Ethiopia’s continued push for talks on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam project proves the country’s unwavering stance to strengthen brotherhood among the downstream countries. Otherwise, it has the full rights to use the waters of the Nile. And there is no international law that blocks it from taking the next step—i.e. filling the Dam as per the schedule.
There is no way that the majority of the rural people of the country continue to live in darkness while Ethiopia is the source of the waters of the Nile. Despite the energy deficiency in the country that lingers for decades, the burden has for long been on the rural community.
Unlike Ethiopia, the experience of other countries witnessed that—no single upstream country had shown a commitment to discuss with downstream countries when either constructing or filling dams.
The country’s focus on a win-win diplomatic approach by inviting the International Panel of Experts (IPoE) to review the GERD design documents and even get information firsthand at the site of the Dam says it all. The question is: Which upstream country did this in the past when constructing a dam on an international river? The answer is clear and succinct: No other country attempted this in the past.
Hence, this effort should not be crippled by the sneaky moves of Cairo and its futile attempts to “create pressure” on GERD filling by going round countries and international institutions. The key is among Ethiopia, Sudan, and Egypt itself, and Cairo’s politicians’ tour serves no purpose other than wasting the international community’s time and resources.
The three countries had almost a
fruitful discussion last year on the technical details of the filling. However,
Egypt has politicized and externalized the issue. Still, the key is in its
hand, and it must come to a discussion table without a third party’s
intervention. But the truth is: whether Cairo likes it or not, Ethiopia is
determined to start the first filling of the Dam by the coming rainy season.
The
Ethiopia Herald May 8, 2020
