexible Tripartite Agreement?


9.4 The Way Forward: towards a Basin-wide Climate-Proofed Treaty


 Conclusion




10 Overall Conclusion




Bibliography


Index