ADDIS ABABA: With the visiting committee tasked with examining Ethiopia’s planned Renaissance Dam project and its effect on the Nile River, Ethiopian citizens are becoming increasingly agitated with Egypt and Sudan’s continued refusal to allow the country to build what will be Africa’s largest dam.
“I think this is just disgusting what they are doing,” university student Jihad Mohamed told Bikyamasr.com. He said that if Khartoum and Cairo continue to block efforts by Ethiopia to develop their own natural resources, “we will gather and protest against their embassies.”He is one of many in Ethiopia who feel that the continued refusal to allow the dam project to take off by their northern Nile partners is creating unnecessary tension between the two countries.
“We are going to build the dam and they have to understand that. It is just as monumental as Egypt’s Aswan dam, so why are they making a big deal over this when studies show it won’t affect their share,” he added.
His friends said they were prepared to take action if the government does not, arguing that this “meddling in Ethiopia’s affairs must end.”
The Nile Tripartite Committee this week is in the country to study the impacts the dam will have along the country’s Nile River.
The International Panel of Experts (IPoE), consists of six experts from Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan, and another four international experts.
The experts committee, so far in its study has hinted that the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam will have no negative impact to down stream countries; Egypt and Sudan.
However, its final findings and recommendations on the impacts of the controversial project will be submitted to the governments of the three countries in less than 9 months.
Ethiopia launched the construction of the Renaissance Dam after Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania and Kenya and later Burundi signed the Entebbe agreement In April 2010, to reverse colonial era treaties seeking equitable water utilization on Nile water.
While Cairo denied any intention of attacking the dam, the country’s Water Resources and Irrigation Minister Mohamed Bahaa el-Din said on Saturday that his country was maintaining its concerns about the construction of the Renaissance Dam in Ethiopia.
He did say that officials at the Ethiopia foreign ministry “assured Egypt and Sudan that in case there was any impact on their water quota to the dam, other projects will be carried out to collect lost water and cover shortages.”
It is the latest in the ongoing battle for the world’s largest river’s water, with Egypt and Sudan continuing to remain obstinate in amending any of the colonial treaties that guarantee their countries with a lion’s share of water from the Nile.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) this month called on Ethiopia to slow its construction and planning for the dam, citing economic concerns for the country.
Whistleblower site Wikileaks released documents this month that revealed Egypt and Sudan had been planning to attack an Ethiopian dam project to “protect” their rights over Nile water based on colonial era treaties.
In documents revealed by Wikileaks, the Egyptian and Sudanese government appeared ready to develop a launching pad for an attack by Egypt against the dam.
Wikileaks has leaked files allegedly from the Texas-based global intelligence company, Stratfor, which quote an anonymous “high-level Egyptian source,” which reported that the Egyptian ambassador to Lebanon said in 2010 that Egypt “would do anything to prevent the secession of South Sudan because of the political implications it will have for Egypt’s access to the Nile.”
Ethiopia’s massive dam project has seen much concern from Cairo and Khartoum, who fear the establishment of Africa’s largest dam would affect previous colonial deals on Nile water-sharing.
It is to be built some 40 kilometers upstream from Sudan on the Blue Nile.
But even before the official announcement of Ethiopia’s prime minister’s passing on August 20, Egyptian officials told Bikyamasr.com that they believed a post-Meles region could bring forth new negotiations and compromise over Nile water.
An Egyptian ministry of water and irrigation told Bikyamasr.com last month, two weeks before Zenawi was pronounced dead, that with the combination of Egypt’s new President Morsi and the potential of seeing a new leader in Ethiopia, they hoped the tension over Nile River water could be resolved.
“While this can in no way be official policy at this point, I believe that there would be more maneuvering with a new leadership in Ethiopia because there would be the ability to communicate and not be seen as antagonistic,” the official said, adding that they were not authorized to speak to the media.
“Let us be frank about the situation between Egypt and other Nile countries,” the official continued. “We in Egypt have not been the best at compromise so I think overall, there is so much that can be done to help bring countries together, and Ethiopia has been a leader in its criticism of Egypt so starting there would be good.”
With the Nile comes a new set of issues, and with Egypt holding onto a lion’s share of water from the world’s largest river, upstream countries such as Ethiopia have taken it on their own to begin building dams and other water related endeavors, much to the anger of Cairo.
However, officials hope that solutions can be had in the new post-revolution Egypt that could see the growing tension between countries along the Nile reduce.
“While Egypt never wants to mingle in another country’s affairs, a new leadership in Ethiopia would go a long way to changing how things are run, just like it has in Egypt,” the official added.
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