Ustaz Jamal Beshir is an Ethiopia who lives in the US. He established his own media called the Kings of Nile where he transmits important information about the river nile and the mega dam that Ethiopia is building over the river.
Nile is the longest river in the world. For thousands of year it has been flowing from Ethiopia via Sudan to Egypt. Coupled with other tributaries the Nile covers even more other countries.
But for centuries the Nile has been misunderstood as the only belonging to Egypt due to the various attributes given to it by Egyptians and the Sudanese. As a result, even though Ethiopia is the origin and contributor of more than 85 per cent of the water not many people in the world even in Egypt do not know the fact.
According to OSU.org, despite the extraordinary importance of the Nile to people downstream, the origin of the great river was a mystery until the middle twentieth century. Herodotus speculated that the Nile arose between the peaks of Crophi and Mophi, south of the first cataract. In 140 C.E. Ptolemy suggested the source was the Mountains of the Moon, in what are now called the Ruwenzori Mountains in Uganda.
The 11th century Arab geographer al-Bakri postulated West African origins, confusing the Niger River, which empties into the Atlantic Ocean, with the Nile River. In 1770 the Scottish explorer James Bruce claimed his discovery of the source in Ethiopia, while in 1862 John Hanning Speke thought he found it in Lake Victoria and the equatorial lakes.
The river’s limited navigability only increased its mystery. The Blue Nile River descends 4501 feet in 560 miles from Lake Tana in the Ethiopian highlands through a deep gorge with crocodiles, hippopotamuses, and bandits to the Sudan border and the savannah. Despite the efforts of scores of intrepid adventurers, the Blue Nile in Ethiopia was not successfully navigated until 1968 by a team of British and Ethiopian soldiers and civilians equipped by the Royal Military College of Science.
In this regard the name Ustaz Jemal gave to his media goes beyond being a mere name. Rather it loudly speaks about the very origin of this globally important water body. On top of that it can bring to light the fact that despite being the origin of the river Ethiopia has never used the river due to conspiracies of Egypt and Sudan.
While living in the United States for more than eight years Ustaz has raised more than $ 1 million in one month in collaboration with the FDRE Embassy in Washington, Deder International, and the Ethiopian Muslim Association Seattle.
Recently Ustaz Jemal has returned home to pay a visit to his coutnry and the various prohects underway here.
Dr. Mohamed Andris, Deputy Director General of the Ethiopian Diaspora Agency, welcomed Ustaz Jamal, the owner of the Nile Kings Media, who is currently conducting public diplomacy on the Nile River and the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.
In a message received at Bole International Airport, Dr. Mohamed Andris Ustaz Jamal Beshir said the agency has great respect for the public diplomacy and fundraising work being carried out by Ustaz Jamal and his fellow Diaspora members. He said the agency is ready to provide the necessary support to strengthen the ongoing works and to achieve the goals of the Nile Kings Media’s stay in Ethiopia.
For his part, Ustaz Jamal Beshir, owner of the Nile Kings Media, thanked the agency for the warm welcome and said that they will continue to mobilize the Diaspora to strengthen their public diplomacy on the Nile River and the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.
Although late to mega-dam building, Ethiopia is now making up for lost time. One of the tallest dams in the world was completed in 2009 on the Tekeze River in northern Ethiopia. Three major dams on the Omo and Gibe Rivers in southern Ethiopia are either completed or nearly so.
The biggest of Ethiopia’s water projects, the Grand Renaissance Dam, will have a reservoir holding 67 billion cubic meters of water—twice the water held in Lake Tana, Ethiopia’s largest lake—and is expected to generate 6000 megawatts of electricity.
Ethiopians hope these water projects—which extend to 2035 with other Nile tributaries and river systems—will lift their country out of poverty. Similar large dams have produced economic miracles in the United States, Canada, China, Turkey, India, Brazil, and, of course, Egypt.
Ethiopia’s options for economic development are limited. With nearly 90 million people it is the most populous landlocked country in the world. It is also one of the world’s poorest countries—174 on the list of 187 countries in the United Nations Human Development Index for 2012. (Sudan is 169 and Egypt 113.) This index rates countries based on life expectancy, education, and income, among other criteria.
BY STAFF REPORTER
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD OCTOBER 19/2021
