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Subject: Trans. : [congonewsbzv] [EN] Nile, Congo : Sources of War : Water,
Geopolitic...
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Date: Tue, 1 Oct 2002 11:49:41 +0200 (CEST)
Subject: [congonewsbzv] [EN] Nile, Congo : Sources of War : Water, Geopolitical
Stake of the XXI Century in Africa
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One out of five (5) human beings does not have access to potable water.
Water is as much a wealth as a passport to survival. In this context,
water has hence a geopolitical stake. It is used not only as a strategic
tool but also a tactical tool. Last dated example: during the siege of
Sarajevo, the Serbs were holding the higher positions of the town. They
turned off the water reservoirs and launched bombings. They opened the
drainage system. People went to get water supply. Isolated sharpshooters
carried out the orders with the known consequences.=20
_____=20=20
NILE, CONGO: SOURCES OF WAR.*[1]
Water, Geopolitical Stake Of The XXI Century In Africa
=20
Will the War of Off-shore Water Replace That of Off-shore Oil?[2]
=20
http://www.perspectives-africaines.com/pagehtml/pers-nagel_nile-congo_so
urcesofwar.htm
=20
POTABLE WATER, LIFE STAKE, WEAPON OF WAR
=20
One out of five (5) human beings does not have access to potable water.
Water is as much a wealth as a passport to survival. In this context,
water has hence a geopolitical stake. It is used not only as a strategic
tool but also a tactical tool. Last dated example: during the siege of
Sarajevo, the Serbs were holding the higher positions of the town. They
turned off the water reservoirs and launched bombings. They opened the
drainage system. People went to get water supply. Isolated sharpshooters
carried out the orders with the known consequences.=20
=20
Who is the Proprietor?
=20
The real problem of water is that it moves without any respect for
borders. Who is then the owner of it? How to control the volumes used by
each one? How to reconcile the demands of countries located up-river
which demand that they use water as they see fit, in the name of the
principle of "absolute territorial sovereignty", and those which are
located down-river demand "the absolute integrity of the river?" The
latter would like to prevent the States located up-river from modifying
the flow or quality of waters. Some are for the establishment of a
market system; others are for the reinforcement of the rules of sharing,
which exist in the international customary law. The water problem would
hardly be settled in isolation. It must be included in a global scheme
of development, in a regional cooperation and a common struggle against
waste, especially in the agricultural area.
=20
THE GEOPOLITICAL STAKES OF WATER IN AFRICA
=20
The Nile and the Congo are the coveted hydrological giants.=20
Can water be made accessible to dry countries? Naturally, that is
already done. Several African rivers have their springs in the
equatorial zone, but their flowing water basins extend either to the
north or to the south to water several countries. All alone, the Nile
basin naturally covers Egypt; yet, it also covers the Sudan, Kenya,
Uganda or Ethiopia.
=20
When experts looked at the immense water potentialities, which the Nile
offers and which are common to ten countries of Central and East Africa
as well as the region of the equatorial Lakes of the Nile Basin,
including Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, they recommended, in
1999, increasing agricultural output via small scale irrigation projects
and rain water retention. This was done as a part of an "action
program."
=20
In this same framework, the same experts planned to develop, in
mid-term, the exploitation of resources of Lake Albert, which is common
to Uganda and DRC. According to the recommendations reached at the
meeting still, experts came up with the development of a framework of
cooperation for the management of water resources in the basin of the
Mara river, which crosses Kenya and Tanzania. Similarly, Rwanda,
Tanzania, Uganda and Burundi will have to conjugate their efforts to
manage, in an integrated fashion, the waters of Akagera river. These
same countries have retained as part of a common action the struggle
against the water jacinth in the Akagera river basin and the
implementation of a hydroelectric project of Rusumo. In the area of
energy, experts recommended the reinforcement of the interconnections
existing between Kenya and Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania, Burundi and
Rwanda as well as between Uganda and Rwanda. The budgetary projections
by experts establish the long-term financing cost of these projects, at
least, around US $100 millions.=20
=20
"The future of the Nile river basin is contingent upon a common
management of the waters of the great African river, the only solution
to avoid severe crises that would be prejudicial to everyone." Th is is
what the participants in the "Nile 2002" Conference recognized. The
Conference was organized at the initiative of Tecco Nile (technical
cooperation body about the Nile river) and gathered in Cairo, on March
25, 1999, representatives from ten countries bordering the river, plus
fifteen others. The obstacles to this approach are still many. Besides,
the conference underscored the "lack of consensus on the future of the
water resource, current policies that are competitive instead of being
complementary, insufficient financing and an increased competition
between the different water users inside the river bordering countries
and between the countries themselves." Despite this observation, the
conference pointed to several positive initiatives going along the lines
of a better cooperation. As a result, care was taken to extricate some
recommendations, which would allow to go further. It, hence, advocated
the following:
=20
* search of management harmonization at the national but also at
the regional and local levels;=20
* priority to strategies, which also favor, in a global fashion,
cooperation and coordination;
* priority to strategies and regional projects;
* creation at both local and regional levels of institutions,
which favor the participation of the populations, and especially women;
* resort to technologies, which are affordable and appropriate.
=20
THE ROLE OF THE USA=20
=20
The Example of Sudan
=20
Beyond the conferences and expressions of good will, September 11 has
become a pivotal date on the international chessboard. Will there be
repercussions on the power of water in the Nile basins?
=20
Whatever the American involvement and/or help may be, the US controls
the majority of the Nile: the Blue Nile through Ethiopia, the White Nile
through Kenya, Uganda and DRC, and finally the Nile, which flows in
Egypt. A country remains to be controlled, which risks to play a very
important role in this offensive strategy of the US: Sudan.
=20
If Sudan remains fixed on its positions, with as allies Iraq, Saudi
Arabia, the Arab League, the country unity will not be able to be
achieved. Civil wars will continue. The Sudanese oil buffer to economic
slowdowns on the Nile, that is to say, sabotages on irrigation work
projects, future dams and canals which will not be completed.
Drought=97Famine- massive Exodus will remain the future of Sudanese life.
In this situation, desertification and human misery will progress.
Religious Sudan with the Sharia will get closer to Mali and Libya, and
will attempt again to make extremist opening advances into the countries
of Northern Africa to destabilize them. Would this logic intervene in
the intentions of the American President Bush to wants to make war
against Iraq to constrain Sudan to choose its camp? If a war erupts
between the USA, with the help of Great Britain, and Iraq, would Sudan
be compelled to truly position itself with respect to its true
interests?
On the other hand, if Sudan accepts international and American
assistance, two positions emerge: to pocket the aid and play a double
game, or attempt a rapprochment with the industrial world. In the second
case, it is possible to anticipate an economic improvement, a lightening
of reprisals from its neighbors and also to put a term to this
isolation. Without speaking of a secular State, Sudan can undertake
unification, even create a federation. If this country wishes it, it is
capable of being competitive at the agricultural and animal husbandry
levels. Sudan, next to the US, is avoiding not only the fact that the
Red Sea becomes an Arab lake but additionally is fighting for the spot
of "joker" against Uganda in relation to Washington. But all this is
only possible if the countries of the Great Lakes, which are involved in
the DRC conflict, truly accept that a viable peace solution that will
modify the alliances be found.
=20
The DRC, hydrologic treasure at the sources of the Nile and Congo
=20
The DRC war can be perceived as an extension of the muted war for the
control of the waters of the Nile in which all the all the countries
bordering the Nile are implicated. Beyond the apparent economic stakes,
it is, in reality, the control of the waters of the basins of the Nile
and Congo in which the US is interested. The American President Bush, in
welcoming the current DRC President to the White House soon after he
took power, proved that the US is using all its weight to solve the
crisis in DRC. If this crisis finds a favorable outcome, the US will not
be able to stop on the way without solving the problems, which are
pending in the equatorial sub-region. By getting engaged further into
the countries of the Congo basin, it will be able to control the
Congolese "cuvette" (deep valley). Wouldn't the true stake of the XXI
century be more an issue of "offshore water" than an issue of "offshore
oil" which is found in this same region?
=20
Will the American involvement in Central Africa, under the label of
human rights, in direct competition with the old colonial powers of this
zone, allow this region to engage itself further ahead in the path to
modern democracy, as the US is wishing it for Sudan? Isn't this
involvement into countries formerly called France's "game preserve"
stand as the sign of a project of a future Africa which, in 2001,
counted 820 million people and whose population for the year 2005 is
estimated at 1.2 billion consumers?=20
Finally, will the US be able to succeed where the former colonial powers
were unable to bring about a true democracy for the emancipation of
peoples and populations. This is so that on-going conflicts in the
countries bordering the Nile and the resistances to the democratic
opening pave the way for Africa to head toward a renaissance? Or must we
finally witness, and this despite the American presence in Africa, the
agony of this continent?
=20
Nadine Nagel-Boukadia
Contact mail : nagelnadine@hotmail.com=20
=20
Nadine Nagel-Boukadia has a Ph.D. in Medical Scientific Research, with
emphasis on molecular biology. In addition, she is a member of the
French Society of Neurological Sciences, an author of a thesis of the
3rd cycle which she defended in May 2002 at the Centre d'Etudes
Diplomatiques et Strat=E9giques (Center for Diplomatic and Strategic
Studies) in Paris. The thesis is entitled "Des basins du Nil aux enjeux
politiques" from which is drawn the above article.
=20
[1]Article paru en Fran=E7ais dans le Mensuel belge AFRICA B N=B01
juillet-ao=FBt 2002 sous le titre : =AB Nil, Congo : sources de guerre. La
guerre de =AB l'eau off shore =BB remplacera-t-elle celle du =AB p=E9trole =
off
shore =BB ?
[1] Translated by the Congolese Britisher.
_____=20=20
[1] Article paru en Fran=E7ais dans le Mensuel belge AFRICA B N=B01
juillet-ao=FBt 2002 sous le titre : =AB Nil, Congo : sources de guerre. La
guerre de =AB l'eau off shore =BB remplacera-t-elle celle du =AB p=E9trole =
off
shore =BB ?
[2] Translated by the Congolese Britisher.
--=20
voxhumana
- =AB Un homme meurt chaque fois que l'un d'entre nous se tait devant la ty=
rannie =BB (Wole soyinka, Prix Nobel de Litterature).
- =AB Everytime somebody keep silent when faced with tyranny, someone else =
dies =BB (Wole Soyinka, Nobel Prize for Literature)
Pour vous d=E9sinscrire de ce groupe, envoyez un e-mail =E0 :=20=20
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