Photo: http://africanarguments.org

Artist's impression of the Renaissance Dam, under construction on the Blue Nile in Ethiopia.

Ethiopia has been building electric generating dams following the science in responsible manner, and has a firm belief in win-win cooperation; this is what Bereke Simon, Minister of Government Communication Affairs, has to tell Aljazeera in an interview the Qatar TV held a day before.

The TV interview program seems to believe the dam hurts the interest of Egypt and asks Bereket what impact the river diversion process has on the downstream countries.

Bereket said the river Nile shouldn't be a divisive issue and shouldn't be held prey to old colonial agreement that feeds zero-sum-game politics. Ethiopia is doing its best to turn the Nile into a resource that calls for rather matured cooperation among riparian countries, he noted.

He added river diversion is a normal process in hydro-electric dam construction. There is nothing different happening with the diversion of Abay river done to make way for the construction of the Renaissance Dam.

He explained what happens is the river is taken off its natural course for some meters just to take back its natural course after a while without any loss on the volume of the water.

Bereket declines to accept the presumption that says the region goes to conflict due to water resources. He said I don't think this happens in this region as the leaders clearly understand what is going on with the construction of the dam.

Others who take part in the interview on the Aljazeera English News Channel say the water resource is a resource for cooperation not a cause for conflict.

They reminded the interviewer the reiteration of the late Meles Zenawi that the dam is a new beginning for cooperation in the region though Ethiopia covers the cost of the dam while it apparently sees it is useful for the region at large.

The Renaissance Dam has the capacity to generate 6000 MW when it begins to generate electric power with its full potential. The dam has the capacity to save 7 billion cubic meters of water that could be wasted.

The dam helps to better regulate the water resource than it lessens the water flow to Egypt.