Nile troubles

Five of the nine Nile countries — Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Kenya — last month signed a deal to share the water that is a crucial resource for all of them. 
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But Egypt and Sudan, who are entitled to most of the water and can veto upstream dams under a 1929 British-brokered agreement, refused.
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The Democratic Republic of the Congo and Burundi have not signed yet either and analysts are divided on whether they will or not. 
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Six Nile countries must sign the agreement for it to have any power but Egypt says even that wouldn’t change its mind. 
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The five signatories — some of the world’s poorest countries — have left the agreement open for debating and possible signing for up to a year.

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Tensions were clearly still running high after two days of negotiations in Addis and despite grinning around the table and constantly referring to each other as “my brother”, the ministers always seemed in danger of breaking into bickering.

When the Sudanese water minister said his country was freezing cooperation with the Nile Basin Initiative — the name given to the ten-year effort to agree on how to manage the river — 

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Ethiopia’s water minister loudly protested to the media that his Sudanese colleague had not revealed that during their private meetings.

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Water wars are something predicted by many and sadly we seem to be moving towards this becoming a real possibility.
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Hopefully sense can prevail.