Law & Politics
BY FITSUM GETACHEW
Many Ethiopians believe that by any standard in the world the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, GERD, Project has had a long delay. When it was first launched ten years ago it fascinated every Ethiopian and filled their heart with warm hope and great expectations. Even if it was declared then that it was estimated it would require from five to seven years to complete it, the hope was bright. And even if many people contained their exclamation they however did not hide their commendation as a breakthrough. The project looked very far away in time just as the famous ‘piece of bread hanging high up in the sky and practically unreachable’. It looked like an impossible dream because people were impatient to see it realized.
Too many Ethiopians live in the dark and it would be hard to justify such delay. For many it is a shame that we were never able to harness at least a part of our mighty river Nile (or Abay) until this epoch. Many wondered what prevented us from converting a part of the water of Abay to power.
However, few people seem to realize that the issue of building a dam on the Nile is not a simple issue just as it would be building a dam on Awash, for instance. This is because the Nile is a ‘transboundary river’ and involves the lives of millions of people downstream perceived as totally dependent on it and considering the river as untouchable! We have come to know that Egypt has gone to the extent of putting the river Nile as part of its ‘sovereign wealth’ and hence any attempt to harness any portion of the flow of the river could be taken as ‘an attack on its sovereignty’. Ethiopia’s efforts to secure a loan to build such a dam was repeatedly frustrated by such stance of Egypt! How can such measure be described except as an indirect infringement on the sovereignty of all upstream countries which have an evident and legitimate stake in the water?
The question remains: who gives Egypt the ‘authority’ to consider the Nile that originates from far off lands, as part of its internal resource to be enjoyed singularly!? It is clear that the only answer that can come to one’s mind is one of ‘might, force and arrogance’, pure and simple! Would Egypt have taken the same liberty to decide that the Nile water be part of its resource if the upper riparian country was not Ethiopia, let us say, for instance, Israel or the US for that matter, or any other power that could easily ‘confront’ or challenge Egypt on this account, militarily, diplomatically or otherwise?
It is interesting to see that Egypt has shown us across the years several ways of claiming the famous ‘sovereignty’ over the Nile water? Its politicians pull out several cards from their pockets depending on the situation in which they find themselves. At times, you hear them argue that the Nile belongs to Egypt because Egypt was founded because of the Nile. Nile is the raison d’être of Egypt, they say! Egypt would not have existed without the Nile and that is why it does exist. It is in fact said repeatedly ‘Egypt is the gift of the Nile’. Without the Nile there would never be Egypt beginning from ancient times, the argument goes! This is a reasoning that may sound logical and convincing to Egyptians and neutrals, but does not go down the throats of Ethiopians who happen to be the very source of the river!
In other times or circumstances, you hear Egyptian politicians and ‘activists’ saying the Nile is Egyptian because it is written in the Bible! Hence, they argue, no earthly power on earth could separate the Nile from Egypt! But they forget that the same could be claimed by Ethiopia as well!
And then you hear Egyptian politicians argue Egypt has ‘historical rights’ over the Nile because it has always belonged to it and no other nation can be entitled to think otherwise, including Ethiopia, irrespective of Ethiopia being the tangible and visible source of the water! In any place in the world similar rivers belong to those which give rise to the water, but international rules and practice determine the equitable usage of the flow.
And finally, the most grotesque of all justifications and claims refer to the ‘colonial treaty’ signed between the UK, Egypt and Sudan! This is a treaty that was signed in 1959 and at no time during the signing of the so-called treaty has Ethiopia been consulted or notified! The three forces blatantly excluded totally Ethiopia, the actual material origin of the water, from any negotiations on the share of the flow!
It looks logical to assert that it was colonial times and colonial treaties are exactly of this kind. They are unjust and irreverent of the rights of people. We all know what sort of injustices colonialism committed against the colonized, for centuries! We all know, and the colonizers cannot deny it, that untold suffering and injustices have been committed by colonizers against the colonized!
For instance, recent revelations have been made by the French government describing and admitting the various atrocities and violations of basic human rights have been committed against the Algerian people during their occupation and the fight the Algerian people conducted for years! The French even admitted torturing and killing one of the iconic freedom fighters of Algeria, going against what was sustained for years that the leader of the revolution had committed suicide or died in a mysterious accident!
These are indications of how atrocious colonial days were, what colonial mentality was like; and there are records of millions killed, tortured and/or displaced due to the colonial invasions of imperial powers such as the UK, France, Belgium, Portugal, Italy and Germany.
These colonial powers decreed whatever they felt like on their colonies and protectorates and acting together with other colonial powers determined the lives and identity of entire populations!
They decided which population was to be a part of which country with the borders they established; they decided the fate of millions of Africans dividing even families, let alone people of the same stock or language group. And so we have a plethora of peoples divided arbitrarily by artificial borders that were demarcated by the colonial masters just because they felt like it or it was convenient for their rule, and for their respective relations.
Today, it is not a few countries who are busy fighting for borders and demarcations inherited from colonial masters. We can easily cite as examples the cases of Sudan and Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt, Kenya and Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya etc. There are all sorts of controversies regarding these borders and what the AU did was immediately consecrate all the artificial borders as ‘untouchable’ so that untold misery and suffering may not follow if and when controversies rise while attempting to restructure the colonially fixed borders. Many of the African states were also ‘created’ by these colonizers and the last thing that bothered them was the fate of the indigenous population!
By the same token, the UK, Egypt and Sudan decided on the fate of the Nile water in complete disregard of Ethiopia, a sovereign and independent state, and this was a shame on the part of these powers, particularly the UK. They never admitted Ethiopia as a party to such an arrangement and that is the kind of pact or treaty that Egypt today has the irreverent and shameless courage to cite as a basis for its ‘monopoly over the water of the Nile’.
It is of course scandalous to see that in the twenty first century with all sorts of colonialism done and dusted, there are countries such as Egypt or Sudan who refer their ‘rights’ to those ‘treaties’! Any politician of this day would just be ashamed of such reference because it is obvious that it means nothing to a country such as Ethiopia which has never been consulted about it. Without even informing it about the treaty, how can they have the moral authority to ask Ethiopia to abide by it? This shows to what extent they are able and ready to travel the path of shame and arrogance in a world that can hardly tolerate such stance anymore! At least in a world when officially such stances are unjustifiable, some Egyptian politicians have the guts to present this argument before the international community! And what is even more dangerous is the way they present the case by stating that Ethiopia, by constructing the GERD, it is trying to exterminate Egyptians! And yet they know that this can never be the stance of any Ethiopian government and it has been repeatedly disclosed by the leaders.
Since the project began three successive prime ministers have gone to Cairo to explain the way the GERD is about to be realized and the rationale behind it. And yet Egyptian politicians insist that this is not true. Their experts know exactly what kind of project the GERD is! The truth has been reached by people who do research on the Nile however and that is ‘Egypt wants to maintain its age old hegemony over the Nile’ depriving all riparian countries from any significant share of the waters! But this cannot be accepted in the modern era!
Apparently Egyptian politicians do not seem to want to wake up from their deep sleep that the colonial times have passed, and for good! Fairly tales are no more credible among Ethiopians and others on the continent who have a real stake on the Nile water. The only solution that is commensurate with the needs of the times is a negotiated settlement of every possible misunderstanding and dispute over how to use the waters of the Nile. It is evident that the Nile cannot belong to one nation in monopoly and the only win-win solution is one of concerted cooperation with frequent peaceful consultations and talks in friendly manner.
Transboundary rivers have their own legal regime in the world even if there is not always consensus. But the fact remains that states must decide to cooperate on the basis of some form of legal arrangement, or it would be complete chaos everywhere.
The question arises what is the current status of the Nile and what is the current status of the GERD?
Taking into consideration the historical background of the Nile, we can now begin to look at what needs to be done by Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan.
Ethiopia’s claims and needs are clear and logical. There is no mystery or contradiction on it. It needs to develop its resource and benefit its citizens. In the process of developing the water of the Nile, Egypt and Sudan may be affected slightly but how much is such effect on them and for how long? What are the rights of Ethiopia vis -à -vis those of downstream countries?
These are crucial issues to resolve before we talk of any controversy or conflict. The major stumbling block in this process is the attitude of Egyptian politicians who present the Nile issue as a political issue. As long as the colonial mentality and the idea of monopoly over the Nile exists in the minds of politicians, it would be hard to address the issue permanently. There have been some veiled at times open threats by certain Egyptian military officials against Ethiopia if it dared build a dam on the Nile. And it is not the first time that Egyptians tried to attack Ethiopia in the hope of controlling the flow of the Nile. But this seems an antique way of tackling reality!
Today, we have reports of Egypt trying to meddle in Ethiopia’s internal politics in several ways, beginning with supporting any party that opposes the government in Addis Ababa and any other force that works against Ethiopia, in any way! They support not only financially but even with arms and bases; and we have heard of so many means of colluding with opposition politicians in Ethiopia so that the nation is ‘destabilized’ and can never realize the dream of finishing the GERD project and thus avail power to its impoverished citizens.
This is sad but Ethiopians are not too naïve not to know about it! This is a fact which all Egyptians must come to terms with. They must know that Ethiopians cannot live in darkness any more. Ethiopians cannot continue to be deprived of their resources just because some colonial powers fixed their own treaties fulfilling their own geopolitical interests. This is simply unacceptable in 2021 because it is not only a matter of sovereignty but also one of existence just as many Egyptian politicians are fond of saying when they talk about their relation with the Nile.
What Ethiopia must do is abide by all international practices and apply all the relevant legal provisions while trying to make the maximum use of its resources that involve also the interest of other parties. Egypt must take the opportunity to close the sad chapter of being an obstacle to Ethiopia’s growth which is now irreversible. We are talking about more than one hundred ten million people seventy per cent of whom are below the age of thirty! It is a demanding generation and nothing can stop it from doing so!!! The current Ethiopian government has no choice but to attend to the basic needs of its ever growing population.
The Ethiopian Herald March 31/2021
