Egypt Needs to be above the Board
Amen Teferi
Ethiopia wants everyone in the Nile basin to keep their hands and cards on the table and be an honest player in the effort being made to create a fair scheme in the utilization of our common water resource. Hundreds of millions of peoples that are living in the Nile basin are poverty stricken who are eager to see a fair and equal utilization of the Nile water. Ensuring universal access to affordable, reliable and modern energy services, among others, is essential to evict these people from the quagmire of poverty.
People in the basin are fed-up with the state of beggary that has been menacing their lives for centuries and are looking for solutions that would have a win-win end product. Politician in the basin are required to accede to the demands of the people. Willy-nilly, they would embrace a solution that will address the pressing needs of the people for it is impossible to continue the old ways of doing things.
We need to change the combative spirit that has been lingering over for centuries and transform the denigrating attitude into a cooperative spirit of fraternity. I think, the Nile Basin Initiative is a venture working to this effect. The initiative focus on matters that would help countries of the Nile basin to forge common interest and project that would be beneficial to all parties. Recently Ethiopia has once again expressed its commitment to work with Sudan, Egypt based on the Declaration of Principles (DoP) with regard to the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).
At a press briefing held by Foreign Ministry, on November 23, 2017, the Spokesperson Meles Alem, has stated that Ethiopia’s commitment for fair and equitable usage of the Nile water is based on the principles of common gains, justice, reason, not harming others and cooperation.
Admittedly, the construction of GERD is crucial for Ethiopia’s development which is suffering from series of draughts and calamities over the years and the Spokesperson further stressed that the zero sum game diplomacy with respect to the dam is not useful to any country in the Nile Basin.
According to Meles, both the lower and upper riparian countries would be beneficiaries of the realization of the dam and denounced the tendency of some Egyptian who opted to stick to the colonial treaties which no more serve the development endeavors of Nile Basin countries in the 21st century.
He also urged the local media to be cautious and ethical in rebroadcasting or reprinting information coming from Egyptian media that are fostering reclusive attitude and recklessly disseminating information that are detrimental to the cooperative spirit Ethiopia seek to nurture. He further reminded the local media to be more vigilant in verifying information rather than simply running stories sourced from Egyptian and other media. He also indicates that Ethiopia has an unprecedented stance in being transparent about the developmental activities it has been carrying out in the Nile Basin that would simply turn any disinformation campaign futile.
According to AP, in televised comment Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi had recently delivered a stern warning to Ethiopia over a dam it is building after the two countries along with Sudan failed to approve a study on its potential effects.
It is to be recalled that a fortnight ago Ethiopia has expressed its position on the outdated colonial agreements that it is not party to from the start. Ethiopia believes that these colonial treaties are obsolete and keen on finding an international arrangement that would bring about a fair utilization of the Nile water.
President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi while attending the inauguration a fish farm in the Nile Delta province of Kafr el-Sheikh seems to be trying to turn the wheel of history back, as Ethiopia is finalizing the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. He tries to reassure Egyptians saying “water is a matter of life or death.”
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, the first major dam on the Blue Nile, will start filling the reservoir behind it to power the Africa’s largest hydroelectric dam while Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi is saying “No one can touch Egypt’s share of water.”
We know that Dam construction on international rivers often causes disputes over the downstream impact; and Ethiopia has gone out of the common diplomatic course to appease the fears and concerns of the downstream countries and has shown readiness to address their concerns and made every effort to be transparent in ways that could dispel any confusion.
Sudan soon realigned itself with the GERD but Egypt is still pestering to keep intact the colonial treaty that has granted her with the lion’s share of Nile waters, more than 55 billion of the around 88 billion cubic meters of water that flow down the river each year, for Egypt fears that the GERD will cut its water supply, destroying parts of its precious farmland and squeezing its population of 94 million people, while the scientific facts prove otherwise.
Ethiopia says the dam is essential to its development and has repeatedly sought to reassure Egypt. However, Cairo appears not to be willing to take the headway. Two weeks ago on Nov. 8 El-Sissi used a news conference at the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to deliver the same message we used to hear from Egypt.
“We view positively the developmental needs of our friends and brothers in Ethiopia,” he said, then added “We are capable of protecting our national security and water to us is a question of national security. Full stop!” In fact, president El-Sissi did not say how Egypt intended to proceed and his government has publicly ruled out military action, but top Egyptian officials have in recent months been sharpening their rhetoric on Ethiopia.
In fact, El-Sissi has expressed his intention to foster better ties with sub-Saharan Africa, especially fellow Nile basin countries, insisting that while his country needs its full share of the river’s waters, it is ready to help them with their economic development.
Though, some international media have alleged that tensions between Egypt and upstream Nile basin countries Sudan and Ethiopia is flaring up again over the construction and effects of a massive dam being built by Ethiopia on the Blue Nile, the Ethiopian government does not have the slightest change of mood.
According to Ethiopia, the GERD, which is 62 percent complete, is a project that would foster cooperation rather than flaring up tension. Failing to understand this fact would potentially have a destabilizing effect and could add a new and dangerous layer to the turmoil already ravaging the region. The three nations must cooperate closely and be alert not to fraught their relations with tension and distrust.
Egyptian media are routinely accusing Khartoum of taking Ethiopia’s side in the dispute over the dam. Sudan’s foreign minister this week said Cairo was only unhappy about the dam because it would stop it from using some of Sudan’s own share of the river’s waters. The foreign minister, Ibrahim Ghandour, said “It’s high time Egypt pays what it owes and for Sudan to get its full share.”
On Wednesday, Egyptian Foreign Minister, Sameh Shoukry, responded “You cannot talk about water relations between two countries in terms of credit and debt … and it seems suspicious to raise this issue at this point of time.” On Thursday, Ethiopia’s Foreign Ministry responded to the recent comment made by Egypt’s president that “the river’s water is a matter of life and death to his country” saying that the “Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is also a matter of life or death to Ethiopia.”
Amidst this a little bit tense atmosphere, Addis Ababa was hosting an important conference discussing development. It was only on November 22/2017 that UNCTAD has launched “The Least Developed Countries Report 2017.” According to the report, “Despite an impressive rate of progress in recent year, only 4 of the 47 Least Developed Countries (LDCs) could achieve universal access to electrify by 2030 without accelerations of the rate of increase in access.”
It has further revealed that the report will serve as valuable input to the deliberations of the High-level Political Forum which will review progress on Goal 7 of Sustained Development Goals. Here, achieving Sustained Development Goal 7 means ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all. The conference has commended Ethiopia’s effort, but also indicates the huge gap to be addressed in rural electrification.
Achieving universal access to electricity by 2030 will require grid extension to reach an estimated 571 million more people, mini-grids to serve 341 million and stand-alone systems for 114 million people, the report stated. According to the report, the economic “win” of access to modern energy lies in its potential contribution to structural transformation of the economy, increasing productivity and providing new opportunity for the development of higher value added activities, the report pointed out. In this regard, productive use of electricity is essential in making investment in electricity generation and distribution of economically viable.
Speaking at the launching of the LDCs Report 2017, Dr. Gebrehiwot Ageba, Programs Director at Ethiopian Development Research Institute, said Ethiopia is committed to ensuring sustainable energy, where the industry sector and cities especially use clean energy. The LDCs Report 2017 estimates that the investments required in achieving universal access to electricity in all the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) by 2030 are 12 to 40 billion USD per year.