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Show -109- 3. Sweden-Norway: Common lakes and watercourses, 1905. Article II. In accordance with the general principles of international law, it is understood that the works mentioned in Article I [diversions, raising or lowering of water levels] cannot be carried out in one of the two states without the consent of the other, in each case where such works, in influencing the waters situated in the other state, would have the effect either of noticeably impairing the use of a watercourse for navigation or floating of timber, or of otherwise bringing about serious changes.in the waters of a region of a considerable area. [ translation] '•*¦ k. Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Italy, Great Britain: The Nile. The history of the Nile contains several treaties and statements by upper riparians recognizing Egypt's right to the flow necessary to maintain its established irrigation. In 1891 Italy agreed with Great Britain not to construct, on the Atbara, in view of irrigation, any work which might sensibly modify its flow into the Nile"2 . In 1902 Ethiopia agreed with Great Britain 'not to construct, or allow to be constructed, 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" the British and Sudanese Governments &, In 1906 a similar agreement was made with the Congo Free State concerning two tributaries of Lake Albert, a headwater of the White Nile*.. In 1925 the British High Commissioner in the Sudan assured the Egyptian Foreign Minister that the Eritish Government "have no intention of trespassing upon the natural and historic rights of Egypt in the. waters of the Nile, which they recognize today no-less than in the past",? This assurance was repeated in an agreement of 1929, in which it was also agreed that no measures would be taken in British-controlled territory without Egypt's agreement, :rwhich would, in such manner as to entail any prejudice to the interests of Egypt, either reduce the quantity of wate.r arriving in Egypt, or modify the date of its arrival, or lower its level" ° . In preparing for the negotiations which led to this agreement, the British Foreign Minister instructed his representatives as follows: 1. Smith, p. 167. 2.. Smith, p. 166. 3. Ibid., p. 166. It. Ibid., p. 168 .5. Prit. Treaty Ser., No. 17, p. 33 (1929). 6. Smith, pp. 212-14. |
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Original book: [State of Arizona, complainant v. State of California, Palo Verde Irrigation District, Coachella Valley County Water District, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, City of Los Angeles, California, City of San Diego, California, and County of San Diego, California, defendants, United States of America, State of Nevada, State of New Mexico, State of Utah, interveners] : |