The three countries have agreed that when the flow of Nile water to the dam falls below 35-40 b.c.m. [35] The lack of international financing for projects on the Blue Nile River has persistently been attributed to Egypt's campaign to keep control on the Nile water share. Maguid, M.A. In fact, about 85 % of the overall Nile flow originates on Ethiopian territory (Swain, 2011). In the absence of the application of the Watercourses Convention, various other legal arrangements and political declarations must be considered to gain an understanding of the regulation of the Dam and the Nile River more generally. The Tripartite National Council (TNC) was then established, consisting of members from each of the three countries with the aim of carrying through the IPoE's recommendations (Attia & Saleh, 2021). The dam will flood 1,680 square kilometers of forest in northwest Ethiopia (an area about four times the size of Cairo), displace approximately 20,000 people in Ethiopia, and create a reservoir that will hold around 70 billion cubic . The Chinese then took over the funding amidst heightened international concern regarding the social, technical, and environmental repercussions of the Ethiopian dams. There are three key articles. In the imperialist age, Ethiopian emperors threatened to alter the course of the Nile and stop its flow to Egypt. A significant segment of local opinion is also aware of the well-known problems that come with mega-dams wherever they are built, among them population displacements and resettlement, reductions in the quality of life, the spread of waterborne diseases, salinisation and the loss of productive and profitable lands, more intense competition over the remaining available land, and losses of cultural and historic heritage. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam: Africa's Water Tower The current global energy crisis may help in this regard in the sense that Egyptians may find the allure of discounted hydroelectric energy stronger than ever before. Another impressive snippet of information is that the Government of Ethiopia is financing the entire project, along with loans mainly from China. However, Sudans future water requirements will likely exceed its water quota as defined in the 1959 Agreement. Such a meaningful resource-sharing agreement should not only resolve the conflict over water-use rights among the riparian states, but it should help define concepts such as equitable and reasonable use and significant harm, which have been used by the downstream states in their criticisms of the GERD. According to this narrative, the Blue Nile, or Abay in Amharic, is a purely Ethiopian river. Moreover, it arguably prohibits any reduction of flow to Egypt by limiting Ethiopias use of the Dam to electricity generation alone. It will be the largest hydropower project in Africa. . (PDF) Benefit of Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam Project (GERDP) for The various warnings by experts about the dangers of the new Ethiopian dam have begun to cause panic among Egyptians, to the point of belief that the Aswan Dam will collapse once the Renaissance is completed. The GERD and the Revival of the Egyptian-Sudanese Dispute over the Nile Waters. Note that, under Article 62(2) VCLT, territorial treaties are excepted from the change in circumstances rule. This is good news for Egypt and Sudan as hydropower means little actual water withdrawal. Terms in this set (10) how long and high is the dam? Still, if the exception was somehow activated, it would mean that Egypt remains entitled to 66% of the Nile River waters and that this figure should be used as the baseline for any future negotiations. Misplaced Opposition to the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD): Update. Nevertheless, Egypt must not use sympathy for its water vulnerability as a weapon to frustrate the efforts of the other riparians to secure an agreement that is balanced, fair, and equitable. Faced with the anachronistic Nile Waters Treaties on the one hand and the absence of a suitable replacement on the other, discussions about the Dam have fallen into something of a stalemate. The 10-year filling time of GERD will likely contribute to fastened salinisation in Egypt. Downstream countries Egypt and Sudan have expressed concerns over the impacts of the dam on their water supply. In July of 2021, the second filling of the dam was completed. [35] Ethiopia seems to have the legal upper hand in this dispute. Egypt relies on the river for as much as 90 percent of its freshwater and sees the new dam as an existential . The Blue Nile is Ethiopias largest river, with high potential for hydropower and irrigation. You must have JavaScript enabled to use this form. In March 2015, a 'Declaration of Principles' was signed by the leaders of Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia, setting the foundations for an initial cooperation. On Feb. 26, Ethiopia temporarily suspended its . Also, the Sudanese Foreign Ministry later held the Egyptian side accountable for failure of these negotiations. As early as 1957, Ethiopian officials said that the Somalian economy could not survive on its own given how heavily dependent it was on Ethiopia. It concludes that Ethiopias legal position is far stronger and that a negotiated agreement in its favour is the most likely outcome of the dispute. With regard to the mega-dams, the Gilgel Gibe III Dam and the GERD speak volumes on the substance of Zenawis political ideology. The late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, who laid the foundation stone in 2011, said the dam would be built without begging for money . Over the years, Egypt has used its extensive diplomatic connections and the colonial-era 1929 and 1959 agreements to successfully prevent the construction of any major infrastructure projects on the tributaries of the Nile. The filling time is estimated to take about 10 years, during which the Blue Nile water flows would be reduced. A more recent trilateral meeting mediated by the African Union in mid-July, however, appeared to diffuse the situation with all three countries reaching a major common understanding towards achieving an agreement (Al Jazeera, 2020). Ethiopia could argue that those imperial powers did not foresee the decolonisation of Africa and that this represented a watershed event that profoundly changed the foundation on which the Nile Water Treaties were constructed. Environmental Impacts Of Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam On The India dispatch: Supreme Court limits DNA paternity testing in divorce proceedings, prioritizing childrens privacy rights, US dispatch: Texas case could limit access to abortion medication, Copyright infringement made federal crime. The change of government in Egypt led to a more conciliatory approach (Von Lossow & Roll, 2015). Four of these would potentially be located on the main river and one would eventually evolve into the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). per year, that would constitute a drought and, according to Egypt and Sudan, Ethiopia would have to release some of the water in the dams reservoir to deal with the drought. The former was initially funded by the World Bank and the European Investment Bank, but these later withdrew for legal and other reasons. Egypts main argument might be that, despite being unsatisfactory and anachronistic, the Nile Waters Treaties remain good law and are enforceable against the respective parties. Ethiopia's dam dispute: five key reads about how it started and how it Flashcards. Tawfik, Rawia Discussion Paper 5/2015 . This article considers water security in the context of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (the Dam). If it is allowed to reach dangerous levels, water scarcity has the potential to trigger conflicts. Copyright 2023, JURIST Legal News & Research Services, Inc. Elliot Winter | New Castle University (UK), Egyptian Water Security and the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam: Why Ethiopia has the Upper Hand, Vienna Convention on the Succession of States, history of copyright in the United States. If it were to take place during a sequence of years in which the Blue Nile flow and the AHD reservoir itself was low, Egypt might not be able to withdraw sufficient water supplies to meet all of its agricultural needs. The Political Deadlock on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam Egypt and Ethiopia have once again locked horns over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the Blue Nile. Despite the controversy and the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam's effect on Egypt and Sudan, it appears that the Ethiopian government will continue to move forward with filling the dam. The above-mentioned Gilgel Gibe III Dam stood out as the worlds most controversial dam until the GERD. Afraid that a drought might appear during the filling period, Egypt wants the filling to take place over a much longer period. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam: Source of cooperation or - USGS One senior advisor to former Ethiopian prime minister Meles Zenawi alluded to it when he said that Ethiopia will supply the electricity, Sudan the food, and Egypt the money. To which we might add, and South Sudan will supply the oil.. In its 2013 report, the International Rivers Organisation predicted that the long-term effects of the Gibe III Dam would turn Lake Turkana into another Aral Sea. Filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) along the Blue Nile River is well under way near the Ethiopia-Sudan border. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is a Big Deal - BORGEN Yet, Ethiopia is fully aware of Somalias economic dependence on the rivers originating from Ethiopias highlands. However, as a result of the ability and willingness of Ethiopians at home and abroad to invest in the dam project, the government was able to raise a significant portion of the money needed to start the construction of the GERD. Ultimately, however, Egypt did not sign the CFA (nor did Sudan) hence it does not resolve the dispute. (DOC) Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam - Academia.edu Basically, Ethiopia should cooperate with the other riparian states in developing and adopting an effective drought mitigation protocol, one that includes the possibility that GERD managers may have to release water from the reservoir, when necessary, to mitigate droughts. grand ethiopian renaissance dam. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam located in the Benishangul-Gumuz Region of Ethiopia, about 45 km east of the border with Sudan. According to Baradei, hydropower dams create immense turbulence in the water, where chemical reactions such as dissolved oxygen can destroy fauna and flora. The current filling which is ongoing since early July 2021 has presented no issues as well. The GERD has the potential to act both as driver for conflict, but also for cooperation. The disadvantages for Egypt and Sudan are the possibility of reduced river flow, although this is only really a problem during the years of filling the dam. It could be a treaty or merely a political declaration as the name implies. 2011. how much does the reservoir contain? "The Israeli installation of the missile system around the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam was completed after the Israeli work began in May 2019, considering that it is the first Israeli air defense system abroad that can launch (two types of missiles), the first with a range of 5 km, and the second with a range of 50 kilometer". Second, the upstream riparian states must recognize and accept Egypts near total dependence on the waters of the Nile River. Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam | International Rivers Ethiopia, one of the poorest countries in Africa, has the second largest population in the continent. The Watercourses Convention aims to regulate the uses, as well as the conservation, of all transboundary waters above and below the surface. While the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) is taking shape on . The politicisation of the Niles water and the utilisation of development projects to achieve political ends are not new phenomena.
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