The main conflicts in Africa during the next 25 years could be over that most precious of commodities - water, as countries fight for access to scarce resources. Potential 'water wars' are likely in areas where rivers and lakes are shared by more than one country, according to a UN Development Programme (UNDP) report.
If the combined population of the three countries the Nile runs through - Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt - rises as predicted from 150 million today to 340 million in 2050 then there could be intense competition for increasingly limited water resources. Climate change will also enhance this problem as the region is predicted to get drier.
There is already little water left when the Nile reaches the sea. And Egypt is unlikely to take kindly to losing out to Ethiopia - a country with one-tenth of its income. Indeed water is already a catalyst for regional conflict. In the dying years of the previous Ethiopian government, tensions with Egypt increased rapidly when the rulers in Addis Ababa pondered the construction of dams on the Nile.
Ethiopia is now threatening Egypt's claims to Nile waters with many new dam proposals. Can you find out any more on this?
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