The Eastern Nile Technical Regional Office (ENTRO), one of the three centers of the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI), has been facing problems after the decision by Egypt and by the Republic of Sudan to suspend their participation in the Eastern Nile Subsidiary Action Program (ENSAP). This followed the signing, on May 14th, 2010, of the Cooperative Framework Agreement by five upper riparian countries of the Nile Basin. Since then there have been a series of consultation meetings held among the Eastern Nile countries, that is Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan, to discuss renewed participation by Egypt and Sudan in the regular governance activities of ENTRO, and to deliberate on ways and mechanisms to strengthen further cooperation over the implementation of ENTRO programs and projects. The 20th Nile-Council of Ministers (Nile-COM) meeting held in Kigali in July called upon ENTRO to address theseissues and on Egypt and Sudan to resume their cooperation and participation in ENTRO activities and processes, for the mutual interest of the peoples of the region.
Following the call of the Nile-COM meeting, the Eastern Nile Council of Ministers (ENCOM), currently chaired by Ethiopia, invited the Arab Republic of Egypt and the Republic of Sudan as well as the Republic of South Sudan to an ENTRO meeting to discuss these issues and come up with a solution. The meeting took place in Addis Ababa on Monday and Tuesday this week (November 5th-6th) with the ENSAP countries attending. The Eastern Nile Council of Ministers (EN-COM) meeting was preceded by an ENSAP Team meeting the previous day.
At the end of the EN-COM discussions, Egypt and the Republic of the Sudan agreed to resume full participation in the activities and processes of ENTRO. This means ENTRO will once again be able to run its regular operations smoothly and efficiently. The three Eastern Nile countries also agreed to establish a future permanent cooperative mechanism in the Eastern Nile Sub-basin. This will come into existence when ENTRO as a transitional arrangement within the NBI comes to an end; it will allow for continuity and continuation of all the gains that have been made on the ground in Eastern Nile Sub-basin and for continuing cooperation. The ministers also agreed to launch the necessary studies and consultations between the three countries to design the envisaged future Permanent Cooperative Mechanism.
The EN-COM also agreed to consider membership of the Republic of South Sudan in ENSAP/ENTRO; the Republic of South Sudan, which attended the consultation meeting of the EN-COM as an observer, is already a member of the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI). This very successful EN-COM consultation meeting had important and positive results that will enable the Eastern Nile Sub-basin countries to further cement their general cooperation. It will enable ENTRO to run its operations smoothly and efficiently in future and encourage the possibility of bringing pending grant agreements with partners to successful conclusion.
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* Originally published on A Week in the Horn – Nov. 9, 2012 issue, titled “Egypt and Sudan’s decision to resume participation in ENTRO welcomed”. Items from A Week in the Horn are re-published here with a permission to do so.
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