When Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed broke the news of the completion of the first round filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), on July 22, 2020, all and sundry could not believe their eyes and ears.
In the twinkling of an eye, Ethiopians under the world skies embarked on expressing their happiness almost immediately given that Ethiopia has been making history.
For many years and for many Ethiopians, Abay has been precious yet unutilized resource until the nation for the first time decided to harness the river and build the mega hydro-dam in 2011.
Since the laying of the cornerstone, the construction of the flagship project has gone through two historic millstones: the rerouting of the river and the completion of the first phase filling with the latter showing that the construction reached a point of no return.
GERD these days has become a beacon of hope for the 60 percent Ethiopian population who remains off the grid and is also serving as a symbol of pride for the entire people.
However, back in the day, Ethiopians were not feeling themselves on the grounds that the Abay River was turning a blind eye and deaf ear to Ethiopia. They were all feeling down in the dumps. The situation was driving all and sundry residing in the length and breadth of the country crazy and feeling remorse.
Whenever the idea of the River sprang into
Ethiopians minds, they were going far deep in thought and cursing their motherland luck nonstop. They were all up the wall for failing to get to the bottom of the problem in a jiffy and materializing their dream that takes the country to the next level of success.
At a loss about what to do, some Ethiopian artists were resorted to a wide spectrum of songs and poems placing emphasis on the mighty Nile River. If truth be told, most of their works were bringing tears to their eyes and putting a bit of a damper on their spirits. To cut a long story short, everything was a bitter pill to swallow.
To the surprise of everyone, whenever some people listened to songs in connection with the Abay River, they were bursting into tears and posing a question on when their motherland would embark on harnessing its resources for developing its nation and pulling them out of the quagmire of poverty.
In the same vein, some Ethiopians were not that interested to listen to a wide range of news revolving around the Nile River for the reason that they do not want their moods to be hijacked.
Some years back, when Ethiopia laid the cornerstone for constructing the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, citizens regardless of age, sexual category, ethnicity, political point of view, and whatnot set in motion expressing their infinite happiness in a wide spectrum of ways. They were all feeling on top of the world. Some of them were also feeling as if a huge weight has been lifted off their shoulders.
Be that as it may, when Ethiopians kick-started rolling up their sleeves targeting at making poverty history, Egypt came up with complaints after a short time. While on the subject, it is worth underlining that the Nile River flows from Ethiopia through Sudan to Egypt, not from Egypt through Sudan to Ethiopia. To this point, Egypt has never endeavored to address predicaments in connection with the Abay River peacefully with Ethiopia.
Worse even, Egypt has been striving to bring about its interest by destabilizing the country for a month of Sundays. Additionally, since time immemorial, the country has been making use of the issues of the Nile River and Ethiopia as means of solutions to the problems of internal politics in Egypt.
Likewise, it is not a secret that Egyptians have been politicizing the Nile issue and attempting to cover the face of its people by instigating a water war against Ethiopia. However, as Ethiopia believes in the fair utilization of the Nile River, it has been moving heaven and earth with the purpose of getting to the bottom of the problem bringing a range of techniques to the table.
Though Egyptians know the fact that Ethiopia has no intention to let the people of Egypt and Sudan devoid of water, they were constantly pouring cold water on the effort of the incumbent turning a blind eye to the honest truth. There is no gainsaying the fact that most of the problems have been politically motivated, groundless suspicion, unfounded allegations and mistrust created
by the two countries.
The conspiracy of the green-eyed Egypt cannot be expressed in a few words. Needless to say, they leave no stone unturned to make Ethiopia distance itself from constructing the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. Above and beyond, Egypt has been coming up with a range of techniques intending to convince the international community with their fabricated stories. Though Egypt made an effort to put pressure on Ethiopia making use of quite a lot of techniques, all its efforts went astray at the stroke of a pen.
Ethiopia knows like the palm of its hands that fact that the Abay has been cardinal for civilization in Egypt and Sudan without a shred of doubt. Our country is determined to address the problems of electricity and other similar national challenges surfacing in some parts of the country.
Of late, Ethiopians were very much worried concerning what the last of the filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam would be like. The issue was turning out to be the talking point of Ethiopians residing in the left, right, and center of the world. Almost all of them were getting butterflies in their stomachs.
At present, the government of Ethiopia has managed to dry Ethiopians’ tears and put a simile on their face. They have jumpstarted bursting into laughter forgetting the past. Since the announcement of the filling of the dam, the general public has been crying tears of joy over and over again. And, the country continues making history.
The Ethiopian Herald July 31/2020
BY ADDISALEM MULAT
