Ethiopia bursts Egypt over Nile Waters with his mighty dam

After Egypt broke out at the diplomatic stage for more than a decade, Ethiopia will be officially discovered one of the largest dams in the Nile River world, burying a colonial era treaty that saw the United Kingdom guarantee the North African nation in the lion’s share of his water.

The dam – built on the Blue Nile at a price of about $ 5 billion ($ 3.7 billion), with a reservoir approximately the size of Big London – led to a jump in Ethiopian nationalism, unifying a nation, often polarized on ethnic lines and conflicted.

“The Ethiopians may disagree how to eat the engineer (their main food), but they agree to the dam,” the BBC, based in South Africa, Moses Crypus Ocello, an analyst at the South Africa -based Security Studies Institute.

“They do not view it as a pile of concrete in the middle of a river, but as a monument to their achievement, because the Ethiopians, both at home and in the diaspora, financed the construction of the dam. There were waves and waves of installments when construction began in 2011.

“The government also issued bonds that were purchased by companies and workers. So, the feeling that all Ethiopians own a dam has increased exponentially, and taking office is a source of great pride for the nation,” said the ocello.

Called the great Ethiopian Renaissance dam (Gerd), it is the largest hydroelectric plant in Africa, which hopes it will not only meet the energy needs of the population of 135 million, but also give the country an “energy hegemony” and will increase its profits from foreign walut waluts.

Ethiopia planned to increase the sale of electricity in neighboring countries such as Kenya and Djibouti, with ambitions to build a transmission network for crossing the Red Sea to sell in the Middle East as Saudi Arabia, he said.

But for Egypt, the dam is the opposite of the hopes and ambitions of Ethiopia.

It is feared that the dam may dramatically reduce the flow of water to the country, causing a shortage of water.

“About 93% of Egypt is a desert, with almost no people. All of us, 107 million people, live on the Nile,” said a geologist at the University of Cairo in Egypt, Prof. Abbas Sharaki, before the BBC.

“The Egyptian civilization was built on the Nile Nile is our life,” he added.

The academician warns that the “poverty of water” can get worse in Egypt because of the dam.

“It stores 64 billion cubic meters of water, which usually flows to Egypt. This is a very big loss for us. Our average annual share is 55.5 billion cubic meters. We have no other source of water, but the Nile,” said Prof. Sharaki.

He added that Gerd is stored “about doubling the amount of water in the” Three Tower “dam in China, which is the largest dam in the world in electricity generation.”

A former negotiator for Ethiopia over GERB, Fekakhmed Negash, told the BBC that despite the huge diplomatic pressure and even threats of war from Egypt, Ethiopia was detained with her plan to build a dam because she was vital for her need for development.

This includes the provision of electricity to approximately 60% of the Ethiopians who do not have access to it, but he noted that this would not be easy, since the transmission net would have to be built in the vast country with the rocky and mountain terrain.

Prof. Sharaki said that although the Blue Nile was an “international river”, Ethiopia made a “unilateral” decision to build a dam – something he managed to do only because Egypt was affected by a revolution at that time, leading to the overthrow of longtime ruler Hosni Mubarak.

“Egypt was in a very bad situation, without the president and our military was busy inside the country,” he said, adding that the North African country had already taken steps to find alternative water sources – including the construction of the world’s largest treatment plant in the world and breaks more than 5,000 wells.

Egypt was also forced to make changes to his agricultural sector – for example, by reducing the rice growing area, which is water -intensive, from about two million acres to one million acres, the academic said.

“If you store 64 billion cubic meters of water, which previously flowed in Egypt, will it not cause harm?” Prof. Sharaki noted, rejecting Ethiopia’s claims that the North African country would not be negatively affected by the dam.

G -F Fekahmed told the BBC that Ethiopia would not return to the era when Egypt is guaranteed a specific amount of water, but “it is always open to conversations about the release of water and the safety of the dam.”

Rashid Abdi, an analyst from Kenya -based This -Tank Think -Tank, said the GERB completion announced the end of the deal that the UK -then the colonial power -made in the 1920s to guarantee Egypt about 80% of the waters of the Nile.

“The UK did it to put Egypt and to secure its own interests, because Egypt is a strategic condition that controls the Suez Canal, the door to Europe,” Abdi told BBC.

“But Ethiopia now designs power until Egypt’s wealth gave way. She lost her privileged status over the Nile,” he said.

In what Mr. Ocelo described as a “political masterpiece”, then-Ethiopia Minister Meles Zenavi announced in 2011 to build what he simply called “Project X”, triggering a process that led Egypt to lose its “veto power” due to the use of Nile waters.

“Egypt lobbies massively for institutions such as the World Bank so as not to finance the construction of the dam. This simply increased the determination of the Ethiop government and embarked on the great desire to raise funds from its citizens,” he said.

“So Ethiopia has received money from various internal sources, as well as a small contribution from Igad (regional block of East Africa, the intergovernmental body for development). If it also has money from other sources, then it is not said strongly,” added the ocello.

US President Donald Trump claims that the United States is “silly financing” the construction of a dam and this “significantly” reduces the water that flows into the Nile River, sounds the concern of Egypt, a strong ally of the United States.

Ethiopia rejected his request as “false”, insisting that the dam is self -fundedS

The ocello said that Trump tried to make a deal over the dam during his first term, but Ethiopia – with Prime Minister Abius Ahmed, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for ending hostilities with Eritrea – as he felt that the US president was ash.

“Trump felt weakened. He wanted the Nobel Prize for Peace, but not only Abiy received it, he also did not give Trump a deal,” said the ocello.

Prior to GERB’s office on Tuesday, Egypt’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Badr Abdelati strengthened his government’s rhetoric against the dam, saying that water security was a “red line” and the dam was an “existential threat” to the North African state.

However, Prof. Sharaki ruled out the possibility of Egypt waging war with Ethiopia.

“They are our brothers. We drink from the same water. Nile comes from them,” he said, adding that Egypt would continue to try to resolve the dispute through negotiations.

G -n Fekahmed said that Egypt could not resort to bombing of GERB, as it would be “suicidal” for the country – as well as for Sudan, which borders Ethiopia – because all the water on the dam would also “devastate” both sides.

The Egyptian geologist expressed the fear that Ethiopia could use the dam to exercise “military force”, especially over Sudan – a strategically important ally for Egypt – as the Blue Nile and the White Nile in Khartum meet.

“If there is tension or conflict between Ethiopia and Sudan, Ethiopia can destroy Sudan through this dam without weapons or planes,” said Prof. Sharaki.

He also expressed concern that GERB could launch a “new earthquake system”.

“If you store 64 billion cubic meters of water, it means 64 billion tonnes of weight in an area with volcanic rocks, many fractures and the largest rift in the world, the East African gift, which is an active break,” Prof. Sharaki said.

Ethiopia said earlier that studies show that Egypt’s concerns are unfounded and the dam far from areas prone to earthquakes.

So the Ethiopians are unlikely to let Egypt suppress their mood as they prepare to celebrate the assumption of the dam and focus on their next goal – to regain access to the Red Sea, which Ethiopia lost independence in 1991.

Last week, the Ethiopian prime minister said the Red Sea refusal was “a mistake that will be corrected tomorrow”.

“The issue of the sea port is no longer something you need to be ashamed of. The global perspective is clear – there is no big country without access to the port and it must be approached through negotiations,” Abi added.

Eritrea rejected her comments as a “reckless sacrament” against the backdrop of fears that the relationship between the two nations – who were fighting a border war that killed tens of thousands of people in the late 1990s – were deteriorating again.

The ocello said that the nationalist flame among the Ethiopians over the dam began to be seen in the Red Sea campaign.

“Ethiopia built the dam, despite the chances,” he said.

“Now he wants to gain access to the sea and build a naval power. It is not clear how he will do this, but Ethiopia is seen as a great nation and there are no many great nations that are closed.”