Ethiopia challenges Egypt over Nile water

(CAIRO, Dec. 8 (UPI)- The simmering dispute over the Nile River between Egypt and upstream African states is heating up with Addis Ababa alleging Cairo supports insurgents fighting the government of Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.

PM Meles Zenawi.

The expected breakup of Sudan, Egypt's southern neighbor and its ally in the Nile dispute, next January following a referendum on southern independence will further complicate an already complex quarrel over a dwindling resource.

Egypt and Sudan have been locked in more than a decade of dispute with Ethiopia, the source of the Blue Nile, and six other states through which the Nile passes over a more equitable sharing of the great river's water.

In 1929, when Egypt and Sudan were ruled as a single country by the British, they were awarded rights to 75 percent of the Nile's flow. The upstream states weren't allocated a share.

When Egypt became independent in 1959, that ruling was upheld, with added stipulation that all Nile Basin countries were required to secure Cairo's approval for any project that involved Nile water. Read more from UPI »