Page 42 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 14
P. 42

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.



        42        |   we tell the true afrikan story
   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47