Abstract: | By the time the Helsinki Rules on the uses of the waters of international rivers were adopted (1966), it was already an accepted fact that the sharing of international water goes hand in hand with the setting up of some kind of joint management/planning body between the parties. In Africa, a number of important developments regarding the joint management of international nonmaritime water resources have taken place. This paper discusses these developments by concentrating on the structure and powers of the following organizations: the Lake Chad Basin Commission (1964); the Organization for the Management and Development of the River Senegal (1972); the Organization for the Management and Development of the Kagera River Basin (1977); and the Niger Basin Authority, established in 1987, but in fact a revision of earlier agreements. Africa's most recent development, the Structures for the Management of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (1986), is discussed in more detail. The composition, structure, legal capacity, territorial jurisdiction and authority of the institutions discussed are then compared. Notes, ref. |