Ethiopia has been facing various challenges that are related to its resources and geopolitical aspects. The threats that the country has been encountering particularly are associated with Trans Boundary Rivers for instance Abbay River. It is the most controversial issue which dated back for centuries and has remained hot until these days. Though the country is the land where the Abbay water originates, there have been outsiders who had been pocking nose and echoing a lot about the river because of certain frustrations related with internal and external factors and lower emphasis to this precious natural gift from the Ethiopian side in the past times.
As sources well documented the historical happenings about Abbay, unlike Ethiopia there are lower basin countries that have been conspiring and politicizing the issues that aimed at irritating psychologically and attacking physically to thwart the country from utilizing the river for its national economic development especially for hydropower generation, the most crucial energy for more than half of its people living in darkness. Egypt appeared to be the leading country that has been digging every hole for preventing Ethiopia from using its sovereign right over own natural resources in different ways.
As Hailu W/Giorgis showed in his book; International Rivers: The legal and Political Challenges of the Nile water, Egypt has been strategically working on the psychology of its people through various forms regarding the ownership of the Abbay River. The people of this country from the childhood have been dictated to blame Ethiopia and Ethiopian government for any assumed loss of the Abbay water.
The author of the book said based on various sources that though Egypt knows that Ethiopia didn’t do anything harmful on the river, and the quantity of the River’s water can be affected only by the amount of the natural rainfall volume; but it has continued persuading its people to simply question and hate Ethiopia. The GEO Magazine on its November 2004 publication said that, “Egyptians believed that the amount change in the Abbay River is caused by the collusion of Ethiopian government.”
Egypt sultans were sending orthodox Christian Bishops with dowry to be served for the patriarch of Ethiopia to beg the country stop constructing any dam on Abbay River. As studies vividly showed, Ethiopia was accepting their frustrations and stopped its construction just it feels sympathy for the people of Egypt.
The third mechanism that Egypt employed was conquering strategic areas around Abbay River. For this, since at that time it was technologically advanced, it controlled Sudan to show its superiority over the tributaries of Abbay River. Kedivu Esmael had tried to subjugate the country for 16 times. Finally, in 1884 he lost his control and left the area by the troops of Emperor Yohannes.
With the above historical facts and because of the frequent tensions that Ethiopia had been through, the river remained to be only the gift of others. The country was simply walking it out with its precious resources. Basin countries, especially Egypt, had been dominating the river and making its economy to boost over the motherland of the river. This was detected by the previous regimes of Ethiopia though practical change was not registered.
The first commitment on the river was taken by Emperor Haile Selassie. He put the foundation stone for the edifice of the dam. But the construction was not easy to be made as planned. Then, the prosecuted regime took-over the initiation. The first visibility study on the dam was made in 1964. Then with lots of ups and downs, the coming government took the perceptible move on the river. On April 02, 2011 Prime Minister Meles Zenawi put the official working foundation stone.
The Dam is the most crucial issue of the people of Ethiopia. It has been the identity markings of Ethiopians, so that everybody’s heart bits on the Dam. The citizens showed their commitment and inscribed their finger prints as much as they can.
Meanwhile, the new reformist government that is led by prosperity party took the power. This government had raised the issue of the Dam in a very energetic and dedicated way that the initiation had revived in the minds of the people.
The current system has prioritized the construction of the Dam recognizing it as the driving force for the nation’s economic transformation. After identifying the causes of the challenges that were facing the process, the government has made necessary reforms and showed the commitment it had for its completion.
Though the international laws and regulations regarding the share of the river between the source and tributary countries is still controversial, Ethiopia is heading the construction of the Dam which is nearing its completion with respect to the allotted principles even though the lower riparian countries that had been taking this share are not participating in those decisions.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said that 13 October 2024, marks the culmination of a long journey toward the equitable and reasonable utilization of the waters of the Nile, with the entry into force of the Agreement on the Nile River Basin Framework (CFA).
“I extend my heartfelt congratulations to all state parties to the CFA for their unwavering commitment to advancing cooperation in our region. I also call upon the non-signatory states to join the Nile family, so that together we may achieve our shared goals of development and regional integration.”
According to ministry of water and energy, the Nile Cooperation Framework Agreement (CFA) officially came into effect since October 13, 2024. Water and Energy Minister Habtamu Itefa (PhD-Eng.) described this development as a historic milestone in Nile cooperation, congratulating Ethiopians and the governments of all riparian countries for their collective efforts in reaching this significant agreement.
The Minister emphasized that the CFA establishes a solid foundation for the equitable and sustainable use of the Nile waters, promoting long-term cooperation among the riparian nations. He noted that this agreement demonstrates a commitment to addressing past inequities related to water distribution.
The CFA also establishes the Nile River Basin Commission, which will oversee the management, conservation, and fair distribution of the Nile water resources.
These days, the Dam is almost at its completion. The Dam is the largest one in Africa and is 7th in the world. This Dam does mean a lot for Ethiopians who had been salivating by their own natural gift. The river had been left out by the country of its origin and used to flow freely leaving its people behind with severe poverty and darkness. Now is the time to serve its people as some other rivers do.
The Dam is believed and expected to have the following impactful changes on the people’s life. The first thing is since the people who got electricity are only 44%, the completion of the Dam can transform this number. The demand of electric power is going to be solved in time. This phenomenon will have a greater impact on the living standard of the people.
Starting from using the electric power for lamp consumption, the citizens can stick on electric power for food preparation, and for various house hold chores. This can facilitate the saving of labor power or effort of especially females since they are socially assigned to take care of such jobs. Furthermore, this move highly contributes for the effort to minimize the degree of deforestation. Plants could not be cut for the purpose of fuel consumption. Moreover, this fact can diminish the tendency of females’ exposal to sexual violence which is most of the time done while they run for fire wood collection. Thus, the Dam can become the real gift for the country of its origin.
Secondly, the completion of the Dam means empowerment of the people economically. As a result of various lodges, business centers and others facilities can be built at the shores of the Dam, the people who run those economic activities can earn better life and bring good opportunity for many citizens to get job. In addition, jobs related to fishing, tour guidance and the like can enable the people begin new way of life style. This is among the most important opportunities for minimizing the level of unemployment in the country. This again can be taken as an input for the economic transformation of the country.
Thirdly, it can pave the way for the construction of additional dams for more economic purposes. Since the water is left to go downstream after moving the turbines, it does not cause any significant harm against the lower riparian countries. Besides, for the fact that the Dam is constructed in the Abbay valley, relatively the highland areas; water evaporation is very low when compared with the lower dams which are constructed in desert areas. And this in turn, makes the Dam a project environmentally friendly.
Editor’s Note: The views entertained in this article do not necessarily reflect the stance of The Ethiopian Herald
BY MEKDES TAYE (PhD)
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD WEDNESDAY 16 OCTOBER 2024
