OCR Text |
Show as well as extending to Egypt certain privileges within the Sudan. In the Egyptian note the following statements are made: "It is realized that the development of the Sudan requires a quantity of the Nile water greater than that * which has been so far utilized by the Sudan. As your Ex- cellency is aware, the Egyptian Government has always been anxious to encourage such development, and will there- fore continue that policy, and be willing to agree with His Majesty's Government upon such an increase of this quantity . as does not infringe Egypt's natural and historical rights in the waters of the Nile and its requirements of agricultural extension, subject to satisfactory assurances as to the safe- guarding of Egyptian interests as detailed in later para- graphs of this note*" (Paragraph 2) "It is further understood that the following arrangements will be observed in respect of irrigation works on the Nile: - "Save with the previous agreement of the Egyptian Government, no irrigation or power works or measures are to be constructed or taken on the River Nile and its branches, or on the lakes from which it flows, so far as all these are in the Sudan or in countries under British adminis- tration, which would, in such a manner astO: entail any prejudice to the interests of Egypt either reduce the quantity of water arriving in Egypt, or modify the date of its arrival, or lower its level," (1+, i i) • From the Nile Commission's report attached to the agreement the following extracts are quoted: "Precedents in this matter of water allocation are rare and practice varied; and the Commission is aware of no generally adopted code or standard practice upon which the settlement of a question of inter-communal water allocation might be based* Moreover, there are in the present case special factors, his- torical, political and technical, which might render inap- propriate too strict an application of principles adopted elsewhere? The Commission, having regard to the previous history of the question, the present position as regards development, and the circumstances attending its own appoint- ment, decided to approach its task with the object of devising a practical wording arrangement which would respect the needs of established irrigation, while permitting such programme of ex- tension as might be feasible under present conditions and those of the near future, without at the same time compromising in any way the possibilities of the more distant future." (Paragraph 21) |