BY ADDISALEM MULAT
Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt have been at odds over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam for over a decade now with tension mounting amidst the filling of the dam.
Notwithstanding the fact that the government of Ethiopia made every effort to get to the bottom of the problem in an orderly fashion, Sudan and Egypt have been persistently throwing cold water on the efforts of the Ethiopian government though. They distance themselves from the existing reality and come up with cooked up stories that runs in contrast to the fact in the ground. Cairo and Khartoum have continued to mislead and hoodwink the international community by giving wrong information.
Internationalizing and politicizing the dam’s technical negotiation have been the attempts of the two countries to try to unleash maximum pressure on Ethiopia. They like taking the GERD case to be seen by third parties. However, their latest attempt has come to a grinding halt with UNSC urging the three countries to resolve the issue under the mandate of the Africans Union.
A case in point, this past week, in the summit the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) held the French UN Ambassador Nicolas De Riviere said that the dispute between Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt over a giant dam built by Ethiopia will be solved only through discussion and the council can’t do anything than bringing the three countries to table.
The Ambassador further stated that there was little the Security Council could other than bring the parties together to express their concerns and then encourage them to return to negotiations to reach a solution. “I don’t think the council can do much more than that,” he pointed out.
As the downstream countries do not want Ethiopia to embark on filling the second phase of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, they every so often come up with a wide spectrum of misinformation and disinformation. More often than not, Egypt makes every effort to the 1959 unilateral agreement take shape.
Approached by The Ethiopian Herald Dr. Eng. Tilahun Erduno regarding the second phase filling of the said, “To Egypt and Sudan the binding agreement is just the enforcement of particularly the 1959 unilateral agreement which is all about the share of whole Nile water between Egypt and Sudan alone. That is the main agenda behind the so called binding agreement that Egypt and Sudan want to achieve. So the binding agreement propagated by Egypt and Sudan and their supporters is something suicidal and vague to Ethiopia that it can’t accept forever.
He went on to say, “It should also be noted that there is no international law that can force Ethiopia to accept. Therefore, Ethiopia has to continue its move towards the second phase of filling the dam without interruption. I think now is a time to look for better options which may benefit all including Ethiopia. In my opinion, the only binding agreement is to work hard for the increase of fresh water in the Nile Basin by planning green economy and implementing environmental protection through dialogue and scientific means and work for mutual benefit, nothing more, nothing less.”
As a matter of fact, as things stand at present on the subject of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, ambassadors residing in various parts of the world have been familiarizing the international community with the existing reality on the ground. What is more, Ethiopian diasporas residing in various parts of the world have been making everything they can to make the dam sees the light of the day.
As Ethiopia strongly believes in fair and equitable water utilization on the Nile River, it does not get itself involved in anything that can cause significant harm to downstream countries. In point of fact, the government of Ethiopia has made its position clear on various platforms time and time again.
Sad as it might sound, Egypt has not ever made an effort to get to the bottom of the problem in relation to the Nile River in an orderly fashion.
Needless to say, Ethiopia has been familiarizing the international community with the existing reality despite achieving the wished-for target is unmanageable. As Ethiopia does everything possible to resolve the predicament in an atmosphere of calm, the downstream nations have been turning their back on Ethiopia.
With that being said, of late, the Embassy of Ethiopia in Brussels has held a program dedicated to express gratitude for the relentless support extended by the community to national calls all year round, according to information obtained from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
On the occasion Ambassador Hirut Zemene paid tribute to the community’s engagement in mobilizing advocacy efforts for various national issues as well as raising funds including for the GERD project, the COVID 19 pandemic, humanitarian support to the needy community and to the Gebeta le Hager eco-tourism projects.
By the same token, representatives of the three main community groups also spoke during the occasion. Furthermore, Abera Yemaneab chair of GERD Support Group in Belgium noted his team’s engagement to create understanding about the purpose and intent of the Dam, with a view to fighting misinformation and advocate for the advantages of this flagship project both to Ethiopia and the lower riparian countries, around Europe and particularly with the EU institutions.
In actual fact, ambassadors residing in various parts of the world have been struggling with print and electronic media of the world with the intention of countering misinformation and disinformation. They leave no stone unturned to acquaint the international community with the honest truth in relation to the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.
In an exclusive interview with No.1 Citizen Daily Newspaper Nabil Mahdi Abdullahi, Ethiopian Ambassador in South Sudan has touched upon a wide spectrum of issues in relation to the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.
The Ethiopian Envoy to South Sudan says the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) project is purely for the generation of electricity for economic development and has no other ill intention meant to harm the downstream countries.
Ethiopia is currently constructing a dam that would be the biggest in Africa with the purpose of generating electricity production to relieve Ethiopia’s acute energy shortage and for electricity export to neighboring countries.
With second filling expected to take place in July, Egypt and Sudan have been going hard on Ethiopia objecting any move to fill the Dam. Talks mediated by the African Union between the three countries stalled.
He said even though the GERD is a sensitive issue, Ethiopia believed that the dam has to be a source of cooperation not a source of conflict.
The Ethiopian envoy said South Sudan as one of the Nile Basin countries should as well actively get involved in the negotiation process in search of an agreement for the equitable use of the Nile waters for it to claim fair share of water resource in the future.
Ethiopia as the source of Blue Nile is believed to be contributing more than 86% of waters of the Nile but despite this huge contribution, Mahdi echoed that Ethiopia has not been allowed to use its own natural resource.
He noted that even though Ethiopia had planned to build a dam on the Nile in the Emperor time 50 years ago, but in the year 2000 it couldn’t make it because of external pressure and influence.
“In 2011, Ethiopia decided to build a Hydro-electric dam, the purpose of the dam is purely economic. If you go and make a small comparative research you will easily find out how our people are deprived of rudimentary energy services, 60% of our people still leave without electricity” Mahdi stressed.
He said Ethiopia’s important position is that they don’t have any intention of disturbing the livelihoods of the downstream countries.
Mahdi said currently the progress on the construction of the GERD dam has reached more than 80% and they are making the necessary preparation to start the second filling of the dam as per the filling schedule agreed by the national scientific research group of the three countries.
“It has to be noted that its Ethiopia’s right to fill the GERD in line with the principles of equitable and reasonable utilization of the Nile waters and declaration of principles which was signed in 2015 by the leaders of the three countries of Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt” Mahdi affirmed.
He categorically highlighted that the African-led negotiation process is the only platform for achieving the objective of a lasting solution over the GERD issue arguing that seeking the involvement of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in the GERD matter is out of the mandate of the UNSC.
The Ethiopian Herald July 7/2021
