Friday, February 28, 2014

Egypt plans dam-busting diplomatic offensive against Ethiopia - UPI.com

CAIRO, Feb. 27 (UPI) -- Egypt may be in the throes of political turmoil, but the government has begun a diplomatic offensive aimed at stopping Ethiopia from building a huge hydroelectric dam on the Nile River that Cairo says will be a disaster for the Arab world's most populous nation.The military-backed administration began its effort to internationalize the thorny issue in hopes of gathering support for its case against Ethiopia, where the Blue Nile rises in the northwestern highlands, after bilateral negotiations deadlocked in January.

"The campaign initiated by Egypt ... aims to persuade the international community to reject the dam's construction because it may lead to further conflict and instability in the region of the Nile Basin," an Egyptian diplomatic source in Cairo told the Middle East's al-Monitor website Feb.19.

"More negotiations with Ethiopia only waste time and directly threaten Egypt's water security," said the source, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue.

"We realized that Ethiopia doesn't want genuine solutions to end the crisis, but is only trying to portray Egypt as approving of the dam's construction to facilitate access to the funding.

"But Ethiopia hasn't provided genuine guarantees the dam will not affect Egypt and has shown no intention to amend the technical specifications to minimize the potential risks according to the report by the international experts' committee, which recommended reconsidering the dam's safety studies."

Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn said Feb. 13 that Addis Ababa will not back down on the $4.8 billion Grand Renaissance Dam, which will be the largest in Africa.

He observed that since there's no international court specializing in arbitrating water disputes, Cairo had no choice but to negotiate to reach a settlement acceptable to everyone.

Gamal Bayouni, secretary-general of the Egyptian-European partnership at the Ministry of International Cooperation in Cairo, said Egypt now seeks to "target all countries that provide technical assistance for designing and building the Renaissance Dam through private contractors and also the states likely to fund to construction of the dam."

On Feb. 6, Egypt's minister of water resources and irrigation, Mohamed Abdul Muttalib, visited Italy, considered to be Ethiopia's main technical supporter in building the dam.

Italy's Salini Construction Corp. is building the 6,000-megawatt facility on the Blue Nile, the main tributary of the Nile that flows northward through nine African states to the Mediterranean.

The Blue Nile accounts for 85 percent of the Nile's water flow. It joins the White Nile, whose headwaters lie in the East African highlands in Burundi.

Muttalib, who was accompanied by Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy, said after a series of meetings that "the visit has achieved its goal. Italy has understood Egyptian concerns."

Egyptian sources say Muttalib's next trip will be to Norway, which is one of the countries funding the dam project.

But it's not clear at this stage whether Egypt's diplomatic offensive will be able to secure enough international support to influence Addis Ababa.

The Ethiopians consider the Renaissance Dam and the other dams they plan to build as a symbol of national pride as they will produce electricity that will transform the economic prospects not only for their country but for much of seriously under-developed East Africa as it stands on the cusp of a major oil and gas boom.

For Cairo, maintaining the current flow of Nile water is a matter of national security.

Egypt's last two presidents, Hosni Mubarak, overthrown Feb. 11, 2011, and Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, ousted by the army July 3, 2013, both made thinly veiled threats to use military force to uphold Egypt's current access to the waters of the world's longest river.

The current military regime in Cairo is focused, so far at least, on riding out the domestic political turmoil and restoring stability amid a growing Islamist insurgency.

But it can't afford to let this issue slide. The Grand Renaissance Dam is to become operational in 2017.

Egypt, with its 84 million people totally dependent in the Nile for water, cites British agreements in 1929 and 1959 that guarantee it the lion's share of the water and a veto over upstream dam construction.

But Ethiopia, along with Tanzania, Rwanda, Kenya and five other African states with growing populations and mounting demands on agriculture, dismiss these accords as colonial relics.


Read more: http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Energy-Resources/2014/02/27/Egypt-plans-dam-busting-diplomatic-offensive-against-Ethiopia/UPI-13631393533111/#ixzz2ubyMde3Q

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

South Africa backs Egypt 'transition,' and ready to mediate Nile dam crisis


Monday, February 24, 2014
A personal envoy of South African President Jacob Zuma said Monday that his government supported Egypt's transitional roadmap, imposed by the army following last summer's ouster of elected president Mohamed Morsi.

A personal envoy of South African President Jacob Zuma said Monday that his government supported Egypt's transitional roadmap, imposed by the army following last summer's ouster of elected president Mohamed Morsi.
By Hazem Badr
CAIRO - A personal envoy of South African President Jacob Zuma said Monday that his government supported Egypt's transitional roadmap, imposed by the army following last summer's ouster of elected president Mohamed Morsi.
South African State Security Minister Siyabonga Cwele said his country also backed what he described as Egypt's "democratic transition."
Cwele, who arrived in the Egyptian capital on Sunday, said South Africa was concerned over recent terrorist attacks in Egypt and condemned them.
Addressing reporters at Egypt's Foreign Ministry, the South African official said he had agreed with Egyptian officials on the need to bolster security cooperation between both countries.
Cwele declined to elaborate further regarding intended bilateral security cooperation.
He went on to say he had also spoken with Egyptian officials about Egypt's return to the African Union (AU) fold, noting that he would file a report on the issue to African leaders.
Egypt's AU membership was frozen on July 3, immediately after Egypt's military ousted Morsi, the country's first freely-elected president.
Cwele also said his country was ready to mediate between Egypt and Ethiopia over Ethiopia's massive hydroelectric dam on the upper reaches of the Nile.
Egypt and Ethiopia are currently locked in a diplomatic standoff over the multibillion-dollar dam project. While Cairo fears the project will deprive it of much-needed Nile water, Ethiopia says it's a prerequisite for its economic development.
The South African official said he hadn't met officials from the Muslim Brotherhood, the movement from which Morsi hails.
He added that South Africa hadn't listed the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist movement, adding that he had discussed what should be done in this regard with Egyptian officials.
The army-installed interim government has recently designated the Brotherhood as a terrorist organization.
Copyright © 2014 Anadolu Agency

Monday, February 24, 2014

Egypt internationalizes dam dispute with Ethiopia - Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East




Laborers work on Ethiopia's Renaissance Dam in Guba Woreda, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Ethiopia's border with Sudan, June 28, 2013. (photo by REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri)

The Egyptian government has begun to take serious, overt measures toward internationalizing the Renaissance Dam. It is doing so through protracted negotiations taking place behind closed doors among the Supreme Committee for the Nile Waters, which includes representatives from all parties affected by issues of concern to the Nile River Basin. It is composed of staff from the Foreign Ministry as well as the Ministries of Water Resources and Irrigation, International Assistance, Defense and Electricity, and the Egyptian intelligence services.

Summary⎙ Print A recent poll reveals that 87% of Egyptians agree that the issue of the Renaissance Dam should be internationalized.
Author Walaa HusseinPosted February 23, 2014

Translator(s)Al-Monitor
On Jan. 20, Al-Monitor became the first to publish a report concerning this step, revealing Egypt's intention to internationalize its case against Ethiopia concerning the Renaissance Dam. At the time, Egyptian Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Mohamed Abdul Muttalib released a statementdenying Al-Monitor's reporting. 
This comes at a time when, according to polls, the proportion of Egyptian public opinion that favors escalating the issue has risen to 87%. This is the percentage of people who answered "yes" when asked, "Do you support internationalizing the issue of the Renaissance Dam, following Ethiopia's rejection of initiatives to solve the crisis?" The poll was carried out by one of the most widely read news websites in Egypt.
These Egyptian moves toward international escalation are proceeding on two levels, in keeping with an agreement concluded by the Supreme Committee for the Nile Waters, according to a government source who spoke to Al-Monitor. The source stressed that, in fact, first-level steps began with the visit of Muttalib, along with Minister of Foreign Affairs Nabil Fahmy, to Italy, which is believed to be Ethiopia's principal technical supporter in building the dam. The Italian contracting company Salini Corporation has already conducted several studies and begun construction at the dam site.
The source noted that the next stage will witness other visits by Muttalib to a number of countries. It was agreed that the next visit would be to Norway, one of the countries that is funding the establishment of the Renaissance Dam. All of these visits seek to clarify the harm that Egypt will incur if the dam is completed according to its current specifications, aiming to win support from these countries for Egypt's position as well as bringing pressure to bear on the Ethiopian side. Egyptian officials seek to slow construction of the dam until an agreement can be reached with Cairo concerning the mechanisms for mitigating the expected damages to the Egyptian people and the beginning of an era of thirst in Egypt.
The same government source added in remarks to Al-Monitor that the second level of Egypt's plan to escalate the issue internally, which was agreed upon by the Supreme Committee for the Nile Waters, encompasses special steps to present international complaints against Ethiopia over its intransigence and insistence upon inflicting damages to Egyptian water security. This aspect of the plan has been postponed at present until after the completion of the Egyptian government's campaign to educate other governments concerning the harm that the Renaissance Dam will inflict on Egypt. He noted that the committee had put in place a number of options, including raising complaints to the United Nations and other international organizations such as the African Union. Bringing the matter before the UN Security Council has been ruled out for the time being, since it was decided to leave it to the next president-elect to determine whether or not to pursue that route.
Muttalib stressed that his visit to Italy had achieved its goals and would be repeated in many other countries and places. The mission of this and subsequent trips is to provide greater clarity on Egypt's water position, the challenges that Egypt is confronting with regard to the scarcity of water resources and the efforts that the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation is making in this area. Muttalib noted that, during the visit, he had explained the water resources situation and the reality of water scarcity in Egypt to Italian experts and officials. Those present expressed a keen interest in information concerning water resources and stressed that they were hearing it for the first time.
Muttalib stated there are a number of scenarios that the Egyptian government has agreed to implement in order to deal with the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam crisis. Among them is an effort to raise awareness in the world regarding the truth of Egypt's position toward development of the Nile River Basin, which he insists is not opposed to development in the countries of the basin, contrary to the version of events Ethiopia propounds. He stressed that the position of the political administration and the Egyptian government is fixed concerning the waters of the Nile: namely, refusal to compromise or give in on any point concerning Egypt's share, which has averaged historically at 55.5 billion cubic meters of water per year.
For its part, the Ethiopian side believes that the Egyptian bid to internationalize the issue of the Renaissance Dam will not bring about any result so long as there is a serious intention to submit the matter to the International Criminal Court. The Ethiopian Foreign Ministry's website reported that the prime minister remarked, "There is no international court responsible for investigation or arbitrating in issues of water … and that is why the Egyptian move to internationalize won't have any effect."
The Egyptian government, acting out of the belief that the Renaissance Dam threatens to leave many Egyptians without water, has already begun to internationalize the issue through a campaign to define the dangers of the Ethiopian dam in the international community, and to work to halt its foreign financing. Will the coming days witness the beginning of the next step, one of internationalization through formalized, international complaints?


Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/02/egypt-continues-efforts-internationalize-ethiopia-dam.html#ixzz2uEJTVHl2

Renaissance dam 30% complete: Ethiopian official - Politics - Egypt - Ahram Online

Project leader Semegnew Bekele says construction of Ethiopia's Renaissance Dam is progressing according to schedule

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Renaissance Dam

Ethiopia's Great Renaissance Dam is constructed in Guba Woreda, some 40 km (25 miles) from Ethiopia's border with Sudan, June 28, 2013. (Photo: Reuters)
Thirty percent of Ethiopia's Renaissance dam is complete, project leader Semegnew Bekele has said.

Construction is progressing according to schedule, he added in comments reported by Aswat Masryia.  
The project has been a source of concern for the Egyptian government since May last year, when images of the dam's construction stirred public anxiety about its possible effects on Egypt's share of the Nile's water.
However, Bekele insisted the dam would serve Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia.  
Minister of Irrigation Mohamed Abdel-Motteleb told Al-Ahram daily newspaper that Egypt may send an official statement demanding construction of the dam be halted until a mutually agreeable solution is found.
Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan formed a tripartite technical committee to study the possible effects of the dam.
But the committee's discussions were thwarted last December when Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir announced his support for the dam during a meeting with Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn.
Egypt has demanded that Ethiopia submit the dam's construction plans for assessment by international experts.
Ethiopian Irrigation Minister Alamayo Tegno said his country was already committed to the recommendations of an international committee of experts.
According to Walta information, an Ethiopian website, there are 7,500 workers and 500 experts from 25 countries working on the project.

Sunday, February 23, 2014

Egypt seeks Dar support for its return to AU fold

  Calls for immediate talks on use of Nile waters
Bernard Membe.
Egyptian foreign minister Nabil Fahmy yesterday made a public appeal to the government of Tanzania to support Cairo’s bid to regain membership to the African Union (AU).

Fahmy made the appeal in Dar es Salaam yesterday during diplomatic talks with his Tanzanian opposite number, Mr Bernard Membe.



Briefing the press soon after the meeting, Mr Fahmy said that, because of its loss of stature in the AU, Cairo was keen to seek Tanzania’s support on regaining its membership in the regional bloc, but on how that can happen remains unclear.



Other calls for closer cooperation among the Egyptian and Tanzanian business communities also sounded like riders.



Only the third item on Mr Fahmy’s diplomatic bag -- a call to the riparian countries that are sharing river Nile waters to convene a meeting that would come out “with mutual understanding” on the use of its  waters – could explain why Dar was his key destination of choice.



Seven years before Hosni Mubarak, the country’s longest serving president was deposed in a popular uprising (dateline c. February 11, 2011), a battle for control over the Nile broke out in 2004 between Egypt, which regards the world's longest river as its lifeblood, and the countries of sub-Saharan Africa, which complain that they are denied a fair share of its water.



At the height of that dispute, which some observers believed could lead to a new conflict in east Africa; Tanzania announced plans to build a 105-mile pipeline drawing water from Lake Victoria, which feeds the Nile. Analysts then concluded that the “project flouts a treaty giving Egypt a right of veto over any work which might threaten the flow of the river.”



The Nile Water Agreement of 1929, granting Egypt the lion's share of the Nile waters, has been criticised across east African as a colonial relic. Under the treaty, Egypt is guaranteed access to 55.5bn cubic metres of water, out of a total of 84bn cubic metres.



The then Egyptian water minister, Mahmoud Abu-Zeid, described Kenya's intention to withdraw from the agreement as an "act of war". Boutros Boutros-Ghali, the former UN secretary-general, predicted that “the next war in the region will be over water.”



The Nile treaty, which Britain signed on behalf of its east African colonies, forbids any projects that could threaten the volume of water reaching Egypt. The agreement also gives Cairo the right to inspect the entire length of the Nile.



East African countries have resented the treaty since they won their independence. Kenya and Tanzania suffer recurrent droughts caused by inadequate rainfall, deforestation and soil erosion.



The proposed Lake Victoria pipeline is expected to benefit more than 400,000 people in towns and villages in the arid north-west of Tanzania.



Then water minister, Edward Lowasa defended the project, saying: "These are people with no water," he was quoted saying at the time. "How can we do nothing when we have this lake just sitting there?"



The Nile, which is over 4,000 miles long, is fed by the White Nile, flowing from Lake Victoria, and the Blue Nile, flowing from Ethiopia.



An estimated 160 million people in 10 countries depend on the river and its tributaries for their livelihoods. Within the next 25 years, the population in the Nile basin is expected to double, and there is a growing demand to harness the river for agricultural and industrial development.



Uganda’s celebrated commentator Charles Onyango-Obbo wrote : "Egypt can't enjoy the benefits of having access to the sea, while blocking a landlocked country like Uganda from profiting from the fact that it sits at the source of the Nile."



The AU suspended Egypt from all activities following the overthrow of the government of the then president Mohammed Morsi. The decision of the 54-member bloc came while demonstrations in support of ousted president Mohammed Morsi were underway in Cairo, the Egyptian capital.



"As mandated by the relevant AU instruments, the African Union Peace and Security Council decided to suspend the participation of Egypt in AU activities until the restoration of constitutional order," Admore Kambudzi, Secretary of the Peace and Security Council of AU, said told media practitioners July 06 2013 after a meeting that executed suspension



Suspension of membership is the AU's usual response to any interruption of constitutional rule by a member state; Morsi was removed from the office by the army after mass protests against his government.



The move made history – because the AU was the first international body to punish Egypt following Morsi's overthrow.



Egypt becomes the fourth country to face suspension from the AU in the past four years, after Madagascar, the Central African Republic, Guinea-Bissau and Mali (which has been reinstated).



Almost immediately, Egypt responded to its suspension by expressing "deep regret" in a statement posted on its official Facebook page, but to date, the organization has placed the country in the sidelines.



While the AU's move is customary in the event of the interruption of a member country's constitution, it is still remarkably significant given the international indecision that has lingered following Morsi's removal from power, and fears of such an incident creating a precedent for the continent.



It also means that Egypt has now been suspended from all branches of the AU, reducing its influence over internal African affairs, at a time when the North African giant had been attempting to regain influence in the continent.

Friday, February 21, 2014

Is-Ethiopia’s-Renaissance-Dam-viable- - Al-Ahram Weekly

Issue No.1185, 20 February, 2014      19-02-2014 03:50PM ET


Not only are there grave technical dangers to Ethiopia’s proposed Renaissance Dam. It could prove an economic white elephant, writes Maghawry Shehata

In a previous article on Ethiopia’s Renaissance Dam I discussed a number of serious problems associated with this project. Specifically, I focussed on a number of geo-engineering issues involved in the construction of a hydraulic project of this size and reservoir capacity in the proposed location near the Ethiopian border with Sudan and the potential dangers these issues pose, if not properly addressed, to Sudan and Egypt, as well as to Ethiopia itself. Today, I will focus briefly on the economic feasibility of the project and its funding, drawing on available information and statistics, particularly those furnished by Ethiopia.
It is well known that a number of international agencies have been assisting Ethiopia in the construction of some of its dams. For example, the World Bank granted $331 million to help fund the Gilgel Gibe I Dam the construction of which was carried out by the Italian Salini firm. The Salini construction company was also awarded the contracts to build the Gilgel Gibe II and Gilgel Gibe III dams on the Omo River, the former funded by Italy and the European Investment Bank (EIB), the latter by the Ethiopian government. China funded the construction of the Tekeze Dam on the Atbara River at the cost of $365 million and carried out by the Sinohydro Corporation. China is also funding the construction of five other dams to the tune of $1.5 billion.
The construction of the Renaissance Dam is also being carried out by Italy’s Salini construction firm. The Ethiopian government has stated that it would foot the costs, which are likely to amount to $10 billion by the time of completion. However, due to limited fluidity, Addis Ababa has had to issue a bond for this purpose, purchasable by Ethiopians at home and abroad. In view of the per capita income levels in the country, raising this money domestically may prove difficult. It appears that Ethiopia has few alternatives. Either it can persist in its obstinate determination to build a dam of this size and pour into it huge sums of money which will detract from budgetary allocations for all other areas of life (healthcare, education, food supply, agriculture, environmental protections, etc), or it can borrow from foreign donors. A third alternative is to accept partnership from the downriver Nile Basin nations (Sudan and Egypt). But Addis Ababa has rejected the principle of partnership, while Egypt, for its part, has stipulated a number of conditions for partnership, the foremost being that Ethiopia abandon the idea of a mega-dam with such ambitious specifications and which will pose certain dangers not only for Egypt and Sudan, but for Ethiopia itself.
Recently, Turkey attempted to insert itself into the equation. During a visit to Ethiopia, the Turkish foreign minister announced that Ankara was willing to support the Renaissance Dam’s construction. Most likely, any package would include funding from Qatar, in view of Ankara and Doha’s shared hostility, at present, towards Egypt and the Egyptian people.
 Such international political questions aside, a number of domestic economic and political questions surround over the Renaissance Dam. Some have questioned the cost-effectiveness of the project, especially in light of technical studies that point to construction risks as well as to a large loss factor in the energy generated by the dam — that the actual power generated by the Renaissance generators will be only 30 per cent of its theoretical production capacity, in contrast to 40 to 60 per cent rates for smaller hydroelectric plants in Ethiopia. Such problems have led many Ethiopian experts and commentators to question the value of the project for the Ethiopian people. Writing in one of the most widely circulating newspapers in Ethiopia, the prominent Ethiopian writer Barkout Bouhash openly wondered whether the Renaissance Dam would bring all the political and economic gains that the government claimed it would or whether the claims were no more than slogans. He pointed out that the government had never furnished the public with any concrete details. Another question of transparency — or the lack thereof — hovers over the dam. The construction contract was awarded without a competitive bid to Salini which, moreover, has a record of demanding amendments to contracts in light of technical obstacles entailing huge hikes in costs.
In view of the numerous flaws and mistakes that are already known to exist in the plans for the dam, the costs are certain to far exceed current projections. That construction will not be completed by the scheduled time, will further complicate matters for the Ethiopian government which has been working to obtain various strategic advantages, over Egypt in particular, and has planned accordingly. Meanwhile, Cairo has offered Addis ways out of its impending problems. Egyptian experts have proposed numerous alternatives that would enable Ethiopia to meet its energy and development needs, but Addis rejected these out of hand.

Nevertheless, Egypt has the responsibility to approach the Renaissance Dam question with good will, in keeping with international rules and conventions, even as its patience has worn thin during the various negotiating phases. Still, in addition to continuing to propose alternative solutions, Egypt must simultaneously address the international community, alerting it to Addis Ababa’s lack of cooperativeness and to the grave dangers its Renaissance Dam project poses to Egyptian water and food security and to the safety and well-being of the Egyptian people.
The Egyptian minister for water resources and irrigation has responded to his Ethiopian counterpart’s invitation to discuss the pending problems. Hopefully, this time the dialogue will prove constructive and not another attempt to buy time.

The writer is former president of  Menoufiya University and an expert on Egyptian water issues.

Ethiopia Pushes River Basin Toward Hydrological Disaster | Lori Pottinger

In a remote part of East Africa, the Ethiopian government is furtively transforming a pastoral landscape populated by indigenous agro-pastoralists into an industrial powerhouse of dams and plantations. While the government says these developments are intended to reduce poverty, those on the ground see their land and water being taken from them, their homesteads bulldozed, their choices narrowed. Impacts will be felt all the way to Kenya.
The developments in the Lower Omo Valley pivot on the construction of the hugeGibe III Dam, a hydropower project that also regulates river flows to support year-round commercial agriculture. The dam's reservoir could begin filling in May, bringing major changes to the Omo's flow. A new film by International Rivers, A Cascade of Development on the Omo River, reveals the hydrological havoc that could ensue.
The biggest hydrological risks actually come from what is happening on the land. A government plan to convert hundreds of thousands of hectares of land to irrigated plantations could be devastating to people and ecosystems downstream. Information is hard to come by on these land conversions, so Human Rights Watch (HRW) used high-tech tools to document the changes. HRW's new analysis of satellite imagesreveals that the Ethiopian government continues to clear land used by indigenous groups to make way for state-run sugar plantations in the Lower Omo. The group reports that virtually all of the traditional lands of the 7,000-member Bodi indigenous group have been cleared in the past 15 months. Human rights abuses have accompanied the land grabs.
These massive developments will usurp the vast majority of the water in the Omo River basin, potentially devastating the livelihoods of the 500,000 indigenous peoplewho directly or indirectly rely on the Omo's waters for their livelihoods.
Most significantly, the changes in river flow caused by the dam and the irrigation schemes could cause a huge drop in the water levels of Kenya's Lake Turkana, the world's largest desert lake and a UNESCO World Heritage site. The lake, which receives 90 percent of its water from the Omo River, is projected to drop by about two meters during the initial filling of the dam. If current plans to create new plantations continue to move forward, the lake could drop as much as 16 to 22 meters. The average depth of the lake is just 31 meters.
The Big Dry Begins
This will be the first year that river flow past the Gibe III Dam is almost completely blocked. Reservoir filling is expected to take up to three years, and during this time the Omo River's annual flow could drop by as much as 70%. After this initial shock, regular dam operations will continue to devastate ecosystems and local livelihoods. Changes to the river's flooding regime will harm yields from flood-recession agriculture, prevent the replenishment of important grazing areas, and reduce fish populations -- all critical resources for livelihoods of local indigenous groups.
In a positive first step, the Ethiopian government has agreed to discuss joint management of the Omo Basin with the Kenyan government. To give this process weight and greater legitimacy, organizers should ensure that affected people are able to directly voice their concerns.
Although the dam seems to be a fait accompli, there are still options for managing the river in a way to reduce the risk that Lake Turkana becomes the planet's next Aral Sea. A process to devise a dam-management system of more natural flows (called"environmental flows") could reduce the worst social and environmental impacts of the dam and irrigation schemes.
To show it is serious about sustainable management of this important lifeline, the Ethiopian government should halt water withdrawals until a cumulative environmental-impact assessment of all developments in the Lower Omo is carried out by internationally reputable experts. Ethiopia should also commit to abiding by the assessment's findings on how much water the river needs to keep Lake Turkana healthy.
A large percentage of Ethiopia's budget comes from Western donors. These donorsmust play a bigger role in monitoring the situation now unfolding in the Lower Omo, and be prepared to put forth sticks along with the carrots if significant progress isn't made in resolving these problems. To turn a blind eye would make them complicit in large-scale human rights violations and environmental destruction.
Follow Lori Pottinger on Twitter: www.twitter.com/loripottinger_r

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Dam! Why Egypt is damanding to halting Ethiopian dam construction | Al Bawaba