<
http://www.tesfanews.net/egypt-to-escalate-ethiopian-dam-dispute/> Egypt
to 'Escalate' Ethiopian Dam Dispute
While construction of Africa's largest hydroelectric dam continues apace,
downstream neighbour Egypt is crying foul.
<
http://www.aljazeera.com/profile/al-jazeera.html> Al Jazeera Last updated:
22 Apr 2014 08:49
IN the three years since construction began on the 1.8km Grand Ethiopian
Renaissance Dam across the Blue Nile River, Egypt and Ethiopia have been
engaged in a war of words over its potential impacts.
Ethiopia believes the massive dam will herald an era of prosperity, spurring
growth and attracting foreign currency with the export of power to
neighbouring countries. But Egypt has raised concerns about the downstream
effects, as the Blue Nile supplies the Nile with about 85 percent of its
water.
Both sides say they seek a negotiated solution, but they remain at
loggerheads, with negotiations stalled. Ethiopia insists the dispute must be
resolved through negotiations between the two parties, with Mahamoud Dirir,
the ambassador to Egypt, noting in a statement last month that "there are
only two. countries in the entire world which are well-placed to mediate
between Egypt and Ethiopia."
Egypt, meanwhile, is quietly lobbying the international community for
support against what it says is a 'violation of international law',
diplomatic sources confirmed to Al Jazeera.
"Egypt plans to take actions to escalate the situation against Ethiopia,"
said a western diplomat in Cairo, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "But
the exact implications of these actions [are] still unclear."
Egypt's main concern is water security, as the country faces a future of
increasing scarcity. Nearly all of Egypt's water comes from the Nile, and
its population of 83 million is growing at nearly two percent annually.
Already, water shortages cause problems. The most common response is the
reuse of wastewater in agriculture, often untreated. The 2005 UNDP Human
Development
<
http://www.arab-hdr.org/publications/other/undp/hdr/2005/egypt-e.pdf>
Report for Egypt stated that "poor water quality affects both health and
land productivity with damage costs estimated to have reached LE 5.35
billion [$7.7m] or 1.8 percent of GDP."
Doaa Ezzat Zaki al-Agha, a water management specialist conducting research
in the Nile delta, said five members of her family died from liver disease,
which she believes resulted from poor drinking water. "They have no other
choices, only the Nile water," she said.
Mohamed Abdel Wahab, a farmer from a small village of 300 families near the
delta city of Alexandria, an area that regularly experiences water
shortages, believes the government should be "more strict with Egypt's
sovereign right to water" - and his view reflects that of many Egyptians.
Any threat to the country's water supply is treated as an existential
threat. Accordingly, Egypt has long opposed upstream development projects on
the Nile. In the past this prevented Ethiopia from receiving money from
international organisations like the World Bank, which has a "no objection"
rule for projects it funds. Now, Ethiopia is funding the $4.8bn project
itself.
Tensions peaked in May 2013 when Ethiopia began diverting the Blue Nile.
Former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi
<
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/73683/Egypt/Politics-/Presiden
t-Morsi-calls-for-Egyptian-unity-in-face-o.aspx> told a national
conference: "We will defend each drop of Nile water with our blood if
necessary."
Today, statements from the Egyptian Foreign Ministry are more conciliatory,
with spokesperson Badr Abdelatty saying he hoped the situation could be
resolved through "cooperation". A recent statement by Abdelatty on the State
Information Service website, however, adds: "The Ethiopian dam is an issue
that can bear no compromises."
The last negotiations in Addis Ababa in February stalled over whether
international experts should be included in a technical committee being
formed to implement the recommendations of a May 2013 report on the dam.
Written by an international panel of experts
<
http://www.internationalrivers.org/files/attached-files/international_panel
_of_experts_for_ethiopian_renaissance_dam-_final_report_1.pdf> (IPOE), the
report proposed more extensive assessment of the dam's potential
transboundary environmental and social impacts. "We must have an
international member on the committee and the Ethiopians refused this," said
Khaled Wasif, a spokesperson for the Egyptian Ministry of Irrigation and
Water Resources.
As construction of the dam progresses - it is already 30 percent complete -
Ethiopia has less incentive to negotiate and Egypt has less leverage. With
negotiations at an impasse, Egypt is petitioning other countries for
support, sources say. By referring to supposed breaches of international
law, Egypt hopes to pressure donor communities who have investments in or
influence on Ethiopia, according to the western diplomat in Cairo.
Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy has toured Africa and Europe in recent months
and Nile water has been on the agenda. During a trip to Italy at the start
of February, Fahmy asked the Italian company contracted to build the dam to
halt construction. A Foreign Ministry letter to the Salini Construttori
company, obtained by Al Jazeera, states: "The government of Egypt calls upon
the EU Commission, and the esteemed European governments, to give due
consideration to the accountability of business enterprise of European
nationality for their conduct in supporting Ethiopia's projects affecting
the Nile river downstream states."
It continues: "Egypt also calls upon the government of Italy, to invite
Salini construttori to suspend construction works at the GERDP [Grand
Ethiopian Renaissance Dam Project] until the recommendations of the IPOE
Report are implemented."
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry, the EU delegation in Cairo and the Italian
embassy in Cairo declined to comment on the note. A spokesman for the
Italian embassy said: "On this aspect we don't feel like replying on their
behalf [of the Egyptian foreign ministry]. If they don't want to talk about
it, it is fine for us as well."
According to the diplomat in Cairo, Egypt has also lobbied the US, China,
Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Japan, as well as international organisations such
as the World Bank. Spokespeople for all of these governments and
organisations declined to comment, with the exception of the Japanese
embassy in Cairo, which denied being approached by Egypt on the issue.
Until recently, Egypt has relied on a "historic right" and colonial-era
treaties to defend its water share.
"This position is absolutely untenable," said Owen McIntyre, a professor of
international water law at University College Cork, noting the colonial-era
agreements "completely ignore upper riparian states".
Today, Egypt's position has evolved, with the government quoting "widely
respected" principles of international law. "International watercourses are
governed by a set of agreed legal rules and principles," Abdelatty said.
"Among these widely respected rules and principles is that of the equitable
and reasonable utilisation of the river, the 'no harm' rule, and the prior
notification rule."
However, Egypt's interpretation differs from that of its neighbour and much
of the international community, McIntyre said, noting the principle is
generally formulated in terms of "significant harm".
The May 2013 IPOE report concluded that despite more studies being needed,
long-term effects of the dam were unlikely to harm Egypt. In the short term,
however, less water will reach Egypt as the reservoir fills.
While Ethiopia says it is open to negotiating the period over which it fills
the reservoir, Egypt insists it will be harmed regardless. A country's
dependence on water is the primary factor by which harm is evaluated,
McIntyre said, and Egypt insists it is a water-scarce country. "The problem
is that when you look at Egypt's use of Nile water, it is actually rather
wasteful," McIntyre said.
The harm principle is just one factor to be considered alongside the
obligation on states to cooperate in the reasonable and equitable
utilisation of transboundary watercourses, he added.
Egypt's history of cooperation is not strong. The Nile Basin
<
http://nilebasin.org/> Initiative, a partnership of Nile riparian states
formed in 1999 and supported by the World Bank, aimed to create a
cooperative framework agreement for the management of Nile water. But Egypt
refused to sign any agreement that did not guarantee its current share of
Nile water.
In addition, Egypt previously objected to the very principles it now
advocates. It did not support the UN Watercourses Convention 1997, which
codified the principles of transboundary water management. "Egypt cannot get
help through international water law as Egypt herself did not acknowledge
these principles historically," said Muhammad Mizanur Rahaman, a professor
of international water law at Asia Pacific University in Bangladesh.
By acting unilaterally, "Ethiopia is now, ironically, following the same
path as Egypt did before" when it constructed the Aswan High Dam in the
1960s, Rahaman noted. "Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan should all agree on the
principles which they agree on before trying to take refuge or shelter from
the principles of international water law."
Received on Tue Apr 22 2014 - 16:18:38 EDT