I got this short reply from dear friend Dr. Ahmed Abdel Kawi to the open letter Egyptian Chronicles got from Ethiopia and published on this blog. Abdel Kawi’s reply is short and is addressing specific points.
Dear Sir
Thank you for your letter. Regarding first myth:please calculate total annual water income of Ethiopia and the annual income of Egypt,you will find that water input to your country is much than Egypt.Please don't describe situation as if Egypt is depriving Ethiopia from water. Regarding second myth,let's leave it to the law experts to solve,we are taking actions aiming to solve such issue. Regarding third myth,we are afraid that after building the dam,some one may destroy it,the water flowing will reach Egypt within a month and destroy our dam,thus ending in flooding Egypt. Finally dear sir we hope to negotiate with your people for best interest of our countries.
I have also to comment and say that if we want to reach to Win-Win situation then we have to forget our nationalist chauvinism. Also if we want to act in a mature way , we have to listen to the experts and their decisions as a start for true negotiations.
We do not have problem with dams on the Nile contrary to what is being portrayed in the Ethiopian media , in fact we agreed and helped African countries like Sudan in previous projects. Our objection on the renaissance dam or to be accurate its current specifications from water capacity as well the material used in its construction. Dr. Ahmed spoke about those two points.
Our objections are not related to our Egyptian dignity heavens forbid but rather are based upon the trilateral International commission to study the effects of the dam’s report. This commission included experts and scientists from Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan as well foreign independent experts. I do not ask much when I urge the Ethiopians to check this report and to see our true objections.
The commission said that Ethiopian government did not cooperate as it should disclosing some of the important reports needed. We need those reports in order to make sure that the dam will harm us because according to the data we have got from the Ethiopian government itself it will harm Egypt.
Only yesterday the PM of Egypt admitted the fact that from 5 years we are suffering from Water poverty.
Just look to our map and you will release that Nile is truly our life source. We know very well that we do not own the Nile and we know that for the past 30 years we did not treat our African neighbors in the South as we should or as we used to during the 1960s.
I still believe in negotiations and reaching win-win situation , this is the only way.
Zeinobia: There is no doubt that there is no other way but negotiations. Morsi and el-ikhwan? they do not care about Egypt.
ReplyDelete1) what does rainfall has to do with power generation. The dam is being built for power generation.
ReplyDelete2) Whether Ethiopia is bound by 1929 and 1959 agreement. It is clear you do not need a lawyer to know what is binding. 1929 agreement was between Britain and Egypt. If we say Britain went into the treaty representing its colonies then Ethiopia was not a party to it since it was not a British colony. 1959 treaty was between the Sudan and Egypt no other nation signed it. Ethiopia is on the record opposing the 1959 treaty. All of us know that you are bound by a treaty if you are a party to it. So Ethiopia is not a party. It is not these treaties that provide water security to Egypt, it is the fact all upstream nations understand the dependence of Egypt on the Nile. We Ethiopians understand that and do not want to harm our neighbors. Egypt will do more to guarantee its share of the Nile by engaging upstream nations in a constructive dialogue rather than invoking these colonial era treaties and intimidation
3) Why would anyone want to destroy the dam. Egypt showed non of this concern when they built the Aswan dam or other dams in the Sudan. Why the concern now that the dam will be destroyed. Do you mean Ethiopian are idiots to build a dam that will collapse. With all do respect this line of reasoning does not make sense. If Egypt was able to construct the Aswan dam and the Sudanese are able to construct a few dams on the Nile without anyone worrying that the dams will be destroyed by someone then why shouldn't Ethiopia be able to build a dam that is the same.
Regarding the report - I have also checked and my understanding is the report confirms Ethiopian claim that the dam will have minimal impact on Egypt.
Finally I want to say that Ethiopian media by large does not have much about the Nile issue. No Ethiopian said anything bad about Egypt or threatened Egypt with anything. Most Ethiopians even in cyber discussions are asking Egypt to be reasonable.
One can not say the same thing about Egypt. It has been threats insults and disrespect from both official and unofficial voices. I must say there have been reasonable voices from Egypt such as this blog.
What a reasonable comment. May God bless such a fair mind abundantly.
DeleteHailsh
This dam will be huge - a really big one. 170 m high and the lake will hold 63 billion cubic meters of water. Just to fill it will reduce the flow of water by 10 billion cubic meters per year. That is about 20% of the present intake at the Aswan high dam.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone seriously trust this Ethiopian assurance that this will have no impact on Egypt?
The dam is in fact a declaration of war already.
The average Egyptian is at least 4 times richer than the average Ethiopian. This can be clearely seen at the relative size of the GDPs of the two countries with similar size of population. Perhaps Ethiopia should consider charging for the water flowing from Ethiopia to Egypt. Egypt is endowed with plenty of natural gas (over 100 trillion cubic feet of conventinal and similar amount of shale gas (U.S.Energy Information Adminstration June 2013 report on technically recoverable Shale Oil and Shale Gas resources). This resource is equivalent to at least 40 Billion barrels of oil. Thus Egypt has the ability to generate drinking water and electricity from sea water like many other Arab countries who are rich in Hydrocarbon resources do so. Thus any negotiation with Egypt should include what Egypt has to do to conserve water such as the demolition of the Aswan Dam that causes huge loss of water due to evaporation of the large surface area at the Dam.
Deletethink what ever u like but we gonnna built the dam whether u like it or not ...wait actually I don't think we care what u think ...+ if we told u there is no impact that means there is no impact but actually if the so called ur university instructors didn't get it u r not expected to get it so deal with it ...what u ppl should know is we are trust worthy ppl if we said it doesn't affect you it woun't unlike some ppl we like to keep our words ...peace out long live Ethiopia
DeleteWhile Egypt wants more of the Nile to be diverted to new settlements in the Sinai,,, Why Ethiopian utilize their resources not only building the dam but also for irrigation & Ethiopia has the legal right to build the dam.
ReplyDelete1. Egyptian scholar report recommended with 'old or frozen mentality',,,Better wake up and look for win-win solution with Ethiopians.
2. Build trust & respect others poeples interest and wright as if you want to be respected your intrest.
First of all I would like to appreciate your endeavor to understand and advance the issue of GERD in a technical and professional way. But what I advise you is that "BY NO MEANS", we will hold on building our dam since its extra ordinarily important for us just like Aswan is for you. So, focus on drawing win-win solutions for both peoples than exerting your effort to imprint distorted perception among the rest of your ppl. Plus,as you have said, your lack of information on the dam doesn't mean the dam has impact. As a matter of fact its those of your professional delegates (found in the tripartite team that conduct the impact assessment)that assured the existence of insignificant impact on both Sudan and Egypt.Besides, we don't care about the regional or international agreements concerning the issue. What we do care is the development of our nation and peaceful coexistence with our neighbors including Egypt. We are not arrogant like "others" who strive to live at the expense of others. Just think logically, and be evidence-based.
ReplyDeleteGERD
ReplyDeleteyou Egyptian,you have used our resources "Nile water" for many many years with out paying us a fraction of coins . actually this was due to our poverty and UN stabilization .The time is over now we Ethiopian start to utilize our water resource both for irrigation and power generation. this is a non stoppable fact.
I must say that Egypt shouldn't be denied from using its only water resource, and Ethiopia shouldn't be starved and left in darkness. That means the Nile is for all the riparian countries. When Ethiopia lights, so also Egypt and Sudan and other upstream countries. When Ethiopia develops, so also the region, and the continent. Ethiopia does have a comparative advantage over Nile to produce electricity because of its landscape. Egypt and Sudan have a comparative advantage to irrigate their vast irrigable land using the Nile water. The old attitude towards Nile: maintaining exclusive right to use the water, to permit construction of dams in upstream countries, arming rebels and destabilizing countries to secure self interest doesn't pay and will result in self-destruction. The so called Egypt's "politicians" were seem to have made a blunder mistake by advocating hatred, violence, and war against an independent country. God forbids. Please let us think wise and promote solidarity and franternity to grow and prosper together. Maintaining the status quo will not help and fanning war and/or arrogantly trying to destabilize countries will cause the blood to spill over in vain, thereby exacerbating the situation.
ReplyDeleteIf we can use it wisely, the water will be enough for all of us. Think of afforestation and invest the money you opt to use for evil acts in planting trees around the banks of the Nile, and soon we will have much rain that can suffice our demand if not flood us.