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Show irrigation, any work which might sensibly modify that river's flow into the Nile (Art. Ill), The Atbara is a tributary of the Nile and flows from its source in the mountains of Ethiopia in a north-westerly direction to its juncture with the Nile, just above Berber in the Sudan* It has three principal tributary streams, all in the mountains of Ethiopia^ but Italian ambitions in the nineties made the possibility appear not remote that most of its sources might scon lie within Italian jurisdiction* (Hertslet, Commercial Treaties, XIX, 686-688)0 (2) Emperor Menelik II, King of Kings, of Ethiopia, agreed in a treaty signed May 15, 1902, with Great Britain, "not to construct, or allow to be con- structed, any work across the Blue Nile, Lake Tsana or the Sobat, which would arrest the flow of their waters into the Nile except in agreement with His Britannic Majestjr's Government and the Government of the Sudan" (Art. IIl)« (3) In a treaty dated May 9, I9O6, the Independent State of the Congo (now a Belgian Colony) undertook "not to construot, or allow to be constructed, any work on or near the Semliki or Isango River, which would diminish the volume of water entering Lake Albert, except in agreement with the Soudanese Government" (Artc III), (Hertslet, Map of Africa by Treaty, II, 585), (U) December 13> 1906, Great Britain, France and Italy, signed an agree- ment to preserve the integrity of Ethiopia and provided further that they would safeguard "the interests of Great Britain and Egypt in the Nile Basin, more especially a.s regards the regulation of the waters of that river and its tribu- taries (due consideration being paid to local interests) • «.».;" (Art. IV (a)) (Hertslet, Hap of Africa by Treaty, II, Uh£) (5) This principle was reaffirmed in an exchange of notes between Great Britain and Italy, December ll|/20, I925, wherein it was provided that Italy recognized the prior hydraulic right of Egypt and the Sudan in their headwaters of the Blue and White Nile rivers and their tributaries, and agreed not to con- struct, there, any works which might sensibly modify their flow. And also that Great Britain and Italy agreed that the existing uses of the inhabitants of the region should be maintained and that they might be extended where necessary to produce food, crops for their own sustenance or domestic use or where used for hy- draulic power (50 L*N.T,S. 282), In the Italian note of December 20, 1925* the following statements are made: "On their side the Italian Government recognizing the prior hydraulic rights of Egypt and the Sudan, engage not to* construct on the head waters of the Blue Nile and the White Nile and their tributaries and affluents any work which might sensibly modify their flow into the main river. "I note that His Britannic Majesty!s Government have every intention of respecting the existing water rights of the population of the neighbouring territories which enter ' in~to the sphere of exclusive outline and economic influence* It is understood that, in so far as is possible and is |