Recently Water Ministers, diplomats and journalists from the Nile Basin countries have paid a visit to the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) as part of the Nile Day event held in Addis Ababa (ENA).
The event occurred on the morrow of the historical entry into force of the NBIs Cooperative Framework Agreement (CFA) a few months ago. The CFA enables the member states to work together on the development of the basin for mutual benefit. When the member states have reached a level of planning and designing how to use the basin for mutual benefit, Egypt still lingers on the old tactics it employed to use the river for its unfair purposes.
Fourteen years after the launch of construction over the GERD, the project has already attained a level where it can contain water, and generate electricity with some of its turbines. Yet throughout these years, the Egyptian side has chosen to go back to square one and engaged in questioning the legality, viability and so of the dam.
For instance, Egypt today said Ethiopia built the dam in breach of international laws. However, fourteen years is long enough to institute a case based on the relevant international laws and stop the construction of the dam. However, Egypt could not institute any legal case against it other than posing diplomatic hurdles against the financial and technical support of the dam.
The construction of the dam progressed to its completion all in the face of these adverse efforts of Egypt but to no avail. Even this late the country never becomes desperate about its desire to stop the dam. It is only a mere denial of facts on the ground which in reality is that GERD has already accumulated water that enables it to generate a substantial amount of power with some of its turbines.
The efforts of Egypt expose the old tactics and approaches that it has been employing to block all other riparians of the basin from fairly utilizing the Nile water so that it can continue with what it calls the historical rights over the river. It always strives to cite the colonial period agreements that granted it 55% of the water which is an unfair deal and one that Ethiopia never signed.
Everyone including Egypt is well aware that there is no international law that prevents Ethiopia from utilizing its natural resources including its share of the Abbay River. The only way Egypt managed to prevent Ethiopia from harnessing the river for its economic development was to apply its diplomatic advantage over countries and international organizations to block any financial and technical support that enabled Ethiopia to build a dam over its share of the river.
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Fortunately, the people and government of Ethiopia were able to foil this hurdle as they vowed to contribute the finance and coordinate the technical know-how to the successful completion of the dam. This irresistible blow has forced Egypt to resort to soliciting the other riparian states of the NBI as it believed that they would follow suit in mobilizing resources and developing their own share of the basin.
The recent visit of the delegation from the NBI riparian countries is the outcome of the inspiration created by Ethiopia's resilience to take any possible measure to pass any hurdle that is posed against its development through mobilizing the public.
Egypt's anger over the delegation's visit would not come as a surprise to anyone who has been following up on the whole story of the controversy over the river that spanned almost for centuries. Egypt's attempts to possess the entire river start from fully attempting to deny the fact that the river originates from Ethiopia, as children in school are thought to trying to complain about the safety of the construction of the dam as having a potential to cause risk over the water flow downstream.
The latter claims are made to accuse Ethiopia of posing a threat to the water share of downstream countries as well as a risk of flooding.
The visit by the delegation of the NBI member countries gives vivid information to all concerned entities that the dam is now almost complete and is operating without causing any harm to downstream countries.
As the saying goes 'seeing is believing!' More than the statements and objections made what the delegation witnesses in person gives more pictures of the reality on the ground and has a powerful inspiration that motivates them to follow suit.
But such a visit can never cause such dismay if all the downstream countries work with the spirit of cooperation rather than domination.
