Page 42 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 14

Leadership

GERD is not a matter of choice, Unfortunately, Egypt has tried to
but an economic and developmental pressure Ethiopia by coordinating
necessity and the way out of poverty action with the Arab League, which
for a nation of 112 million people. has issued various statement of
solidarity with Egypt and against
The GERD will also provide many Ethiopia.
benefits to the entire Horn of Afri-
ca region and beyond. It will provide Egypt has also tried to use the
Out of the 13 turbines the first two affordable and renewable energy to Trump administration to pressure
will be completed and are expected Sudan, Egypt and other countries in Ethiopia. In September 2020, the
to generate 750 MW in September the region. Trump administration “paused” U.S.
2021. The dam is expected to be aid to Ethiopia because Ethiopia
completed within two years. It will also significantly help in would not agree to a deal on the
regulating the supply of water to GERD drafted by Egypt and the
Egypt and Sudan during dry and wet U.S.
The GERD is completely financed
by the contributions of the Ethio- seasons and provide regional water
pian people without any foreign aid storage capacity with less evapora- Egypt has also taken the issue
or loans. It is being built with the tion and prevent flooding to Sudan before the U.N. Security Council to
blood, sweat and tears of the Ethio- and Egypt, all these at no cost to pressure Ethiopia. Just last week,
pian people. both countries. the Security Council considered
the matter and determined that the
Ethiopia generates 85 percent of the In 2015, the three countries signed African Union is the best forum to
Nile River flow, but colonial-era and the Declaration of Principles, per deal with the issues.
postcolonial agreements on the Nile, which the downstream countries
to which Ethiopia was not a party, [Egypt and Sudan] should not be Ethiopia’s position on GERD ne-
have given Egypt the disproportion- negatively affected by the construc- gotiations is guided by a simple prin-
ate amount of water while giving tion of the dam. ciple. “African solutions to African
Sudan a lesser amount. These agree- problems.”
ments gave zero water allocation Hardly a day goes by without com-
to Ethiopia. Egypt today wants to plaints from Egypt and Sudan about While the Arab League and the U.S.
keep the old colonial arrangement in the harm that could result from could play a role in encouraging
place in one form or another. construction of the GERD. They the three countries to resolve their
claim they will get less water because differences diplomatically, the fact

According to a 2018 World Bank of the dam. remains that the three African coun-
report, “About 70 percent of the tries must use their own resources at
population in Ethiopia live without That is far from the truth because the African Union to deal with their
electricity.” the GERD releases the water down- problems.
stream once the water is used to
The purpose of the GERD is to spin the turbines that produce elec- Ethiopia’s principle of African
provide access to electricity to more tricity. GERD is not an irrigation or solutions to African problems is
than 60 million Ethiopians and water consuming project. based on the belief that Africans
provide affordable electricity to the are fully capable of taking care of
service, industrial and agricultural Ethiopia has been open and trans- their own problems without inter-
sectors. parent in its construction of the ference. Indeed, after nearly seven
GERD. Ethiopia has invited both decades of independence, Africa has
Egypt and Sudan in good faith to the leadership and resources to deal
It also aligns with Ethiopia’s green
development ambitions as it rep- participate in the International Panel with its own problems.
resents a sustainable socio-economic of Experts (IPOE) to discuss the
project replacing fossil fuels reduc- design, work together on technical Ethiopia is acutely aware of the fact
ing CO2 emissions. issues and resolve any issues of that Africa’s post-colonial experi-
concern in the spirit of African ence and more recent trends in for-
Therefore, for Ethiopia, building the brotherhood. eign interference in African affairs
has not been positive.

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