The rise of counter hydro-hegemony and the deconstruction of old narratives in the eastern Nile basin

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article examines the advent of the new counter-hydro-hegemony and its role in deconstructing age-old hydro-hegemony myths in the eastern Nile basin. As the most critical hydro-political issues in the Eastern Nile basin have been overcoming past legacies, hydro-hegemony, power asymmetry and evolving geopolitical situations, employing a qualitative research approach, the article emphasizes the various counter hydro hegemony strategies used by the upper riparian states to avert the ever-exited hydro-hegemonic scenario in the Eastern Nile basin, which is often overlooked in conventional trans-boundary water analysis. The findings depicted that Egypt's hydro hegemony in the Eastern Nile basin is being challenged in two ways. On the one hand, the initiation of basin-wide agreements like Cooperative Framework Agreement (CFA), which is based on reasonable and equitable utilization approaches. On the other hand, initiating development projects on the Nile water was used as an expression of the right to use shared rivers’ water. The building of massive hydroelectric dams and irrigation canals in Ethiopia and South Sudan are self-evident examples. Both have been critical not only in deconstructing age-old hydro-hegemonic narratives, but also in foreseeing the end of inequitable trans-boundary water management. Thus, counter-hydro hegemonic actions in current Nile basin hydro-politics foreshadow the deconstruction of hoary hydro-political narratives in the Nile basin.