‘Ethiopia adheres to equitable use of transboundary water’

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan Jemal Beker Abdula claimed that his country fully adhered to the international rule of equitable and reasonable utilisation of transboundary water.

“As far as the Nile River water is concerned, Ethiopia is determined to follow international rules, treaties and conventions, but we do not recognise any treaty to which Ethiopia is not the party,” the ambassador said while delivering a lecture on international water law, hydro-politics and hydro-diplomacy at a workshop titled “Winter School for International Law”.

The “Winter School for International Law” was hosted by the Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI) in collaboration with the Research Society of International law. At the outset of his lecture, the ambassador told the audience about the existing international water laws and treaties, the United Nations Watercourse convention, and theories regarding the use of shared transboundary water resources.

Around the world, he said three-quarters of UN Member States shared rivers or lake basins with their neighbours. “More than 270 shared river basins provide freshwater for almost 40% of the globe’s population, including the Nile, the Indus, the Ganges, the Euphrates-Tigris, and the Mekong,” he added.

Regarding the inter-state relations of the African continent in the context of shared water resources, he said that Nile River is the longest transboundary river in the world whose water is shared among 11 countries including Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan, Sudan, and Egypt.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 10^th, 2022.