Ethiopia to defy Egypt and build huge dam

By BARRY MALONE | REUTERS

Published: Mar 31, 2011 02:23 Updated: Mar 31, 2011 02:23

ADDIS ABABA: Ethiopia on Wednesday said it planned to build a huge dam on the Nile despite a long-running row with Egypt over use of the river and concern the dispute may spark a war.

The nine countries through which the river passes have for more than a decade been locked in often bitter talks to renegotiate colonial-era treaties that gave Egypt and Sudan the lion’s share of the river’s waters.

However, six of the nine upstream countries — Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania and Burundi — have signed a new deal stripping Egypt of its veto.

“The Great Nile dam construction is scheduled to commence presently near the Ethio-Sudan border,” Water and Energy Minister Alemayehu Tegenu said.

In November, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told Reuters that Egypt was backing rebel groups in his country because of the Nile dispute and that if it went to war with upstream countries over the river it would lose.

Egypt says it will ignore the new deal signed by upstream states, even though it is now legally binding with six signatures.

Analysts say that the ousting of Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak and the impending secession of South Sudan have strengthened the case of the upstream nations.

Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has not signed the deal and, when South Sudan becomes independent in July, there will be ten Nile countries. Analysts expect South Sudan and DRC to support the new agreement.

Tegenu said the Ethiopian government had commissioned an independent survey that proved the new dam would benefit Egypt and Sudan by decreasing siltation in their irrigation projects and by reducing water wastage.

Under the original pact Egypt, which faces possible water shortages by 2017, is entitled to 55.5 billion cubic meters a year from the Nile’s total flow of around 84 billion cubic meters.

Comments

13 Comments
Post your comment
Read all

AMIR

Mar 31, 2011 14:24

Report abuse

Ethiopia, with 35 million Muslims on the scene, is not defying anybody.
Egypt can afford to relax in this scene and just deal with Ethiopia and with Sudan over this issue in a practical, case by case and win-win manner. Everybody can make money if we agree to agree...

ISMAEEL MARIKAR

Apr 1, 2011 12:09

Is the cauldron boiling, and I wonder who is stirring it.
I hope the african Union and Arab League can sort it out without any
western intervention.

TOMM

Apr 1, 2011 22:24

Ismaeel has a point. Going to interesting to see if the AU and the Arab League can resolve this on their own. I do not see NATO in this fight.

IBRAHIM ABDULAH

Apr 2, 2011 13:38

@ amir, Do you think at least all these Muslims will allow the country goes starved and continue to be poor? NO, its all changed. It was not fair at all the agreement done earlier to none of those countries. Having contributing 85% of the Nile and not allowed to use its share. Time is changed and war is not option at all as there was no one lived to tell the story who have tried to fight with Ethiopia, even the Europeans. So come to the desk and make peaceful point about the common benefits.

DAN

Apr 3, 2011 00:03

@amir The problem here is Egypt ( ~80million) is insisting that the Nile water, 85 % of which comes from Ethiopia, is more important to it that Ethiopia( ~ 85million). The status quo is not working because Egypt has the veto power and uses more than 60% of the water while Ethiopia uses less than 20%. Now how does that make any sense what so ever? The issue of Nile water has been over exaggerated and Egypt just needs to stop provoking other African countries and invest in desalination for its fresh water supplies.

13 Comments
Read all

Ethiopia to defy Egypt and build huge dam

Comments

Post your comment

Discussion guidelines

COMMENTS POLICY

Section list

Latest comments