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Why Egypt Threatens the Africans over their own Water By Izzadine Abdul Rasoul
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May 25, 2010 - 6:59:41 AM

Why Egypt Threatens the Africans over their own Water

By Izzadine Abdul Rasoul

At last the Kenyan Water and Irrigation Minister Charity Ngilu signed the Nile Basin Treaty pact on behalf of the government of Kenya, which has been rejected by Egypt and Sudan. Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda signed the pact last week in Uganda. Meanwhile, Egypt insisted on Tuesday it can block dams and other projects upstream on the Nile, challenging a new deal among African nations seeking to alter historic water sharing arrangements and secure more water for farms and growth. Moreover; Egypt has already warned that the new agreement lacked legitimacy and plans to press donors for support.

The Egyptian Water Resources & Irrigation Minister, Mohamed Nasrelddin said that any project that takes away from the river's flow has to be approved by Egypt and Sudan in accordance with international treaties.

"Egypt is closely watching energy generation projects in the (Nile) basin," he added.

I am wondering if the International Treaties on Water Recourses is designed to give the owner of the water source two gallons of water to give his family to drink and someone else ten gallons to reclaim   the desert and refresh the air. I am very sure the Egyptians will not accept to divide equally the income of the Pyramids that were found by Blackmen who now populate Nilotic Kushite countries that includes Sudan and Ethiopia!       

After all these storming statements Egypt threatened the Nile Basin Countries that signed the treaty   that it will launch diplomatic efforts in the coming days to send delegates to the United States, the European Union and China to   lobby for   backing   Egypt in the dispute over the distribution of Nile water.

Yes, Egypt as country that has weight in Middle East may stop the flow of investment money to Nile Basin countries; although will it also convince them to carry out military operations together with them against the Nile Basin proposed dams?   

I personally called on the Kenyans to step up signing the Nile Basin Treaty, as a very brave step toward African independent to decide for themselves and for their people. Therefore, I strongly appeal to the rest of the countries who did not sign the treaty to rush and sign the African made treaty.

Egypt and North Sudan after becoming predominately populated by Arabs had long ago exploited Africa for Arab causes. When a genocide happened in Bosnia all Arab countries sent food, money and men to Bosnian Muslims to fight the Serbs; but in year 2000 when the great floods hit Mozambique and hundreds of thousands of people including children and women lost their lives, all humanitarian hearted  people around the world rushed to help except the Arab countries. The only country�s aid groups I saw on AlJazeera TV was Saudi Arabia which sent food aid to the vulnerable civilians. Not to be accused of trying to disparage the Arab countries, I was watching on that day an Aljazeera TV correspondent in Mozambique blamed  Arab countries, saying that they rarely participate on international relief efforts when crisis happen around the world. Another thing the correspondent also criticized was that Arab aid is mostly targeted to Islamic countries or the Muslims among communities they are aiding. However, throughout the history of Africa, in the era of  the Organization of African Unity, before it was changed to African Union, Africa  always supported the Arab Palestinians cause. All African States cut diplomatic ties with the State of Israel since the 1960s; only in 1981 when Zaire�s resumption of relations with Israel was preceded by a series of visits by Israel�s defence minister, Sharon, to a num ber of African countries (the Central African Republic, Zaire, Gabon, Liberia and the Ivory Coast) did some African countries establish relations with Israel. Some of Sharon�s representatives also paid visits to Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda .

So let us test the belonging of North African Arab countries to Africa. According to the findings of Abdel -Rahman Hussein ; he found out that each country in North Africa has a complicated social complexion, and has relations with countries outside its immediate circle.   Thus we have an overlapping network of relationships, which is due to the lack, or even absence, of a clear identity in each country�s constitution.   Mauritania�s constitution, for example, issued on 20 May 1961 before the establishment of the OAU (in 1963), does not mention Africa at all, while the constitution of Somalia, which is similar to Mauritania�s mentions Africa only once in its preamble.   The Libyan constitution, in the last paragraph of its second article says: �The province of Libya is a part of Africa.�   But the Sudanese constitution says in its first article that �the Sudan is part of the Arab and African entities�.   In its second article, the Algerian constitution states that �Algeria is an inseparable part of the Arab West, the African world and Africa�. The Tunisian constitution mentions in its preamble that �Tunisia belongs to the Arab family, in cooperation with the African peoples for building a better future, and in cooperation with all the struggling people. Despite deliberations on the present Egyptian constitution, a controversy over Egypt�s African identity arose.   Some suggested that it should include an article confirming this identity and Egypt�s commitment to African unity, but this was not approved and the constitution was issued without any mention of Africa.   Morocco is the only one of this group whose constitution stipulates, in the second paragraph of its preamble, a commitment to work for African unity, and emphasizes that it is an African state with African unity as one of its goals.   It is noteworthy here that the Moroccan constitution, while stressing its African identity and unity, does not mention that Morocco is part of the Arab nation, nor refer to its commitment to Arab unity, although it states that Morocco is part of the Arab West.

So if this is the case of Africa�s Arabs, can we expect any good from such people who are physically with us in our land and mentally in another part of the world? It was because of such mentality the war in South Sudan lasted for 23 years where all Arabs were supporting their North Sudan Arabs to kill the South Sudan Africans. Today also the case in Darfur; without Arab and Islamic support and also the lobby of North African Arabs the genocide in Darfur would have been avoided.  

The Nile Water Treaty Egyptians are making headache for us over was between colonial powers Britain and the Italy in 1929 after a long communication between them, discussing their colonial interests. For more information you can follow the following Web (http://internationalwaterlaw.org/documents/regionaldocs/lake-tsana.html)

Egypt and North Sudan have not done enough in the past to gain the hearts of African countries. In Egypt the culture of hating a black man is rampant; and it�s due to bad images that their media is reflecting about Africa. If an African goes to Egypt and watches their media, he or she will feel that all black Africans are seriously sick and hungry and will perish in a week�s time. The notion the Egyptians have about Africa, including the well versed and educated is that all of us in Africa live in jungles together with animals. Dear readers I am not joking but let the Egyptian government make a survey on their university teachers and ask them what they know about Nile Basin countries, not African countries. I expect the result will be a big zero.

In Sudan the Arabized education system used by the Northern Arabs; the African family young boy or a girl is beaten if he speaks his African mother tongue in the school or in a boarding house. Not only that but they are demoralized by being told that their African languages are not languages, but jargons. Then they are told to learn to speak Arabic because it�s the language of GOD spoken in Heaven; which means, on the day of the resurrection all prophets with their people will queue up waiting for Arabic speaking prophets to translate between them and the creator. What naive and junk ideas!!!!!! If that will be the case so why God did not create all people as one nation to make his work easy for himself? And if a young African origin boy or a girl is interested in European languages they tell them that such languages are languages of infidels and if one masters it, he or she will be an infidel. Therefore,  if a Sudanese man or a woman speaks any foreign language on the streets people are looking at him very provocatively, and say he or she has been westernized. At the same time, they translate foreign language version books into Arabic and then teach  the students in Arabic language in universities. On the contrary all children of those in power are studying in Europe and Washington.  

Dear Africans, this is the real murky situation of your brothers in a country in the heart of the African continent called Sudan which in itself means �black�. The Arab abstained from condemning the Khartoum regime for committing genocide in Darfur because Bashir and his killers are Arabs who are implementing Arabization and Islamization programmes in Sudan, on behalf of the Arab world. In addition to that there is an Arab proverb that says; �You must support your brother whether he is right or wrong�. So if such is the case why are the African heads of state supporting the criminal Al- Bashir to kill their own African brothers in South Sudan, Blue Nile, Nuba Mountains and in Darfur? Also why should we give our waters to people who are threats to our existence and have pledged to continue killing our brothers in Sudan as well? It�s not only in Sudan and Egypt where the blacks of African origins are suffering but in all North African Arab countries. If investigated there are worst cases!!!!!

I am sure and very sure that those who don�t know what�s happening behind the curtains will accuse me of instigating hatred between the two ethnic groups in Africa by raising such issues. But all that I write addresses unspoken issues; and as an African proverb says: if you don�t call a hyena, hyena it will attack you and take your goat in your hand!

I raise all these issues because we people of African origin in Sudan have long been victims of such policy. Africans must realize it, so that if there is in any future relations to be build, we build based on mutual respect and interests; but not relations based on one side exploiting the another.

The Author is ex-managing Editor of Citizen Newspaper in Sudan

He can be reached on [email protected]     

       

 



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