Ethiopia adamant on furthering Nile cooperation
Fekadu W.
Nile
There is no building that can contain him!
There is no counselor in thy heart! Thy youth delight in thee, thy children: Thou directest them as King. Thy law is established in the whole land, In the presence of thy servants in the North: Every eye is satisfied with him: He careth for the abundance of his blessings.
(Ancient Egyptian poem about Nile)
This ancient poem about Nile states that Nile (Gijon) has no permanent abode which may harbor it and anyone cannot penetrate deep into the heart of the River. In addition, it tells us that Nile is the darling of all, and young men and children all applaud and pay it royal homage blah, blah. Whatsoever the case, the intransigent decree of Nile as the only servant of the downstream Egypt has been vanishing with time, as all people living along the Nile basin are asking for a drink from the water of Nile.
Moreover, unlike the poem ‘no building to contain you’, now a day, Ethiopian sons and daughters have started to construct colossal dam called the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) to contain it. It is designed to store some portion of the water that belongs to Ethiopia and harness it for development, solely for electrification purpose.
Similarly, contrary to the aforementioned mythical poem, Ethiopians have started to penetrate deep into the heart of Nile and they had managed to make it pass through space age spillways and culverts (against the seemingly insurmountable spirit that used to entrench among innocent folks of the past decades. This defunct spirit of weakness that used to take Nile as unconquerable monster is now fading away, little by little, following the start of construction of the GERD).
Not only Ethiopia, Sudan has U-turned on the issue of Nile water and started claiming its share of Nile water from Egypt. As a concrete testimony, while being interviewed by Russia Today Television, Sudan’s Foreign Minister, Ibrahim Ghandour had said that Egypt had used some of Sudan’s water quota for many years. However, rather than admitting the problem and seeking a negotiable solution, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry had blatantly rejected the statements of his Sudanese counterpart that Egypt used some of Sudan’s Nile water quota for many years.
Shoukry in his typical and Egypt-style evasion insisted that Sudan’s annual Nile water quota had been, for some time in the past, far more than its capacity, thus any surplus would normally flow to Egypt through the river. Everybody understands the political mumbo-jumbo that Egypt is unreasonably worried about its high-handed annual share of 55.5 billion cubic meters of the Nile River water wantonly apportioned by defunct colonial treaties and horse trading Britain.
Indubitably, water security is a key issue for the world. It is the most basic form of security that a state requires, for without water there can be no state. The success of agriculture, health, industry, and energy all require a reliable source of water. As a result of climate change the water security of states is being increasingly threatened. An intelligence community assessment on global water security concluded that water security would be a key issue for the future, adversely affecting the economies and political stability of vulnerable states.
Taking this very fact in to account, Ethiopia is working hard to burgeon its water security. Currently, nation has started to exploit its natural resources for the sake of expanding agriculture and electrification. Most importantly, Ethiopia is harnessing its rivers to generate remarkable amount of electricity that supports its economic development Moreover, Ethiopia has to reliably overcome energy and water shortages that may encounter following its development. In order to resolve these problems and sustain development, nation has started to construct GERD on the Nile, which will hold 63 billion cubic meters of water and produce 6450 MW of electricity.
By the same token, the 5th Nile Basin Development Forum (NBDF), which took place at the Kigali Convention Centre from 23-25 October 2017, has attracted more than 500 participants from ten Nile Basin countries and the international community(except Egyptian government delegation). Noticeably, Ethiopian government delegation was active participant in the forum and the issue of the GERD was high on the agenda.
The discussion about GERD has continued between Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan as of the time Ethiopia officially inaugurated the construction of the GERD on April 2, 2011. Initially, both Egypt and Sudan opposed the project, and even call for halting the construction. Perhaps, most unsettling issue to Egypt is the fact that the Sudanese government has later changed its mind and backed the stand of Ethiopia and started to cooperate with Ethiopia, as it came to realize the multi-faceted benefits of the Dam to its national interest(including curbing the devastation caused by flood, protecting sedimentation in downstream, providing regulated flow to downstream countries and supporting energy development in the region).
Contrary to Aswan and other dams, the GERD is believed to be located at the right place targeted to reduce evaporation and save water, protect flood in the downstream and enhance power production in all systems(despite some allegations surfacing that there might be an impact of the GERD on downstream countries, particularly during the filling stage of the Dam and its turbines beginning to generate energy.
Similarly, GERD could produce 15,128 GWh annually, generating more than 750 million Euro per year in revenue, and it has been estimated that it will cost approximately 0.63 Million Euros/MW to construct(its total installed capacity is generation of 6450MW). Originally it was 5250 and later it was boosted to 6450MW, following some improvements on the design.
To be frank, it was the Ethiopian government that expressed its desire to cooperate with Egypt and Sudan on the GERD; by inviting the two countries to join it in the implementation of the recommendation proposed by International Panel of Experts (IPoE), to undertake further study and examine the impacts of the project on downstream countries. Hence, tripartite ministerial meeting of Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan, which was held in Addis Ababa in November 2011, approved the terms of reference and rules of procedure of the IPoE.
Nation has touted the GERD as an incredibly important project and “strategically significant initiative”. It believes the Project is a typical benefit-sharing project for Ethiopia and downstream countries. And, as a show of national pride, nation is employing domestic source of fund to construct the project (being funded partly through bond offerings to Ethiopian citizens and government expenditure). So far, many believe that the government has been doing well to finance and promote the benefit of the project to downstream countries.
Undeniably, Ethiopia has a right to exploit its own natural resources and support much-needed human development projects. To this end, nation is calling for all Nile riparian countries, particularly, downstream countries, to negotiate on the possible outcomes of the Dam and cooperatively work(it is striving hard to forge a win-win solution to the Nile impasse and assure opposing states that GERD has insignificant impact and it could be a source of cooperation).
In part, this is reflected in the fact that there is a growing scholarly consensus which concludes that the Project would benefit the riparian countries in regulating the flow of the river, reducing sedimentation, producing cheap hydropower and reducing water losses( at least provision of sufficient water during drought seasons and generation of cheap renewable energy for the region are among the noticeable benefits).
Ethiopia is currently constructing the GERD round- the -clock. Once complete, the Dam will be the largest hydropower facility in Africa (about 6,450 MW) – nearly triple the country’s current electricity generation capacity and it represents potential economic windfall for the country. The benefit of the GERD for Ethiopia and for many electricity-importing countries in East Africa is clear (however, downstream countries are trying to pervert the facts).
Until now, countries like Egypt have been blowing hot and cold regarding the Dam. However, despite sour rhetoric of Egypt, many hydrologists state that water security has been and will continue to be an issue that typically fosters cooperation rather than war. This is because the biggest barriers to water security are ones that cannot always be resolved through conflict, and the same is true for the ongoing dispute between Ethiopia and Egypt.
Currently, despite the unresolved standoff on Nile, all Nile riparian States have turned their face to new spirit of cooperation, a U-turn departure from the past, and have been witnessing ardent interest to work together with Ethiopia( this spirit was triggered for the first time in the Nile history by the agreement of nine of the riparian states in Arusha, Tanzania, in September, 1998).
Overall, the hydro politics of water in the Nile that used to zero in on “Zero-sum game“ has been changing as riparian countries are enhancing their willingness to negotiation and cooperation over the Nile; the previous modus operand focusing on “I won, you lost’’ cannot bring lasting solution and get any country anywhere. Nile Basin countries have noticed that stubborn stand on Nile utilization is unable to get along with the current trend of cooperation that need to mutually develop trans-boundary rivers; colonial agreements on Nile are callously erratic and are now superseded by Nile cooperation.
Particularly, Egypt should and must absolutely detach itself from time-torn and age-clawed jingoism on Nile and whole-heartedly accept the importance of sharing the water of Nile. In this regard, employing Helsinki rules as a way of equitable utilization of Nile water would certainly prove useful by equitably apportioning water to the needs of all Nile riparian countries, particularly Ethiopia as a major contributor to Nile water.
Nowadays, the interest of Nile Basin countries to negotiation and cooperation has been taken as the best way forward. The time-clawed and age-ravaged “ self-righteous “ stand of downstream countries has gone with the wind. As ever, Ethiopia will go ahead with its unshakable stand of cooperation based on mutual benefit (and GERD is a symbol of Ethiopia’s unwavering stance for cooperation and win-win resolution to Nile).
Ethiopia has been voicing its unflinching stand on Nile cooperation and it will remain adamant to the Principle of Insignificant Impact, Equitable Utilization of Nile Water and Cooperation. Hence, taking GERD as a crux of cooperation, nation will adamantly continue its endeavor to strengthen cooperation among all Nile riparian countries. And all riparian countries would fare better if they take in to account the glaring reality that cooperation is Hobson’s choice of this time.