Most scholars on the Nile controversy agree that the Nile Basin countries have all the right to make use of the water equitably and reasonably. They add this is the only durable solution for the problem without feelings of superiority or inferiority in the relations between nations. Only a few Egyptian scholars and the more extremist political and military officials seem to sustain the contrary. But clearly they have not yet learned from history.
It is perplexing, disturbing and inexplicable how this controversy over the Nile could stretch for eternity with one nation Egypt taking it all and the rest keeping quiet and remaining at the receiving end of all the injustices of the world! The crux of the matter is that Egypt is trying to impose a colonial pact against a sovereign nation called Ethiopia. Frankly this can only be dubbed ‘shameful’ and Cairo must be embarrassed to even make mention of that during negotiations on the filling of the GERD.
There are ‘facts’ fabricated by Egypt and repeating them ad infinitum cannot change the reality on the ground. That these ‘facts’ are included in the constitution of the nation does not make it any truer. There is a big gap between internal laws decreed for domestic and political consumption and international law that appeals to a wide audience. Ethiopians or any other nation for that matter cannot be expected to abide by Egyptian laws meant to legitimize their own stance among their constituency.
The message from Cairo seems that if what they sustain is repeated infinite times, it will end up being accepted as ‘truth’. This was a technique used by the Nazis with their propaganda boss Joseph Goebbels, but in vain.
In a country where the entire discourse on the Nile has been dominated by a unilateral thought, to expect that Egyptians would consider to look at things from a different perspective seems useless. The slogan seems to focus on denial of the evident and this blocks progress in negotiations.
Egyptians are heard repeatedly arguing that since the Nile is the only water resource they avail, they must be entitled to its exclusive use. This logic appears to be motivated by convenience.
Such attitude also slams the door against possible compromises. Incidentally Egypt contributes not even a drop of water to this resource and yet its stance to exclude nine other countries from the resource is just absurd besides being unethical and immoral.
Indeed the Nile has always been a special resource for Egyptians because they rely on it for their livelihood. But this does not necessarily clash with the idea of allowing others to share reasonably. Despite Ethiopia being the source of four fifth of the waters, it never claimed monopoly over its usage. This mighty river bathes eleven countries and there must be a ‘cooperation framework’ that takes into account the needs and aspirations of each of the countries. Egypt’s insistence with reference to the colonial pacts can only be considered as adding insult to injury! Those who blindly support the arguments Egypt proposes have already made their choice of supporting a colonialist treaty that completely disregarded the rights and interests of all the other nations.
Ethiopia is obliged even by international conventions to lift its people out of darkness. This is a natural right and no one force can deprive it of this right unless they dare to engage in an unlikely all-out war with Ethiopia.
The past record shows that Egypt has been violating all international pacts by behaving as if the river was its exclusive property. There is also evidence that it has always supported those who opposed any local government in Ethiopia by providing them with safe haven, finance and training to those forces besides facilitating propaganda against every Ethiopian government along the years. See the Eritrean Liberation Front, the Oromo Liberation Front etc. It must have considered that destabilizing Ethiopia is a strategic option for the long term undisturbed usage of the Nile.
It may have succeeded in this exploit for quite a while but injustice cannot continue perpetually. Ethiopians have now decided to stand in unison against any forms of division leaving aside their internal disputes. The GERD is a manifestation of such resolve.
The history of Ethiopia is full of such episodes and only the blind would not consider this fact when they try to sow seeds of division among Ethiopians taking advantage of certain ‘renegade mercenaries’ that have unfortunately been a feature of our history but were always condemned to the losing end.
Today no external force can stop or limit the aspirations of Ethiopians towards progress. The times have changed completely and only the naïve would fail to appreciate such reality.
The endless rhetoric about Egypt’s ‘natural rights’, or ‘historical rights’ is just a convenient narrative. It may have worked for years, but not anymore. Scholars have observed that expanding projects on the sands of Egypt and committing billions of cubic meters of the Nile water does not entitle Egypt to exclusive use of the resource.
It is of course a deliberate and calculated move that successive Egyptian governments have found it convenient to invest everything on the Nile hoping that they could always influence the upper riparian countries. This is a problem they created deliberately discarding their search for alternative sources. In a way the scholars add ‘this is a manifestation of the chauvinistic attitude of the Egyptian establishment. Dismissing the ambitions of the upper riparian countries to use the water is at best arrogance of power if not a veiled threat on the rest of the riparian nations.
Certain radical elements’ invoking of the use of force seem to forget that ‘people who live in a house of glass do not throw stones!’
Egyptians would be best advised, the scholars go on, to wake up from their pretenses or illusion and live up to the reality of the twenty-first century. Gone are the days when they invested in the hope of sowing division among Ethiopians and keep them busy with intestinal clashes while they enjoy a solitary use of the Nile!
Egypt may have gained more if it actually cooperated with the Ethiopian government and expanded its cooperation particularly with the long term strategy of coping with the odds of climate change.
Acknowledging that most of the water comes from Ethiopia, it must have engaged its resources to more protection efforts of the environment and securing that rain falls regularly in Ethiopia. Population explosion is a fact and trying to cope with it is a preferable strategy than squander millions to sow seeds of discord among Ethiopians thus trying to fish in troubled waters.
In pre 2011 years before the GERD project was conceived and born, the usage of the Nile had remained almost taboo for centuries. Ethiopian governments never showed enough resolve to build a dam on the river. At times there was the veiled threat of use of force when Cairo flirted with the idea of ‘putting all options on the table’ policy. The threat may have influenced the priorities of governments in Addis Ababa. But this strategy is now long outdated. The upper riparian countries cannot be fooled any more.
Egyptian politicians would commit a historical wrong on their own people and a mortal mistake if they opted for the use of force against Ethiopia to advance their policy. It means that they have forgotten their history lessons which show that ‘Ethiopians have nothing more to lose than their sovereignty and independence’.
Ethiopia in 1959 is different from Ethiopia in 2020! With more than one hundred ten million mostly youths, Ethiopia is endowed with a tremendous force to battle against in any front including those who beg for the use of force! Gone are the hegemonic days on the Nile. Gone are the days of ‘might is right’. A new reality has emerged. If the issue of the Nile is a matter of life or death for Egypt, the same argument applies for Ethiopia. Why the double standard?
Egypt’s veiled stance, ‘I have the right to live but not you! is a dangerous game. Ethiopians deserve the gratitude of Egyptian politicians who were allowed to use for ages the undisturbed use and abuse of the Nile. In fact this may have emboldened them beyond imagination.
No wonder the existence of a thriving Ethiopia may provoke some challenge to the ambitions of Egypt to perpetuate the exclusive use of the Nile. However, Ethiopia is now conscious of its needs and has its own projects for its drives to progress. No one can stop it from using the naturally endowed resource it avails. To allude that Ethiopia is ‘strangling’ Egyptians of thirst can only be qualified as a ‘paranoid and baseless statement’. Egypt’s ambition of indirectly controlling Ethiopia amounts to obsession since time immemorial. History has recorded that its past missions have always failed.
Luckily Ethiopians are now united on the Nile issue and no force can break this tremendous wall. Intimidation and threats, albeit veiled, are vain! As the UN and other international bodies have suggested, the path towards a solution is only civilized negotiation and compromise. And Ethiopia’s past record shows that it is respectful of international law and order.
The Ethiopian herald May 31,2020
BY FITSUM GETACHEW
