ABSTRACT
Disputes between Egypt and Sudan on the one hand, and the Nile upper riparians on the other hand, have dominated the Nile Basin for the last half-century. Nevertheless, there have been serious attempts at cooperation, commencing as early as mid-1960s. These attempts culminated in the establishment of the Nile Basin Initiative in 1999, and the commencement of the negotiations of the Nile Basin Cooperative Framework Agreement (CFA) immediately thereafter. Ironically, the CFA resulted, ten years later, in solidification of the areas of differences between the two groups of riparians, and the gradual emergence of the upper riparians as a power to be reckoned with. This chapter traces the areas of disputes between the two groups of riparians over the uses and management of the Nile waters, discusses the areas of difference over the CFA, and analyses its current status and the persistent deadlock thereon. The chapter concludes by exploring and recommending some specific ways for disentangling the Gordian Knot over the CFA to make it acceptable to all the Nile eleven riparians.
