Water Resources Conflict Management of Nyabarongo River and Kagera River Watershed in Africa

Abstract

In the process of exploiting and using water resources of river basin, the benefit conflict problems among upper and lower river districts and among different departments restrict to sustainable exploiting and using water resources of river basin. In this paper, the water resources conflict management of Nyabarongo River and Kagera River watershed is studied. The Nyabarongo is a major river in Rwanda, begins in Nyungwe Forest, and flows up to the north-western part of the country, then down through the center to the south-east, eventually forming the main tributary of the Kagera River watershed, the main affluent of Lake Victoria, which drains into the Nile River. The basin is shared among 11 riparian states. This trans-boundary character of the Nile presents a great challenge of water conflicts; national interests have historically been promoted at the expense of regional interests. The framework of this paper is as follows: the water resources bulletin is firstly described, and then the cooperation and regional conflicts are discussed; finally a sustainable framework for governing the water resources is proposed to meet water management in riparian states.