http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/10/egypt-ethiopia-oromo-protests-renaissance-dam.html#ixzz4OEqhhScI
EGYPT PULSE
إقرأ باللغة العربية
نبض مصر
Summary⎙ Print Ethiopia has accused Cairo of supporting
anti-government protests by Oromo, which some fear could have negative
repercussions on Renaissance Dam negotiations.
Author Mohamed SaiedPosted October 25, 2016
Translator Muhammed Hussein Tal'at
Cairo-Addis Ababa dispute over Oromo could derail dam talks
Author: Mohamed SaiedPosted October 25, 2016
CAIRO — At a time when Addis Ababa is facing protests and calls for
equality, job opportunities and economic prosperity in the Oromia
region — the largest regional state in terms of both area and
population — construction at the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam site
continues at a quick pace. According to an Oct. 17 statement by
Ethiopian Deputy Prime Minister Debretsion Gebremichael, 54% of the
construction at the site is now complete.
The crackdown on protests this year in Oromia has left at least 400
people dead. Residents of the region accuse the government of taking
over their land and compensating them at very low prices, before
selling the land to foreign investors at extremely high prices. Locals
also complain about an absence of jobs.
Addis Ababa accused Cairo of supporting these protests; as a result,
Ethiopian Foreign Minister Berhane Gebre-Christos summoned Abu Bakr
Hefny, Egypt’s ambassador to Addis Ababa, on Oct. 9 for consultations
on the Oromo issue.
According to a press release issued the same day by the Egyptian
Foreign Ministry responding to accusations by Addis Ababa, Hefny said
that some parties seek to drive a wedge between Egypt and Ethiopia,
especially after relations between the two have witnessed noticeable
progress. “Egypt will always stand with Ethiopia until ultimate
stability in Ethiopia is reached,” Hefny said.
On Oct. 12, the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied again the
accusations reported by Ethiopian media that Egypt supports, trains
and finances dissident and opposition groups in Ethiopia. The
Ethiopian government ruled out the accusations, as it instead accused
some Egyptian nongovernmental organizations of supporting opposition
groups by training them on using weapons in the past years.
Ethiopia’s Communication Minister Getachew Reda said that Egypt and
Eritria are directly involved in “financing, arming and training these
elements,” which he described as an armed group. However, Reda left
the door ajar to the possibility that the elements he accused of
supporting militants were not necessarily linked to the government in
Cairo, adding, “We have to be very careful not to necessarily blame
one government or another. There are all kinds of elements in the
Egyptian political establishment that may or may not necessarily be
directly linked with the Egyptian government.”
During the educational seminar Oct. 13 at the headquarters of the
armed forces, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said that supporting an
armed opposition or plotting against Ethiopia would never happen,
adding that even though Egypt has the ability to confront, it has
opted for cooperation.
Noha Bakr, a professor of international relations at the American
University in Cairo, warned against the consequences of being misled
by Ethiopia’s accusations against Egypt. Bakr said these accusations
are aimed at derailing the ongoing negotiations concerning the dam.
On Sept. 20, technical delegations from Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia
signed ultimate and official contracts for technical studies of the
dam with two consulting firms: the French company BRL and the UK-based
law firm Corbett & Co. The Minister of Water Resources described this
incident as “historic.” At the same time, the construction of the dam
raises many fears in Egypt as any potential drought could negatively
affect agriculture, industry and drinking water.
In statements made to the press, Bakr said Ethiopia now has become
obligated to many mutual agreements with Egypt — including the
Declaration of Principles and the Khartoum Agreement — which pushes
Addis Ababa to play the card of internal unrest to pressure Egypt and
derail the process of negotiation.
In December 2015, Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia signed the Khartoum
Agreement, which states that they are fully obligated to the
Declaration of Principles signed by the countries' presidents in March
2015. These principles regulate the cooperation of the three states to
make use of the dam and the water of the eastern Nile.
UN expert on dam design and water Ahmed El Shenawi said that Ethiopia
is adopting the policy of offering contradictory information in
statements made by its officials such as the Ethiopian minister of
irrigation, the vice president or its ambassador to Cairo. Shenawi
said the ambassador had announced that the water level at the dam is
190 meters, even though the Ethiopian government in Addis Ababa said
it is 145 meters.
Shenawi also faulted Egyptian government statements. “The Egyptian
Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation deliberately avoids making
avoids making decisive, final statements. This could harm the
management of the dam file as a whole," he told Al-Monitor.
He said that the Nile Basin countries are discussing the issue of
pricing water to be sold to Egypt by the cubic meter. Shenawi said
that if the dispute between Cairo and Addis Ababa escalates, the
latter will resort to an international third party to solve the issue
of any objection to the technical studies by the two consulting firms.
“If that happens, Cairo will not have the right to make Addis Ababa
commit to the recommendations of the consulting firms,” he added.
Former Ethiopian Minister of Water, Irrigation and Energy Alemayehu
Tegenu denied statements made in March 2015 by Hossam El-Moghazy,
Tegenu's former Egyptian counterpart, that the preliminary agreement
on the Renaissance Dam includes recommendations by the implementing
consulting bureau.
Then-Minister Tegenu said in statements relayed by the Sudan Tribune
last year that the discussions leading up to the signing of the
tripartite agreement in Khartoum never mentioned the storage capacity
of the Renaissance Dam. He also asserted that Ethiopia could never
agree on anything of that sort.
Received on Wed Oct 26 2016 - 20:57:47 EDT