Water Conflict ~ Egypt vs Ethiopia

• Background Info


  - The Grand Renaissance Dam is being

  constructed in the Ethiopian highlands

  on the Blue Nile.

  - The largest hydro-electric project in

  Africa (as well as the 7th largest in the

  world).

  - 85% of the river emerging from the

  Ethiopian highlands.

  - Reservoir bigger than Greater London

  and flood the Nile for 250km (155

  miles) upstream.
• How has the conflict occurred?


  - Egypt has for millennia seen the Nile as a vital lifeline.

  - With a growing population and increasing demands from

  agriculture, Egypt is worried the new dam will leave them high and dry.

  - Egypt's strong claims on the river have

  soured relations with the eight other countries that share the Nile basin.

  - Ethiopia claims that the Nile's waters will only be used to generate electricity, and then allowed to continue to

  flow through the river as before, but Egypt and some of the other basin countries fear that stored water will be

  used for irrigation, hence reducing downstream supply.

  - Egypt is especially concerned about the potential effects on the Aswan High Dam - its own hydro-electricity

  scheme.

  - There is also a major concern that flow will be reduced during the seven years or so that it will take for the

  reservoir behind the dam to fill.

  - Sudan initially shared Egypt's fears, but has more recently come to realise that Ethiopia's new Dam will bring

  many benefits to the country - including cheap electricity, fresh water for homes, and water for irrigation.
• Who are the stakeholders involved?


  - Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan, 85% of the river emerging from the Ethiopian highlands, Egypt is concerned its rival has the capability to control the flow of the river.

  - "It's one of the most important flagship projects for Ethiopia," says Seleshi Bekele, the country's Minister for

  Water, Irrigation and Electricity. "It's not about control of the flow, but providing opportunity for us to develop

  ourselves through energy development. It has a lot of benefit for the downstream countries."

  - Sudan certainly welcomes it. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is just a few kilometres from the border

  and the pylons are already in place, waiting for the power generation to begin and for cheap, renewable power

  to fizz through the cables.

  - Egypt is worried, as the UN predicts the country will start suffering water shortages by 2025.

  - "The Nile is the lifeline of Egypt, so for them, I wouldn't say they are paranoid, but they are very concerned

  about anything that you do with that water."

  - Egypt's minister of water resources and irrigation, Mohamed Abdel Aty, is extremely angry. "We are responsible

  for a nation of about 100 million", he says. "If the water that's coming to Egypt reduced by 2% we would lose

  about 200,000 acres of land.

  - "One acre at least makes one family survive. A family in Egypt is average family size about five persons. So this

  means about one million will be jobless.
• What resolutions are being sought?


  - The people of the two countries live in a real crisis, especially with their leaders' contradictory visions regarding

  the dam.

  - The Ethiopian side believes that the construction of the dam according to the specifications it initially set is an

  inherent right, while the Egyptian side believes that construction on those terms will harm its right to the Nile's

  water, and thus would harm the state in general.

  - Meeting between El-Sisi and Ahmed could be a way out, provided it is followed by other meetings with an

  international presence — though such a move would be fraught with risks and downsides.

  - One of the aims of establishing the dam may be to force Egypt and Sudan to join the Entebbe Agreement on

  the shared waters of the Nile Basin.

  - Diplomacy and collaboration are the only means of resolving this issue, but when issues like nationalism and

  the relative strength and importance of countries is concerned, it muddies the water.

  - The world's first war over water can be avoided on the Nile, and it could even be an example of how to resolve

  complex disagreements over water.
• Cost of Construction of the The Grand Renaissance Dam.

  $5 billion.