African countries could face water wars if the power of their large perennial rivers is not properly harnessed and shared, officials from across the continent said on Tuesday. Government ministers from 19 African nations discussed in Addis Ababa how to streamline and better utilize three main river basins of the Nile, Zambezi and the Senegal rivers, that constitute the economic backbone of the countries they drain. The Namibian minister of agriculture, Helmut Angula, also attended the two-day conference, which ended on Wednesday. A similar conference was held in Rome, Italy on the same issue, organised by FAO, where the minister was also a delegate.

He said Namibia was implementing the Green Scheme project in order to grow food for self-sufficiency. The Namibian government would set One billion Namibia dollars over ten years aside. About 45 000 ha are to be put under irrigation. "What we lack is capital. Alone we cannot make it. We need the support of the international community since hunger is a global scourge requiring collective action," Minister Angula said.

More than two-thirds of Africa’s 60 river basins are shared by more than one country - creating potential conflict over how they should be harnessed and used. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) warned in a recent report that water wars are likely in areas where rivers are shared by more than one country. Sam Nyambi, the head of UNDP in Ethiopia, told the summit that the management and development of the continent’s water is vital not only for peace, but will make it more readily available for drinking, hydroelectric power, tourism and agriculture. But just a mere 4% of the continent’s fresh water is being properly utilized, said Abdirahman Beileh, a water resource expert with the African Development Bank. Beileh warned that increasing demand might spark future conflict. He also said there were enormous financial hurdles to overcome in building a continental water infrastructure system that would provide irrigation systems, joint hydroelectric production and early warning systems for floods. Such a system would work along the Nile River that supplies water to about 300 million people. The ADB already pledged US $ 33 million for the Nile Basin Initiative. David Grey, a senior water adviser with the World Bank, said that $2bn could be invested in Nile river projects alone in the coming years much of it from the private sector.