The 1959 Nile agreement of Egypt and Sudan and the current Article 44 of the new constitution of Egypt remind the famous axiom of Karl Marx that “history repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce”.
The old agreement which is, of course, a denial for the upper riparian states of Nile at a time when colonialism reigned over Africa and a crippled feudalistic state apparatus undermined Ethiopia could be regarded as a tragedy.
However, Article 44 of the latest constitution of Egypt is a new farce that has a sublime force of parody to provoke laugh of even the most decent and respectful politician. As constitution is a political genre, it is expected to maintain its genre integrity.
Finding play elements, either comedy or tragedy or both, out of context in a constitution of such a venerated country like Egypt may signify a latest crisis caused by the involvement of political writers or satirists who are affiliated more to the profession of play writing than political documents such as constitution.
The meaningless tone of declaring sovereign right over a resource existing outside a specific sovereign territory forces the specific genre to suddenly embark into a realm of absurdity and take a taste of farce leading to irresistible laugh.
Egyptian politicians are telling the Ethiopian farmers have no right to pot water from their river, Abbay. ‘Telling’, however, is not the element of their latest farce.
The farce is rooted in their claim of ‘sovereign constitutional right’ over Abbay which is totally an Ethiopian river. The Egyptians are also telling a recontextualised Orwellian satire that “Egypt is more equal than the other Nile riparian countries”.
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