Ethiopian Dam Crisis:Ethiopia has agreed to not fill the dam with any water from the Nile River  

Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan have signed an agreement aimed at curbing Egypt’s alarm at the speed of which the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (‘the dam’) is being constructed. The agreement is based on a preliminary agreement that had been reached in March 2015 between the leaders of the three countries in Khartoum, Sudan.
Image
According to Egyptian state media, it was agreed that a French consulting firm would conduct research for a period between eight months and a year.

Ethiopia has also agreed to not fill the dam with any water from the Nile River until some sort of consensus has been reached between the three countries. The agreement also states that regular meetings will be held to solve other disagreements between the three countries and to respond to all Egyptian concerns regarding the filling of the dam with water.

The agreement, which was signed after talks between foreign ministers of the three countries in Khartoum, is obligatory and shows that the three countries hope to solve the issue diplomatically in a way that results in stronger bilateral ties, said an Egyptian Foreign Ministry source to Egyptian Streets.
History of the Ethiopian Dam Crisis

During the ninth meeting of the three countries in Cairo on 8 and 9 November, Egypt denounced the speed of the construction of the dam and the delay of studies into the impacts of the dam.

Egypt’s main concern since the start of construction of the dam in 2011 is its high storage capacity, which reaches 74 billion cubic meters, over fears of affecting its national water security.

As per agreements signed in 1929 and 1959, downstream countries Egypt and Sudan together receive the majority of Nile Water. Egypt annually receives 55.5 billion cubic metres of the estimated total 84 billion cubic meters of Nile water produced each year, while Sudan receives 18.5 billion cubic meters.

Egypt initially condemned the dam’s construction, stating that Ethiopia decided to build the dam without informing other countries that may be impacted.

Currently, approximately 55 percent of the dam has been constructed despite no studies into the dam’s impact. Egypt is not only concerned that the dam will impact Egypt’s water supply, but would also have impacts on the environment and security (for example, in the case of an earthquake or a terror attack). Moreover, Egypt has also expressed worry that the dam would impact the generation of electricity by the Aswan High Dam.

How far Egypt would go to protect its rights in the Nile River remains unclear. However, analysts say international arbitration is far more likely than a military incursion in the case where all diplomatic paths have failed.
 http://egyptianstreets.com/2015/12/29/e ... and-sudan/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
          Prof. Berhanu Nega’s Address to the   European Parliament –  Full Text Ethiopia as an Anchor for Peace and Stability in the Horn of Africa and The Need for a Broad-based Transitional Political Order By Berhanu Nega  Dec 2 2015 Honorable chair, and distinguished members of the European parliament Ladies and Gentlemen: Allow me to first express my sincere condolences to the families of the victims, to the People of France and the European Community in general for the most recent senseless and barbaric terrorist crime committed against innocent people in Paris on the evening of November 6. In my view, such acts are not only contrary to the basic norms of civilized behavior and devoid of rudimentary moral principles, they can never be an acceptable instrument to achieve any objective, no matter how...
Read more
Image
             European Parliament motion for resolution on the situation in Ethiopia European Parliament, strongly condemns the recent use of excessive force by the security forces in Oromia and in all Ethiopian regions, the increased cases of human rights violations and abuses, including violations of people’s physical integrity, arbitrary arrests and illegal detentions, the use of torture, and violations of the freedom of the press and of expression, as well as the prevalence of impunity… The European Parliament, –   having regard its previous resolutions on the situation in Ethiopia –   having regard to the statement by the EEAS spokesperson on recent clashes in Ethiopia, 23 December 2015 –   having regard to the joint statement by Federica Mogherini, High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission, and Minister of Foreign Affairs Tedros Adhanom ...
Read more

Addis standard’s exclusive interview with Ana Gomes

Image
                     Ana Gomes is coordinator and spokesperson of the foreign affairs committee for her political group, the Social-Democrat. With 200 members the Social-Democrat is the second largest group within the European Parliament. For Ethiopia and Ethiopians though Ana Gomes is best remembered for her role as the leader of the EU election observers’ team during the 2005 crisis-induced general election in Ethiopia. She has had a troubled relationship with Ethiopia’s late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, who she still calls “a dictator,” after she published her report in which wrote the election was massively rigged. Eight years later, Ana Gomes came to Ethiopia to participate in the just concluded 26 th ACP-EU parliamentary meeting. Her arrival in Addis Ababa caught many, who thought she would never be allowed to set foot in Ethiopia, ...
Read more