Egypt Controls Most of Nile's Water
east africa is in the midst of a devastating drought--in Ethiopia, the dry spell has left close to 14 million people dependent on food aid. When assigning blame, aid workers and politicians finger the usual suspects: lack of rain, climate change, and an underdeveloped agricultural sector. But they're forgetting one: Egypt. Thanks to a 1929 agreement between ­Britain--­acting on behalf of its East African ­colonies--and a newly independent Egypt, Cairo holds the rights to two thirds of the Nile's water, as well as veto power over upstream projects. The disparity is stark: Ethiopia is the source of 60 to 80 percent of the Nile's flow, but uses less than 1 percent of it because Egypt says no to large-scale irrigation projects. And though Ethiopians might be tempted to circumvent the anachronistic arrangement, they can't. Egyptian officials work "behind closed doors" to block funding for upstream projects, according to David Shinn, a former U.S. ambassador to Ethiopia. The Nile states want to re-negotiate the ancient treaty, but Egyptian officials have stalled for years. And there's no sign they'll slake their neighbors' thirst any time soon.

Comment: This is State sponsored Terrorism against the people of Ethiopia!