By THE CITIZEN

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Countries that benefit from the Nile River should shun individualistic tendencies that could create enmity and instead work towards a collective agreement beneficial to all, Tanzania said on Tuesday.

With good management and a collective agreement, the resource will be sustainable for future generations, Vice President Philip Mpango said.

“There are African countries that are in conflict over this resource. We reach a point of equating this resource into a curse. Cooperation in the use of shared resources is possible. Member states must ensure good distribution and management,” he said during a function in Dar es Salaam to mark Nile Basin Day.

Participating in the event were representatives from Nile Basin member states including Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Egypt, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Sudan and Tanzania.

The Nile, Africa’s longest river, has been at the centre of a decades-long complex dispute involving several countries that are dependent on the river’s waters.

The main dispute involves Ethiopia and Egypt over Africa’s largest hydroelectric dam—the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) built on the Nile. Sudan was also pulled into the conflict.

Egypt and Sudan, which rely heavily on the Nile waters, believe that the dam will disrupt water flow in their countries.

Data shows that the number of people living within the Nile basin has increased to 778 million people this year up from 238 million people in 2018.