Water wars in Africa : which actors for which scales ?

 

A woman walks past soldiers outside Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Photo by Uriel Sinai/Getty Image

Hi everyone !!   

Last week, I used the case of the Nile Basin to analyze the different issues of water sharing in Africa.  We’ve seen several related notions in order to understand the legitimacy of Ethiopia to impose a dam that could have negative consequences on downstream countries.

Today I would like to see in more detail the real conflicts around water that can degenerate into ‘water wars’. Therefore, we will ask the following questions:

• Can water become a weapon ?
• What forms can water-related conflicts take in Africa?
• What are the causes of water wars in Africa ?

 

Water usage conflicts : 

 The development of the population, industry and agriculture in Africa increases water needs and therefore the pressure between countries (Hayton, 1961) as the majority of water sources are shared by several countries and water treaties are insufficient to guarantee peaceful relations (it is said that Africa will have exhausted its renewable surface by 2025) (Ani et. al, 2018). Furthermore, water is an essential resource that is part of A. Sen’s 'entitlements' concept that ensures the 'capability' of a person on several scales. (Sen, ‘Poverty and famines’ ; ‘The Idea of Justice’). 

International conflicts for water usage : 

Aqua-conflicts in Africa can take different forms :  from a “formal declaration of war” to military, economic and diplomatic sanctions. But it is expensive, as it creates national economic burden (Ani et. al, 2018).

Those conflicts degenerate into ‘water-wars’ when the differences amongst sovereign states on water issues reaches the level of armed confrontation (e.g Lake Victoria in East Africa were river is field by toxic mix of climate change, environmental degradation, mounting droughts and famine ; the Middle and Lower Zambezi River; Lake Malawi, Angola-Namibia war, Zambia terrorist bambin Lusaka…) (Ani et. al, 2018). 

There is a lack of global-scale tools for evaluating interactions over shared water resources. There is a focus on concepts like ‘environmental security’ ( consider links between the environment, natural resources and violent conflict ) and the theme of ‘’ resource geopolitics,’’ (fact that vital and scarce resources which cross political boundaries are sources of conflict). So the notion of ‘‘human security,’’ should be use as it is a  more inclusive concept focusing on relationships between environment and society (Yoffe et. al, 2004). 

  

https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/The-Involvement-of-African-Armed-Forces-in-African-Zuneidu/4dfedf71d7abd0fd3dc906321ad893a762faa9c2

The strategic importance of water as a primary and secondary source of economic development (food, transport, energy, security) places it in the frontline of national interest of nations and therefore conflicts occurs in many scales : local, international and national (Ani et. al, 2018).

Mainstream scholarship classify conflict over water into different categories : ‘Natural causes’ of aqua-conflict with global warming ; Material-related conflict ( water stress ) ; Management-linked conflict (occurs in areas like in Sudan where conflicts are related to water abundance and lack of management, rather than water scarcity) (Turhan et. Al, 2021). 

In addition, deforestation, pollution, over pumping of shared aquifers and farming increase tensions (Ani et. al, 2018). Geopolitical and strategic factors that drive aqua-conflict include: the degree of water scarcity that exists in the region; the extent to which water supply is shared by one or more states or regions; the power relationships that exist between water-sharing states; the availability of alternative water sources and their accessibility; and the degree or extent to which a particular country’s international boundaries are aligned with or located along shared river system (Ani et. al, 2018).

                               (STRINGER / AFP)

There are several doctrines to solve this subject such as the “Harmon Doctrine” or ‘historical rights theory” (Egypt and Sudan ) (Salman, 2003). 

Social conflicts for drinking water : 

Water conflicts in Africa are also purely social, with a lack of clean water for people within a country that creates deep social inequalities. These inequalities create an ‘archipelisation’ (Jaglin, 2001) of cities and countries with some equipped neighbourhoods and others not. The development of ‘water lords’ shows a deep social rupture organized around water. Many protests have attempted to upset this social order ( as exemplified by the food riots of 2000’s). This shows at least that conflicts around water in Africa appear at several scales ( N. Fraser, ‘Scale of Justice’). 

Water can also be used as a weapon. This is the case in Sudan, for example, where, during the civil war, population were deprived of humanitarian aid and therefore of water, which became a weapon for pressure.

Niger case :

The Niger River experiences irregular rainfall, high evaporation and problem of sharing. The fall of states and the widespread failure of administrative machinery have led to the total disappearance of measurement networks. Overconsumption mainly affects Niger, Nigeria and Mali, however, it is the future of more than 110 million people that are impacted. 

Moreover, there is a direct link between the extreme poverty of the populations living in the Niger Delta, unconditionally dependent on the water conveyed by the river, and the proselytism of the armed gangs affiliated to AQIM. Water may not be the source of a war, but it could be an additional factor of crisis. (Bouquet, 2011). 

So, states sharing a river basin constitute a highly complex, interdependent hydro-political system, the dynamics of which are intimately interwoven in terms of the environment, the economy, politics and security and hydro-politics have become an important area of international policy. Zeitoun and Warner (2006) even coined the term “hydro-hegemony”. 

To reach a win-win state of relations requires certain methods, including taking a step back and figuring out what the source of conflict is actually about and maintaining a collaborative form of negotiations to redress predicaments. This is what we will analyze in a future post on the forms of cooperation set up and their real effectiveness. While I focused here on a African point of view, I’ll see also in the next post the relation and conflicts at a global level and the paper of European vision in water crisis in Africa. 

Some documentaries if you want to deepen the subject :

When the Water ends : https://vimeo.com/103528480