Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt are already engaged in a series of negotiations on GERD via video conferences in the presence of observers unanimously selected by the three countries. Sudan deserves the appreciation and respect for taking the initiative that helped to restart the negotiation.
Negotiation implies compromise and concession, conducting constructive dialogues to come toward a consensus and ultimate agreement that is geared towards fulfilling the national interest of parties to the negotiations. Negotiating in fair and reasonable manner requires transparency and promotion of common interest.
Addressing local media outlets recently, the Ethiopian Foreign Minister, Gedu Andargachew said while Ethiopia was negotiating from the standpoint of equity and joint utilization of the waters of the Nile, Egypt continued to demand for the implementation of the 1959 colonial Nile water agreement to which Ethiopia has never been a party. Even then, the agreement fails to qualify as a standard international treaty because despite the subsequent Ethiopian leaders interest to utilize the river, Ethiopia was deliberately excluded.
He added that Egyptians combined a protracted system of misinformation and distortion of facts with propaganda network and sabre rattling to pressurize Ethiopia while they chose to remain in the negotiations to ensure their egoistic interests. He said they use a double faced strategy of remaining in the negotiations while using various means to misinform the Egyptian public and the international community of nations to accept their false fabrications on Ethiopia’s right to build a dam on its own river and in its sovereign territory.
Ever since the startup of the initial negotiations on GERD, Egypt has never demonstrated any level of genuine talks but continuously resorted to employing a number of strategies that were meant to drag down the negotiations into an impasse.
GERD is a symbol of the unity of nations, nationalities and peoples of Ethiopia. It is an indicator of the future development of this country that no one can contest. No diplomatic efforts or lobbying at the corridors of the offices big powers that undermines Ethiopia’s legitimate rights to use the waters of the Nile
For over one thousand years, Egypt has never suspected that Ethiopia would someday build a hydroelectric dam on the Blue Nile which contributes 86 per cent of the entire water resources. Second, the Egyptian government had a wrong assumption that Ethiopia, a country plagued with recurrent drought will never be able to secure the finance needed to construct GERD. Cairo has been trying to meddle into the internal affairs of Ethiopia to distract the peoples of the country from unity on the construction of the Dam.
I have the opinion that Egypt’s position on GERD goes far beyond the scope of the dam. While nominally negotiating on GERD, Egypt wishes to weaken Ethiopia politically, diplomatically and work towards putting the Nile Riparian countries and the rest of Africa under its own sphere of influence.
Foreign Minister Gedu said that Egypt has been busy releasing press statements prior to each session with the intention of influencing the process of the negotiations. This in my opinion clearly indicates that Egypt is attending the negotiations only for formality and not to engage in serious dialogue wishing to become the sole proprietor of the resources of the Nile.
Although Ethiopia is the source and major owner of the resources of the Nile, the country consistently adhered to the equitable and legal utilization of the Nile despite the gross miscarriage of justice and a systematic plot to deny Ethiopia of the international right to use its own water to generate extremely needed hydro-electric power.
It is also surprising to note that Egypt tries to politicize Ethiopia’s effort to build her own dam as a security threat to the region in a letter the country delivered to the UNSC in which the Council advised them to take back the issue to the negotiations table.
Ethiopia is attending the negotiations on GERD not so much because the issue is strictly negotiable but only because the country respects the mutual interest of the lower riparian countries and has a strong belief in sharing the waters of the Nile for mutual development of the three countries.
Ethiopia is the legitimate carte blanche owner of the Blue Nile and tons of loam soil the river carries to the lower riparian countries and the shrewd zigzags through which Egypt tries to force the other negotiators indicates that Egypt is not negotiating in good faith but is only interested to maintain the old colonial status quo ante regarding the Nile.
The technical negotiations on filling GERD is not based on the interest of a single country but needs to consider the balanced interest of all and Ethiopia has consistently observed the maximum level of patience to ensure that the interest of the negotiating parties are well served.
As Gedu has indicated in his press conference, the international community needs to exert pressure on Egypt to actively engage in meaningful negotiations instead of trying to mix farce with reality.
Editor’s Note: The views entertained in this article do not necessarily reflect the stance of The Ethiopian Herald.
BY SOLOMON DIBABA
The Ethiopian Herald Jun 20,2020
