Egypt's El-Sisi talks parliamentary polls, Syria and Ethiopia's dam - Politics - Egypt - Ahram Online: "Egypt's El-Sisi talks parliamentary polls, Syria and Ethiopia's dam
Part three of interview with Saudi newspaper Okaz deals with upcoming polls, Syria's peace prospects and Ethiopia's Grand Renaissance Dam
Ahram Online, Wednesday 29 Oct 2014
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Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi (Photo: Reuters)
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Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi spoke with Saudi newspaper Okaz, discussing Egypt's upcoming parliamentary elections, Ethiopia's Grand Renaissance Dam and Syria's Bashar Al-Assad.
In the first two sections of the interview, El-Sisi told Okaz that "international forces" thought they could establish a new regional system to give them more influence – but failed. He also praised Saudi Arabia and King Abdullah.
The third part of the extended interview was published on Wednesday.
Parliamentary elections
Okaz asked El-Sisi why he wasn't worried about the upcoming polls bringing about "choices that can affect the future and heighten confrontations between the state and parliamentary authorities".
El-Sisi answered that he trusts the Egyptian people and their ability to choose people who represent them and have the country's interest at heart.
Egypt is currently without a parliament; authorities say the elections will take place before the end of this year.
The president added that there's a segment of society that doesn't care for Egypt's interests – but that this segment was rejected by the Egyptian people in the 25 January 2011 and 30 June 2013 uprisings.
Okaz also asked El-Sisi whether the country is pushing forward in ensuring that the next parliament has "justice, optimism and builds Egypt on strong and solid bases" – terms that the president used to describe the two uprisings.
El-Sisi replied that "the issue is left to the choices of the people ... we as a state do not interfere in these details, after the constitution has put everything on its right path."
Syria
On Syria, El-Sisi said Egypt supports the continuity of a strong Syrian state. Egypt will also stand with the Syrian people for a better future and the prevalence of their will, he added.
On the future of Bashar Al-Assad as Syria's president, El-Sisi said the matter is left to the Syrian people, and if people want change, it is better that it be fulfilled through a balanced political solution.
Such a solution, he said, involves reaching a deal between the Syrian regime and opposition that will achieve change through the will of the majority of the people and needs for stability.
Ethiopia's dam
On Ethiopia's ongoing dam project, El-Sisi said that Egypt "never seeks to harm the interests of a state, and we do not accept to be harmed or our vital resources affected."
Ethiopia has the right to achieve the development of its people, and Egypt has the right, as an estuary state, to get its share of the water without a decrease, El-Sisi said.
Cairo is concerned that the $4.2 billion dam project, which the Ethiopian government says is now 40 percent complete, could have an adverse effect on its water supply.
He said Egypt maintains the right for its water supply, especially as it suffers from water scarcity and a deficit in water resources.
According to El-Sisi, the issue should be resolved through understanding and finding solutions based on mutual trust.
This is what Egypt is currently doing along with Ethiopia and Sudan, El-Sisi added, avoiding past mistakes that led to erosion of trust between all sides.
"I trust there's a solution that can be implemented, and our experts are searching for it," he concluded."
'via Blog this'
Mega Damming of the Life giving waters of Ethiopia. This process is menacing the existence of the inhabitants of the region by drying the sources and lakes. The main reason advertised for damming is for production of Electricity and exporting energy. This could be done by small human level dams.The underlying reason is to the irrigation for the great land grabbing for cash crop exportation for financial speculators. Moreover, such mega projects leads to undue water crisis.
Friday, October 31, 2014
Sunday, October 26, 2014
Egyptian investments in Ethiopia at $2b - Official - business - News - StarAfrica.com
Copyright : APA
Ayman Issa, the head of the Egypt/Ethiopia Business Council has claimed that Egyptian investments in the East African country have increased from $600 million to $2 billion.The number of Egyptian companies in Ethiopia has increased from 34 to nearly 137 company, the number of companies in Egypt increased 7 companies. Issa said on Friday.
He described the Ethiopian market as promising, with a potential to attract significant investment over the past decade.
Issa’s statement comes ahead of the inauguration by ministers of Commerce and Industry of the two countries of the Egypt-Ethiopia Business Forum in Addis Ababa on November 2.
It will take place on the sidelines of the Joint Ministerial Commission between the two countries, which will be held from 1 to 3 November, he added.
The commission will meet under the chairmanship of Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and his Ethiopia counterpart Dr. Tedros Adhanom.
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Saturday, October 25, 2014
Egypt-Ethiopia meeting delayed to November for further preparations - Politics - Egypt - Ahram Online
      The talks in Addis Ababa, now planned for 1-3 November, come after a recent tripartite meeting over Ethiopia's Grand Renaissance Dam Ahram Online, Wednesday 22 Oct 2014  Egypt President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi talks to Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn as they arrive to attend the 23rd African Union Summit (AUS) in Malabo June 26, 2014. (Photo: Reuters)  Bilateral relations between Egypt and Ethiopia have improved after months of strained ties over the dam Ethiopia is building, which Egypt says will affect its share of the Nile's water. In the latest meeting in Cairo last week, Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan agreed to receive offers from consultancy firms in order to choose one to conduct more studies on the dam's possible effects. Egypt's state news agency MENA said that Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukry and his Ethiopian counterpart on Wednesday discussed the logistical preparations for the commission to ensure the best outcome for both countries. The commission meetings will take place from 1-3 November, MENA said, after initially being planned for 22 October. Both sides decided to postpone it to give time for more preparations. The commission will include the two countries' ministers of foreign affairs, irrigation and agriculture, investment, trade, transport and electricity. Other meetings between Egyptian and Ethiopian businessmen are expected to take place. Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi met with Ethiopia's prime minister at the African Summit and then later in the United States at the United Nations General Assembly. El-Sisi said he intends to visit Ethiopia for more talks, but hasn't set a date for the visit yet |
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Egypt, Sudan to raise representation in joint body
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi and Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on Saturday had agreed to raise to the level of head of state representation in a joint Egyptian-Sudanese committee, a Sudanese diplomat said.
Sudan's ambassador in Cairo Abdel-Mahmoud Abdel-Halim said al-Sisi held a closed-door meeting – that was attended by some ministers from Egypt and Sudan – with al-Bashir who started an official visit to Cairo earlier in the day, his first since al-Sisi took over in June.
The ambassador added that during the one-hour meeting, the two presidents agreed to raise to the level of head of state representation in the Higher Egyptian-Sudanese Joint Committee, a body tasked with the job of cementing cooperation between the two Nile Basin Arab states.
Egypt used to be represented in the committee in the past by its prime minister, while Sudan used to be represented by its vice-president.
Abdel-Halim said Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri would pay a visit to the Sudanese capital Khartoum within days to prepare with his Sudanese counterpart, Ali al-Karti, for the next meetings of the committee, slated for later this year.
Al-Sisi and al-Bashir discussed the outcome of negotiations between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia on a multibillion dollar dam being built by the later country over the Nile, the Sudanese ambassador said.
He said the two presidents expressed their satisfaction with the outcome of these negotiations, describing them as "positive."
Abdel-Halim said al-Sisi and al-Bashir also discussed developments in neighboring Libya, expressing hopes that Libya's neighboring countries would play a role in bringing stability back to the restive country.
They also called for launching dialogue among different political forces in Libya, Abdel-Halim said of the Egyptian and Sudanese presidents.
Al-Bashir arrived in Cairo earlier on Saturday in the company of five of his government ministers.
He is expected to spend two days in the Egyptian capital.
Monday, October 20, 2014
Ethiopia to build two more dams for power generation
Local media reported that BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan have been selected to manage the bond sales.
World Bulletin/News Desk
Ethiopia is planning to build two more hydro-electric dams over the southern Omo River on border with Kenya for generating electricity, an Ethiopian spokesman said Saturday.
"Gilgel Gibe IV and V hydro-electric dams will be part of Ethiopia's next big projects during the next five-year national plan," Bizuneh Tolcha, spokesman for the Water Ministry, told Anadolu Agency.
He said the two dams will have the capacity to generate 2,050 megawatts of electricity.
"Some 1450 megawatts of the total electric power will be produced by Gilgel Gibe IV while Gilgel Gibe V will generate the remaining," he said.
Tolcha said that the cost of the two dams will be announced "when the assessment is completed".
Ethiopia has begun to sell bonds in the capital market as to generate funds for its mega-projects.
Local media reported Friday that BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan have been selected to manage the bond sales.
Ethiopia built the Gilgel Gibe I on the Omo River in 2004. The dam has an electric output of 184 megawatts.
Gilgel Gibe II was inaugurated in 2010 and 80 percent of the construction has been finalized.
Kenyan activists have been lobbying against the construction of Gilgel Gibe dams on the ground that it will significantly impact the lives of communities around Lake Turkana – a claim denied by Ethiopian government.
Ethiopia has the potential to produce more than 45,000 megawatts of electricity from hydro-power.
“There are other hydro-electric projects being considered," Tolcha said.
Ethiopia is planning to build a number of dams for electricity generation, including a controversial hydroelectric dam on the Nile's upper reaches, which has strained relations with Egypt.
Ethiopia says it needs the dam to generate badly-needed energy. Egypt, for its part, fears the dam will reduce its traditional share of the Nile River – its main source of water.
Addis Ababa insists the new dam will benefit downstream states Egypt and Sudan, both of which will be invited to purchase the electricity thus generated.
Ethiopian authorities also commenced the construction of the Geba dam in September of this year in western Ethiopia at a cost of $583 million.
Ethiopia to build two more dams for power generation | Africa | Worldbulletin News
Local media reported that BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan have been selected to manage the bond sales.
World Bulletin/News Desk
Ethiopia is planning to build two more hydro-electric dams over the southern Omo River on border with Kenya for generating electricity, an Ethiopian spokesman said Saturday.
"Gilgel Gibe IV and V hydro-electric dams will be part of Ethiopia's next big projects during the next five-year national plan," Bizuneh Tolcha, spokesman for the Water Ministry, told Anadolu Agency.
He said the two dams will have the capacity to generate 2,050 megawatts of electricity.
"Some 1450 megawatts of the total electric power will be produced by Gilgel Gibe IV while Gilgel Gibe V will generate the remaining," he said.
Tolcha said that the cost of the two dams will be announced "when the assessment is completed".
Ethiopia has begun to sell bonds in the capital market as to generate funds for its mega-projects.
Local media reported Friday that BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan have been selected to manage the bond sales.
Ethiopia built the Gilgel Gibe I on the Omo River in 2004. The dam has an electric output of 184 megawatts.
Gilgel Gibe II was inaugurated in 2010 and 80 percent of the construction has been finalized.
Kenyan activists have been lobbying against the construction of Gilgel Gibe dams on the ground that it will significantly impact the lives of communities around Lake Turkana – a claim denied by Ethiopian government.
Ethiopia has the potential to produce more than 45,000 megawatts of electricity from hydro-power.
“There are other hydro-electric projects being considered," Tolcha said.
Ethiopia is planning to build a number of dams for electricity generation, including a controversial hydroelectric dam on the Nile's upper reaches, which has strained relations with Egypt.
Ethiopia says it needs the dam to generate badly-needed energy. Egypt, for its part, fears the dam will reduce its traditional share of the Nile River – its main source of water.
Addis Ababa insists the new dam will benefit downstream states Egypt and Sudan, both of which will be invited to purchase the electricity thus generated.
Ethiopian authorities also commenced the construction of the Geba dam in September of this year in western Ethiopia at a cost of $583 million.
Ethiopia to build two more dams for power generation | Africa | Worldbulletin News
Local media reported that BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan have been selected to manage the bond sales.
World Bulletin/News Desk
Ethiopia is planning to build two more hydro-electric dams over the southern Omo River on border with Kenya for generating electricity, an Ethiopian spokesman said Saturday.
"Gilgel Gibe IV and V hydro-electric dams will be part of Ethiopia's next big projects during the next five-year national plan," Bizuneh Tolcha, spokesman for the Water Ministry, told Anadolu Agency.
He said the two dams will have the capacity to generate 2,050 megawatts of electricity.
"Some 1450 megawatts of the total electric power will be produced by Gilgel Gibe IV while Gilgel Gibe V will generate the remaining," he said.
Tolcha said that the cost of the two dams will be announced "when the assessment is completed".
Ethiopia has begun to sell bonds in the capital market as to generate funds for its mega-projects.
Local media reported Friday that BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan have been selected to manage the bond sales.
Ethiopia built the Gilgel Gibe I on the Omo River in 2004. The dam has an electric output of 184 megawatts.
Gilgel Gibe II was inaugurated in 2010 and 80 percent of the construction has been finalized.
Kenyan activists have been lobbying against the construction of Gilgel Gibe dams on the ground that it will significantly impact the lives of communities around Lake Turkana – a claim denied by Ethiopian government.
Ethiopia has the potential to produce more than 45,000 megawatts of electricity from hydro-power.
“There are other hydro-electric projects being considered," Tolcha said.
Ethiopia is planning to build a number of dams for electricity generation, including a controversial hydroelectric dam on the Nile's upper reaches, which has strained relations with Egypt.
Ethiopia says it needs the dam to generate badly-needed energy. Egypt, for its part, fears the dam will reduce its traditional share of the Nile River – its main source of water.
Addis Ababa insists the new dam will benefit downstream states Egypt and Sudan, both of which will be invited to purchase the electricity thus generated.
Ethiopian authorities also commenced the construction of the Geba dam in September of this year in western Ethiopia at a cost of $583 million.
Saturday, October 18, 2014
Friday, October 17, 2014
Sunday, October 12, 2014
Dam Rising in Ethiopia Stirs Hope and Tension - NYTimes.com
GUBA, Ethiopia — There is a remote stretch of land in Ethiopia’s forested northwest where the dust never settles. All week, day and night, thousands of workers pulverize rocks and lay concrete along a major tributary of the Nile River. It is the site of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, the continent’s biggest hydropower plant and one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects ever in Africa.
Ethiopia is a poor country, often known best for its past famines, but officials say the dam will be paid for without foreign assistance — a point of national pride. Computer-generated images of the finished structure are framed in government offices, splashed across city billboards and broadcast in repeated specials on the state-owned television channel.
“We lean on the generousness of the rest of the world,” said Zadig Abrha, deputy director of the dam’s public mobilization office. “So there is a conviction on the part of the public to change this, to regain our lost greatness, to divorce ourselves from the status quo of poverty. And the first thing that we need to do is make use of our natural resources, like water.”
Lake
Tana
SUDAN
Site of
Grand Ethiopian
Renaissance Dam
Blue Nile
SOUTH
SUDAN
ETHIOPIA
100 MILES
ERITREA
Red
Sea
YEMEN
SUDAN
Gulf of Aden
DJIBOUTI
Area of
detail
SOMALIA
Addis
Ababa
ETHIOPIA
SOUTH
SUDAN
250 MILES
Ethiopia, one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, has poured its resources into a slew of megaprojects in recent years, including dams, factories, roads and railways across the country.
But its strong, state-driven approach has been criticized for displacing rural communities, elbowing out private investors and muzzling political dissent. The Renaissance Dam, its biggest project, has met with resistance even outside Ethiopia’s borders, setting off a heated diplomatic battle with Egypt that, at one point, led to threats of war.
The hydropower plant is expected to bring Ethiopia’s electricity generation to more than triple its current capacity, Africa’s second most populous nation, where constant power shortages stifle economic growth. Aside from a $1 billion loan from China for a transmission line, the government projects a $4.02 billion cost for the dam, with more than $1.3 billion already spent.
Near the border with Sudan, the dam is inching skyward as workers apply layer after layer of concrete that will eventually create a reservoir covering nearly 650 square miles. About 8,500 workers live at the project site, served by several cafeterias, a market, a barbershop and spotty Wi-Fi access. Giant floodlights keep construction going around the clock, and employees often work the whole week through.
From the very beginning, this relentless drive has put Ethiopia at odds with Egypt. The Renaissance Dam is on the Blue Nile, a tributary that contributes most of the water flowing into the Nile River, heightening concerns that it could threaten Egypt’s most vital natural resource. Fears of armed conflict surfaced during the brief tenure of Egypt’s former president, Mohamed Morsi, who said last year that “Egyptian blood” would substitute for every drop of lost water.
But under Egypt’s current president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the icy relationship between the two countries has begun to thaw. Ethiopia’s prime minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, and Mr. Sisi had a cordial first meeting in June, and water ministers from Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan met for renewed discussions in late August. Egypt’s new foreign minister, Sameh Shoukry, set a diplomatic tone during a visit last month to the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, declaring “a new phase of our relationship based on mutual understanding, mutual respect and a recognition that the Nile binds us.”
Ethiopia’s biggest obstacle to finishing the dam is not geopolitics — it is money. The project is overseen by Ethiopian Electric Power, a state-owned utility that is helping finance the project with its own revenue and loans from state-owned banks. Though the government may raise more money by selling bonds on global markets in the coming years, the current tactic of borrowing from state banks is draining available credit. That could squeeze private enterprise in a country that already has the world’s sixth-lowest rate of private investment as a percentage of G.D.P., said Lars C. Moller, the World Bank’s lead economist in Ethiopia.
“For every dollar of credit and every dollar of foreign exchange the project gets, there’s less for the rest of the economy, including the private sector,” he said.
“But in the long term, the investment is likely to pay off well,” Mr. Moller added, noting that Ethiopia’s plan to sell excess energy to neighboring counties could bring in about $1 billion in annual export revenue starting in 2021, four years after the dam is scheduled to be completed.
Ethiopia’s state finance minister, Abraham Tekeste, said it was a price worth paying. “We know that we are sacrificing in the short term, but this is for a long-term objective,” he said. “We don’t see any contradiction.”
More than $357 million spent so far has come from Ethiopians, both domestically and abroad, who have been encouraged to donate money or purchase bonds, according to Mr. Zadig.
Workers on the government payroll, some of whom make as little as $32.68 per month, have been pushed to buy bonds worth a full month’s salary every year through a system that deducts straight from their paychecks.
Merera Gudina, an opposition party leader who teaches political science at the government-funded Addis Ababa University, said he and colleagues had complained when their wages were siphoned off for bond purchases, leading the university to stop the program after about one year.
“People were not against the dam, but there were a lot of logistical questions,” he said. “We were not paying voluntarily.”
The government also leads meetings to encourage private-sector workers to buy bonds. Wossene Hailu, whose Wossi Garment Design Factory sits on the outskirts of the capital, got involved when members of her garment association were invited to one of these gatherings. “We got a lot of information — how it’s done, how we can benefit from it, things like that — and everyone was convinced,” she said.
Ethiopia is desperate to spur manufacturing, which it sees as critical to its long-term growth. But the industry has been just 4 percent of the nation’s G.D.P. for years. Ms. Wossene’s lean enterprise fills small international orders and produces clothes and blankets for local markets, but she said whole-day power failures sometimes caused delays.
The situation is even more dire in rural areas, where most households are not connected to the grid. This is a symptom of broader developmental challenges: Despite government claims that the economy has grown at an average rate of 10.9 percent annually over the last decade, Ethiopia remains poor, with about 30 percent of the population living on less than $1.25 per day.
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