With about 75 per cent of the IGAD region said to be constituted of arid and semi-arid lands, cross-border conflicts among pastoral communities for fertile grazing lands are common.
Now, experts at the 2nd Water Dialogue forum held in Uganda, believe that harvesting groundwater resources, these arid and semi-arid lands will help to curb water shortages and thereby resolve conflicts in the region. The forum was held for 3 days from 26 January in Entebbe, Uganda.
Fred Mwango, a regional water expert in the agriculture and research unit at IGAD says bringing member countries to a negotiation table is key in helping address potential disputes that arise from shared water sources across borders.
“We want to ensure that we share and take into consideration the views of member states regarding shared water sources. Once we come to a consensus, the gap in knowledge and skills will be bridged,” Mwango said.
Improvement in institutional capacity according to Mwango will better prepare agricultural and water ministries all over the region not only to mine this water but help ready communities around it to best utilize it to improve their life.
A conflict analysis conducted in 2021 by the IGAD conflict early warning mechanism (CEWARN) established that within the IGAD region, there is a strong relationship between poor vegetative cover due to lack of water and the incidence of conflict.
While there have been past incidences of cross-border conflicts between the Karamojong in Uganda and the Turkana in Kenya over livestock theft and grazing land, the mining of groundwater to build valley dams on either side has reduced the incidences of conflict.
Callist Tindimugaya, the commissioner for water resources planning and regulation, ministry of Water and Environment Uganda stressed the importance of underground water to most communities in Uganda as a source of water for drinking and other domestic use.
“When rivers and lakes dry up, we look at underground water because it rarely runs out. Having multiple sources of underground water means reducing scarcity. Where there is no scarcity, conflict is avoided.”
Workneh Gebeyehu, the executive secretary of IGAD called for member states and partners to exert the same level of effort and influence to build the technical capacity needed to reduce the “water gap” as has been applied to closing the “digital divide”.
“If water, not oil is to be the cause of future conflict, I am convinced that by increasing the water options available to our people and using modern science to increase efficiency of utilization of both surface and groundwater.”
John Mulimba, the Ugandan minister of state for Regional Affairs added his weight to how pivotal underground water has become in promoting diplomacy among IGAD members.
“The IGAD region has shared groundwater resources of which its assessment and management is rather complex,” he said.
“This poses another groundwater governance challenge which IGAD could handle at the regional level with the view to quantify the available groundwater resources for use by the borderland communities during drought periods,” he added.
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