Water Conflict in the Eastern Nile Sub-basin

From Ethiopia’s wet equatorial lakes region and highlands to the arid regions of Northern Africa, the Nile River has long been a historical source of reliance for survival and livelihood. For millennia, The Nile River supported a wide range of rich ecosystems and thriving cultures. This reality is currently enduring an inevitable change. Since half the human population is expected to lack clean drinking water facilities in 2050, water conservation projects become more popular to prevent the misuse of water. These conservation projects are easily linked to international controversies. Although water treaties aim for cooperation and were designed as a settling tool for river disputes, they fail to be effective to do so. In fact, disputes have increased in number due to clashes of interests and growing demand for water control. River water disputes may turn into conflicts leading to significant consequences to the acting nations including violent conflicts. The Eastern Nile Sub Basin conflict, ignited by the ongoing effort to complete the Grand Renaissance Ethiopian Dam (GERD) construction, has multiple consequences on the riparian countries. The current scale of the conflict is characterized by interchangeable strong verbal expression-hostility in interaction between Egypt and Ethiopia. Settling the conflict requires all parties to mutually recognize the right of the other parties to fulfill its needs. With the GERD becoming the new reality across the Blue Nile, it becomes harder for all countries to keep their national interests and agendas untouched. This new reality leaves no option, for all countries, except to sacrifice one or more of its national interests in return for sacrifices from the other countries to avoid escalating the conflict to a violent one or even to war. This chapter discusses the nature and characteristics of the conflict, factors leading to the conflict, and implications of conflict on the acting nations. This chapter also discusses the conflict resolution strategies to resolve and/or mitigate the implication of this conflict and to avoid turning this conflict into wars.