The last three years were years of concern for the western powers, the USA, Egypt and Sudan simply because Ethiopia was busy constructing a dam which the country expected would address the energy needs of its population 65% of which live with no electricity.
Ethiopia had to fight off the most obscure and conspiracy ridden battle against those who wished to keep the country in a vicious circle of poverty and those who were working from dawn to dusk to balkanize the country into numerous ethnic principalities.
For solid ten years, Egypt and Sudan joined by their media outlets with their expertise in lying prorogated news bragging that Ethiopia will never be able to build a dam and actively conducted conspiracies that denied Ethiopia of any level of international loan or aid. When the people of Ethiopia started to fund the construction of their own dam, they started to brand the dam as a shoddy construction and low quality structure that would collapse any day. When Ethiopia showed a strong determination to continue building GERD, the leaders of Sudan and Egypt said Ethiopia exploited the situation by color revolutions in Northern Africa and organized a propaganda network in which all the ministries, public and private media companies as well as all media outlets in the Arab world were involved.
Underestimating the level of science and technology involved in the construction of the dam and the international contractors that were well known in the construction of dams across the world, they started to question the quality of the construction of the dam crying out that it is not confirm with international standards on construction of dams.
Egypt and Sudan deliberately dragged down the pace of the trilateral negotiations through lame excuses and boycotting the negotiations for 9 times over the years. They started a diplomatic war and conspiracy abroad and also instigated ethic based local conflicts among the ethic groups in Ethiopia.
When the UNSC designated the AU to serve as a lead regional organization to coordinate the negotiations, they underestimated the capacity of the organization and its caliber to resolve African conflicts in the African way. They dispatched delegations to the EU and individual members countries to solicit support for stopping Ethiopia from filling the dam both in the first and second phases. Egypt and Sudan organized visits to almost all Nile Riparian countries to persuade them to put diplomatic pressure on Ethiopia.
Denying the facts of elementary physics pertaining to hydrology, they started to misinterpret the contents of the DoP and in fact acted in contravention to the agreements that the three countries have signed. They tried to pressurize Ethiopia by forcing the country to sign a US sponsored one sided treaty after which the former president of the US voiced a threat stating that Egypt could bomb GERD. They twice came up with a resolution from the Arab League demanding to stope filling of the dam without the consent from both Egypt and Sudan. They even managed to present the issue of GERD as a political and security issue at the UNSC but failed every time. The UNSC finally endorsed its earlier position authorizing the AU to continue to coordinate the trilateral negotiations.
Throughout all the previous years, Sudan and Egypt were attempting to legitimize the colonial treaties of 1929 and 1959 to which none of the Nile Riparian countries except Sudan and Egypt were a party.
Over the last ten years, Ethiopia was consistently adhering to the legal instruments and principles provided in international laws on the utilization of Transboundary Rivers and related protocols. Regrettably, Egypt and Sudan defied the provisions of these laws by opting for confrontation instead of beneficial cooperation.
Ethiopia has already officially notified Egypt and Sudan that it will continue to fill the dam for the second time as an integral part of the entire construction. The second phase of filling GERD is significant in so many ways.
The second phase of filling GERD completely shattered all the farfetched conspiracies and makeups on which Egypt and Sudan were trying to convince the international community.
Second, it proved that no harm whatsoever will befall both Egypt and Sudan due to GERD but the dam will protect them from flood by regulating water supply throughout the year.
Ethiopia defended the truth and it has paid off. According to Dr. Engineer Seleshi Bekele, two of the 16 turbines will produce 750MW of hydroelectric power over the next three months.
During the UNSC sessions that were conducted on GERD a couple of weeks back, Ethiopia has been able set in a change of mind even from the major powers of the world that originally sided with Sudan and Egypt. Russia, India, China and a host of African non-permanent members of the UNSC fully recognized Ethiopia’s right to use its own resources to generate power and once more endorsed the irreplaceable role of AU in the process of coordinating future trilateral negotiations.
Ethiopia registered two sets of diplomatic and national victories in less than two months by conducting, free, fair, democratic and credible election contrary to the expectations of the international community and their media outlets which tried to forecast that the election might not take place and even if it would be conducted will certainly marred with total civil war.
When Ethiopia successfully conducted the second filling of GERD, both Egypt and Sudan were silenced by the powerful reality of the truth that no harm to them is in sight.
However, this does not mean that Sudan and Egypt will cease their conspiracies. In fact, this time they will certainly be prepared for a much deeper and diversified type of conspiracies by particularly emboldening anti-Ethiopia forces operating in the country to engage in multiple sets of sabotages to weaken the socio-political and economic development of the country.
Yes, the second round of filling GERD has now been completed but according to Dr. Engineer Seleshi, there is still more to be done before the entire construction of GERD is completed. The people and government of Ethiopia should work together to uplift the country to a higher horizon of prosperity.
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 22 July 2021
