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Who Owns the Nile? Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia’s History-Changing Dam
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Who Owns the Nile? Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia’s History-Changing Dam
Who Owns the Nile? Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia’s History-Changing Dam
By ANDREW CARLSON
Origins
A Publication of Ohio State University
vol. 6, issue 6 - March 2013
Editor's Note:
Egypt and Sudan are utterly dependent on the waters of the Nile River. Over the past century both of these desert countries have built several dams and reservoirs, hoping to limit the ravages of droughts and floods which have so defined their histories. Now Ethiopia, one of eight upriver states and the source of most of the Nile waters, is building the largest dam in Africa. Located on the Blue Nile twenty five miles from the Ethiopian border with Sudan, the Grand Renaissance Dam begins a new chapter in the long, bellicose history of debate on the ownership of the Nile waters, and its effects for the entire region could be profound.
For more on the recent history of Africa, please see these articles on Politics in Senegal, the Darfur Conflict, Piracy in Somalia, Violence and Politics in Kenya, Women in Zimbabwe, and Sport in South Africa.
On water and environmental issues, readers may also want to see these Origins articles: World Water Crisis; The Changing Arctic; Climate Change and Human Population; Global Food Crisis; and Over-Fishing.
In the fall of 2012 newspapers around the world reported on a Wikileaks document, surreptitiously acquired from Stratfor, the Texas security company, revealing Egyptian and Sudanese plans to build an airstrip for bombing a dam in the Blue Nile River Gorge in Ethiopia. The Egyptian and Sudanese governments denied the reports.
Whether or not there were such plans in 2012, there is a long history of threats and conflicts in the Nile River Basin. Downriver Egypt and Sudan argue that they have historic rights to the water upon which they absolutely depend—and in 1979 Egyptian President Anwar Sadat threatened war on violators of what he saw as his country’s rights to Nile waters. Upriver Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and Tanzania argue that they too need the water that originates on their lands.
Since the twelfth century C.E. Christian Ethiopian kings have warned Muslim Egyptian sultans of their power to divert waters of the Nile, often in response to religious conflicts. But these were hypothetical threats.
Today, however, Ethiopia is building the Grand Renaissance Dam and, with it, Ethiopia will physically control the Blue Nile Gorge—the primary source of most of the Nile waters.
The stakes could not be higher for the new leaders in Egypt and Ethiopia, President Mohamed Morsi and Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, as well as Sudan’s long-time President, Omar El Bashir. The stakes are perhaps even higher for the millions of people who owe their livelihood and very existence to the Nile’s waters.
Egypt and the Nile
The Nile has been essential for civilization in Egypt and Sudan. Without that water, there would have been no food, no people, no state, and no monuments. As Herodutus famously wrote in the 5th century B.C.E., “Egypt is the gift of the Nile.”
For millennia peoples have travelled along the banks of the Nile and its tributaries. Scores of ethnic groups in Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan share architecture and engineering, ideas and traditions of religion and political organization, languages and alphabets, food and agricultural practices.
In 3000 B.C.E., when the first Egyptian dynasty unified the lower and upper parts of the Nile River, there were no states in Eastern or Central Africa to challenge Egypt’s access to Nile waters.
The Nile was a mysterious god: sometimes beneficent, sometimes vengeful. Floods between June and September, the months of peak flow, could wipe out entire villages, drowning thousands of people. Floods also brought the brown silt that nourished the delta, one of the world’s most productive agricultural regions, feeding not only Egypt but many of its neighbors.
The river’s central importance to Egyptian life is captured in A Hymn to the Nile, recorded in Papyrus Sallier II:
Hail to thee, O Nile, that issues from the earth and comes to keep Egypt alive! …
He that waters the meadows which He created …
He that makes to drink the desert …
He who makes barley and brings emmer into being …
He who brings grass into being for the cattle …
He who makes every beloved tree to grow …
O, Nile, verdant art thou, who makes man and cattle to live.
The Nile’s seasonal flooding is a central theme in Egyptian history. The river flow follows regular patterns, increasing between May 17 and July 6, peaking in September, and then receding until the next year. But the river volume is very unpredictable, as documented by nilometers (multi-storied structures built in the river to measure water heights). Successive empires of Pharaohs, Greeks, Romans, Christian Copts, and Muslims celebrated the rising waters of the Nile and dreaded floods or droughts.
Five millennia of Nile history show how years with high water have produced ample food, population growth, and magnificent monuments, as during the first five dynasties from 3050 B.C.E. to 2480 B.C.E. Periods with low water have brought famine and disorder. The Book of Genesis describes seven years of famine that historians associate with the drought of 1740 B.C.E.
From the time of the Pharaohs until 1800 C.E., Egypt’s population rose and fell between 2 to 5 million, due to food availability and epidemics. The irrigation projects of the 19th century Ottoman ruler Mohammad Ali allowed year-around cultivation, causing population growth from 4 to 10 million. Since the opening of the Aswan High Dam in 1971, Egypt’s population has increased from about 30 to 83 million.
The Sources of the Nile
Despite the extraordinary importance of the Nile to people downstream, the origin of the great river was a mystery until the middle twentieth century. Herodotus speculated that the Nile arose between the peaks of Crophi and Mophi, south of the first cataract. In 140 C.E. Ptolemy suggested the source was the Mountains of the Moon, in what are now called the Ruwenzori Mountains in Uganda.
The 11th century Arab geographer al-Bakri postulated West African origins, confusing the Niger River, which empties into the Atlantic Ocean, with the Nile River. In 1770 the Scottish explorer James Bruce claimed his discovery of the source in Ethiopia, while in 1862 John Hanning Speke thought he found it in Lake Victoria and the equatorial lakes.
The river’s limited navigability only increased its mystery. The Blue Nile River descends 4501 feet in 560 miles from Lake Tana in the Ethiopian highlands through a deep gorge with crocodiles, hippopotamuses, and bandits to the Sudan border and the savannah. Despite the efforts of scores of intrepid adventurers, the Blue Nile in Ethiopia was not successfully navigated until 1968 by a team of British and Ethiopian soldiers and civilians equipped by the Royal Military College of Science.
Further south up the White Nile in the lakes and rivers of Burundi, Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, the Egyptian cultural influence is less pronounced, due to the Sudd, a gigantic and impassable swamp which absorbs waters from the equatorial lake tributaries. The Nile River historian Robert O. Collins reports that “no one passed through this primordial bog” until 1841.
Not until the 20th century did it become clear that the Nile is part of a vast river system with dozens of tributaries, streams, and lakes, stretching from the Mediterranean Sea to the remote mountains of Burundi, in tropical central Africa, and to the highlands of Ethiopia, in the Horn of Africa.
Spanning more than 4,200 miles, it is the longest river in the world. It has also become clear that the volume of water which flows through the Nile is relatively small—a mere two percent in volume of the Amazon’s and fifteen percent of the Mississippi—and mostly (86%) from Ethiopia.
Ethiopia, Egypt, and the Historical Struggle for the Nile’s Waters
Ethiopia and Egypt have had a long relationship of both harmony and discord, the latter the result of religious issues and access to Nile water, among other factors.
Ethiopia’s first well documented government was in Aksum, a city-state that controlled a large empire from the Ethiopian highlands across the Red Sea to Yemen. From 100 until 800 C.E. Aksumites participated in Mediterranean and Indian Ocean trade.
The cultural relationship between Egypt and Ethiopia was institutionalized when the Aksumite King Ezana converted to Christianity in 330 C.E. For 16 centuries (until 1959) the Egyptian bishop of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church was appointed by the Egyptian patriarch in Alexandria, often under the influence of the Egyptian government.
Ethiopians were profoundly influenced by the Middle East, even writing their state and geography into Bible stories. The source of the Blue Nile became the Gihon, one of the four rivers that flowed from the Garden of Eden. The 14th century C.E. myth of national origins connected Ethiopia’s rulers to the Old Testament. In this legend the Queen of Sheba (Mekedda), journeyed north from Ethiopia to Jerusalem to meet King Solomon in 900 B.C.E. A romantic relationship produced a child, Menelik I, the first in Ethiopia’s Solomonic Dynasty.
When Menelik became an adult, despite his father’s wish that he become the next King of Israel, he escaped to Ethiopia with the Ark of the Covenant—the cabinet which contained the tablets of the ten commandments given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai. Menelik stored the Ark on an island in Lake Tana—into which the Gihon flows—before it was moved to Aksum, where many Ethiopians believe the Ark remains to this day. Another Ethiopian legend is that Mary and Jesus stayed a night on that same island (Tana Cherquos) during their flight from the Holy Land to Egypt.
The Muslim conquest of Egypt in 640 C.E. put Christian Ethiopia in a defensive position. Because the Ethiopian Orthodox Church remained subordinate to the Orthodox Church in Alexandria, and Egypt had become a Muslim country, Ethiopians became suspicious and resentful of the control Egypt had on the appointment of their Christian bishop (abun). Muslim Egyptians also controlled Jerusalem and had the power to expel Ethiopian pilgrims to their holiest of cities.
So Ethiopians began to claim power over Egypt through control of the Nile. During the Crusades the Ethiopian emperor Lalibela (1190-1225)—who built a new Jerusalem in Ethiopia, safe from Muslim occupation in magnificent, underground rock-hewn churches—threatened retribution by diverting the Tekeze River from its pathway north into Sudan (where it becomes the Atbara and then joins the Nile).
The first Egyptian to write about the potential for an Ethiopian diversion of the Nile was the 13th century Coptic scholar Jurjis al-Makin (d. 1273).
Stories about Ethiopia’s power over the Nile inspired the 14th century European legend of Prester John, a wealthy Christian Ethiopian priest king. In 1510 the legend returned to Ethiopia with Portuguese explorer Alfonso d’ Albuquerque, who considered the possibility of destroying Egypt by diverting the Nile to the Red Sea. In 1513 d’Albuquerque even asked the Portuguese king for workers skilled in digging tunnels. Nothing came of the plan.
But conflict between Egypt and Ethiopia continued, often as proxy wars between Christians and Muslims on Ethiopia’s northern or southeastern borderlands. The sixteenth century invasion of Ethiopia by Ahmad Gragn, the Muslim imam from the Adal Sultante, was seen as an Egyptian conflict.
In the nineteenth century Egypt and Ethiopia fought over control of the Red Sea and upper Nile Basin. The climax came in 1876 at the Battle of Gura in present day Eritrea where the Ethiopians delivered a humiliating defeat to the Egyptian army.
Colonial-Era Conflicts over the Nile
The European partition of Africa in the 1880s added huge complexity to this conflict.
Egypt was colonized by England in 1882. Ethiopia defeated the Italians at the Battle of Adwa in 1896 becoming the only African country to retain its independence during the “scramble for Africa.” But colonization created many new states in the Nile Basin (Eritrea, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, and Tanganika) and set off new competition for resources and territory.
Egypt was prized for the Nile Delta, a region of unsurpassed agricultural productivity. After the completion of the Suez Canal in 1869, Egypt also offered access to the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. For the British control of Egypt meant more profitable trade with India, its richest colony. For the French, the canal offered quicker access to Indochina, its most lucrative colony.
In the late nineteenth century, since controlling Egypt was the key to Asian wealth, and since Egypt depended on the Nile, controlling the source of the Nile became a major colonial goal.
The French-English competition for control of the Nile Basin climaxed in 1898 at Fashoda.
The French conceived of the idea of building a dam on the White Nile, so as to undermine British influence further downriver and establish east-west control of the continent. They organized a stupendous pincer movement with one group of soldiers traveling from East Africa across Ethiopia and the other from West Africa across the Congo.
The British heard of the French expedition, and, having just captured Khartoum ordered a fleet of gun boats and steamers with soldiers under the leadership of General Horatio Herbert Kitchener upriver to Fashoda, the site of the proposed dam. With fewer than 200 men, the French were embarrassed. In 1899 the two colonial powers reached an agreement which designated to France the frontiers of the Congo River and to England the frontiers of the White Nile.
The Fashoda Incident revealed how little Europeans understood about the Nile River. Thinking that most of the Nile waters came from the equatorial lakes (Victoria, Albert, Kyoga, and Edward), the English spent enormous energy on plans to increase White Nile water flows.
First called the Garstin Cut and later the Jonglei Canal, the British intended to create a channel that would maximize water transfer through the great swamp (where half of it evaporated).
One of the most expensive engineering projects in Africa, it was terminated in 1984 by the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, because of the severe disruption it brought to the lives of the indigenous upper Nile peoples. If the 300 mile-long Jonglei Canal had been completed, it would have increased water flows by nearly 4 billion cubic meters into the White Nile.
Negotiating the Nile: Treaties and Agreements over the Nile Waters
Treaty negotiations about Nile waters started during the colonial era as England tried to maximize agricultural productivity in the delta.
In 1902 the British secured from the Ethiopian Emperor Menelik II an agreement to consult with them on any Blue Nile water projects, especially on Lake Tana. As the controlling imperial power in East Africa, agreements with Kenya, Tanganika, Sudan, and Uganda were pro forma, internal colonial matters.
After achieving its independence in 1922, Egypt negotiated the Nile Waters Agreement of 1929 with the East African British colonies. This accord established Egypt’s right to 48 billion cubic meters of water flow, all dry season waters, and veto-power over any upriver water management projects; newly independent Sudan (1956) was accorded rights to 4 billion cubic meters of water. The Ethiopian monarch was not consulted—at least in part because no one understood how much Nile water actually came from Ethiopia.
The 1959 Nile Waters Agreement between Egypt and Sudan was completed before all the upriver states achieved independence: Tanganika (1961), Uganda (1962), Rwanda (1962), Burundi (1962), and Kenya (1963).
The signatories of the 1959 Agreement allocated Egypt 55.5 billion cubic meters of water annually while Sudan was allowed 18.5 billion cubic meters. These 79 billion cubic meters represented 99% of the calculated average annual river flow.
The treaty also allowed for the construction of the Aswan High Dam (completed in 1971), the Roseires Dam (completed 1966 on the Blue Nile in Sudan), and the Khashm al-Girba Dam (completed in 1964 on the Atbara River in Sudan).
The treaty so negatively affected the upriver states that it provided the inspiration for the Nyerere Doctrine, named after independent Tanzania’s first president, which asserted that former colonies had no obligation to abide by treaties signed for them by Great Britain.
Emperor Haile Selassie was offended by President Nasser’s exclusion of Ethiopia in the Nile Waters Agreement and in planning for building the Aswan Dam. He negotiated the 1959 divorce of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church from the Orthodox Church in Alexandria, ending 1600 years of institutional marriage.
He also began planning for several dams on the Blue Nile and its tributaries, contributing $10 million dollars from the Ethiopian treasury towards a study by the U.S. Department of Reclamation resulting in a seventeen volume report completed in 1964 and titled Land and Water Resources of the Blue Nile Basin: Ethiopia.
Nasser responded by encouraging Muslims in Eritrea (reunified with Ethiopia after World War II) to secede from Ethiopia. He also encouraged Muslim Somalis to fight for the liberation of Ethiopia’s Ogaden region.
Ethiopia won the war with Somalia in 1977-78 and retained the Ogaden. Its 30 year war with Eritrea, an Egyptian ally, came at a tremendous cost. Haile Selassie was overthrown in 1974, and after 1993 Eritrea won independence and Ethiopia became a landlocked country—although it still possessed the headwaters of the Blue Nile.
In the middle of the 1980s, rains failed in the Ethiopian highlands, causing a serious water crisis upriver and downriver. One million Ethiopians died as a result of drought and famine—made worse by Civil War with Eritrea. Egypt averted disaster but Aswan’s turbines were nearly shut down, creating an electric power nightmare; and crops failed in the delta, bringing the real prospect of famine.
As a result, Egyptians came to understand that their great Aswan Dam had not solved their historic dependency on upriver Nile water. In 1987, after years of hostile rhetoric, the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and the Ethiopian President Haile Mariam Mengistu replaced the language of threat and confrontation with words of conciliation and cooperation.
Then in the 1990s the Ethiopian rains returned and, remarkably, Hosni Mubarak redoubled efforts begun during the Sadat administration to build the Toshka Canal, one of the world’s most expensive and ambitious irrigation projects. This plan would take 10% of waters in Lake Nasser to irrigate Egypt’s sandy Western Desert, increasing Egypt’s need for Nile water even if they maintained their 1959 treaty share of 55 billion cubic meters.
In anger and disbelief, the Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi protested: “While Egypt is taking the Nile water to transform the Sahara Desert into something green, we in Ethiopia—who are the source of 85% of that water—are denied the possibility of using it to feed ourselves.”
He then began plans for the Grand Renaissance Dam.
International water law has not resolved differences about ownership of Nile Waters. The Helsinki Agreement of 1966 proposed the idea of “equitable shares”—and the idea was taken up again in the 1997 United Nations Convention on the Law of Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses.
A proposal for “equitable shares” was again put forward in the 1999 Nile Basin Initiative, which included all the affected countries. Unfortunately the initiative did not resolve the conflict between Egypt and Sudan’s claims of historic rights and the upper river states’ claims for equitable shares.
In 2010, six upstream countries (Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and Tanzania) signed a Cooperative Framework Agreement seeking more water shares. Egypt and Sudan rejected the agreement because it challenged their historic water rights.
Ethiopia and the Lessons of Dam Building
One lesson from the last century of mega-dam building is that upriver countries have the most power when negotiating water rights. The first of the mega-dams, the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River in the United States, cost Mexico water. The Ataturk Dam in Turkey has had a devastating impact on downriver Syria and Iraq. China and Tibet control waters on multiple rivers flowing downstream to India, Pakistan, Myanmar, Bangladesh, and Vietnam.
Another lesson is that mega-dams have enormous and unanticipated environmental impacts. The Aswan High Dam has disrupted the ecosystems of the river, the delta, and the Mediterranean with results of reduced agricultural productivity and fish stocks. It also caused a series of seismic events due to the extreme weight of the water in Lake Nasser, one of the world’s largest reservoirs.
Although late to mega-dam building, Ethiopia is now making up for lost time. One of the tallest dams in the world was completed in 2009 on the Tekeze River in northern Ethiopia. Three major dams on the Omo and Gibe Rivers in southern Ethiopia are either completed or nearly so.
The biggest of Ethiopia’s water projects, the Grand Renaissance Dam, will have a reservoir holding 67 billion cubic meters of water—twice the water held in Lake Tana, Ethiopia’s largest lake—and is expected to generate 6000 megawatts of electricity.
Ethiopians hope these water projects—which extend to 2035 with other Nile tributaries and river systems—will lift their country out of poverty. Similar large dams have produced economic miracles in the United States, Canada, China, Turkey, India, Brazil, and, of course, Egypt.
Ethiopia’s options for economic development are limited. With nearly 90 million people it is the most populous landlocked country in the world. It is also one of the world’s poorest countries—174 on the list of 187 countries in the United Nations Human Development Index for 2012. (Sudan is 169 and Egypt 113.) This index rates countries based on life expectancy, education, and income, among other criteria.
Part of Ethiopia’s challenge is that 85 percent of the workforce is in agricultural commodities that bring low profits. Ethiopia is already leasing land in its southern regions to Saudi Arabia, India, and China for large irrigated water projects—despite severe land shortage in its northern regions—because it does not have the funds to develop this land on its own.
If Ethiopia cannot use its elevation and seasonal rains for hydro-electric power and irrigation, what is it to do?
The Grand Renaissance Dam
The state-owned Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation optimistically reports that the Grand Renaissance Dam will be completed in 2015 at a cost of nearly 5 billion dollars. As of 2013, the project is 13% complete, suggesting that it may be many years and billions of dollars before the dam is finished. The Tekeze dam was well over its predicted budget and years behind schedule.
The major obstacle to completion is financing.
The World Bank, the European Investment Bank, the Chinese Import-Export Bank, and the African Development Bank provided financing for some of the other dams; but concerns about the environmental and political impact of this latest dam have discouraged lenders.
The International Monetary Fund suggested that Ethiopia put the dam on a slow track, arguing that the project will absorb 10% of Ethiopia’s Gross Domestic Product, thus displacing other necessary infrastructure development.
Nevertheless the Ethiopian government insists that it will stick with its schedule and finance the project domestically. It probably will secure more help from China, a loyal ally and the world’s major developer of hydroelectric power.
The Ethiopians argue that the Grand Renaissance Dam could be good for everyone. They contend that storing water in the deep Blue Nile Gorge would reduce evaporation, increasing water flows downstream.
The Ethiopians also argue that the new dam will be a source of hydroelectric power for the entire region and will manage flood control at a critical juncture where the Nile Gorge descends from the Ethiopian highlands to the Sahel, thus reducing risk of flooding and siltation, extending the life of the dams below stream.
Egypt and Sudan are understandably concerned about Ethiopia’s power over Nile waters. What happens while the reservoir behind the Grand Renaissance Dam is filling up, when water flow may be reduced 25 % for three years or more? After the reservoir is filled what will happen when rains fail in the Ethiopian highlands? Who will get the water first?
If the question of Nile waters was sensitive in the centuries before 1900, when Ethiopia and Egypt each had populations of 10 million or less, what will happen over the next twenty years, as their populations each surpass 100 million and the collective population of the Nile River Basin countries reaches 600 million?
The Grand Renaissance Dam poses a question as basic as water itself: Who owns the Nile? When the Grand Renaissance Dam closes its gates on the Blue Nile River, whether it is in 2015 or 2025, the time for a final reckoning will have arrived.
Ethiopia will then have the power to claim its water shares, with the backing of all the upriver states. Egypt and Sudan’s claims to historic water rights will have become merely hypothetical. In the context of a difficult history, violence is a possibility, but good solutions for all can be achieved through diplomacy and leadership.
80 comments
It would be Asinine to decide that Egypt owns the Nile more than the others!
Good point! Egypt never paid a ROYALTY money we Ethiopians deserve for being a source of 80% of the nile fertile soil water. Instead they conspired and supported our enemies making our region so hostile and chaotic, so that we would never have a chance of even thinking about using our God given water.
They mocked us, they laughed at us, and they even threatend us, as if we were unworthy animals, who's exisatance was to serve their needs, while for centuries our people die in draught and Egyptian created conflicts.
That era of Egypt's outsmarting us has ended. That era of Egypt bullying us has ended! Now we are in a different era. A new era, where we dictate our distiny.
Thanks to our visionary and brilliant leader the late great PM Meles Zenawi, we have started to go forward with his brilliant vision. That's a God given leadership which came at the right time we needed it. We will continue our march forward on the path he started!!
Our bloggers from both sides should learn from this brilliantly written article.
History defining project. For this mega project to be carried without many obstacles, not least cost overruns, it needs the full backing of all Ethiopians.The gov't seems committed to seeing it through despite the odds and the possible confrontation with Egypt.
As africans, we should focus on living together by sharing our resources. The options for war too destructive and are no option.
Tell us how? Asking for their legitimate rights is an Egyptian question? Did not the protestors say "Abaye yegedebal?"
Please stay on topic. Do not try to mix religion with hydro-politics. No one will benefit from this deadly mix.
The current Ethiopian Muslims question is that of Ethiopian Muslims only. It is about freedom of choice, freedom of religion and about basic human right, all enshrined in the constitution. If you have not figured out this yet, you must be one clueless person.
May reason and reality outshine human stupidity!!!
"Why it is being built at the distance of an artillery range of the Sudan’s army?".
Thanks man. I would say this is one of the best questions ever asked since the dam news started surfacing or released.
It was niggling me ever since I read it is only 25 km away from Sudan's borer, but I failed to ask on any discussion forum.
This is another "Grand plan" woyane has in its store for Ethiopia and the Ethiopian people. Think about it. "Yalteretere temenetere", goes the old adage.
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stop the gimmic...the polite way to protest or oppose some thing is to question it..why is it that, why not here, why not there... bla bla bla....
All I asked is fully transparency which can be achieved with peanut of what is spent on the dam and also the official website of RD. If that is too much to ask, you can tell me to shut up and I will
"In 3000 B.C.E., when the first Egyptian dynasty unified the lower and upper parts of the Nile River, there were no states in Eastern or Central Africa to challenge Egypt’s access to Nile waters."
This stupid idiot writes "there were no states in Eastern or Central Africa to challenge Egypt's access to Nile Waters". It is like saying there were no states in the Midwest to challenge the use of the Mississippi by the southern states. The damn river is too big to be noticed of its being used whither upstream or downstream. Can you imagine in 3000 BC in Egypt, there probably are 300 thousand Egyptians and they probably use 1% of the Nile and upstream countries like Ethiopia are going to worry about that? How in the fu@k are they supposed to know what they do in Egypt at that time, do you think they will read about it in New York Times or the internet? Very Dumb Dumb statement.
I don't think he was implying these countries were week to challenge Egypt, I think he is implying there were no States (countries) or governments at that time in East and Central Africa. If that is his implying then this Dumb Idiot don't know the history of Ethiopia who ruled the African, Middle East, all the way to India before Egypt and the Faros even existed, which is more than 6000 years ago. This is what some Dumb White journalist who is clueless about African history trying to write about Africa. He reads an article about Africa and he thinks he is an expert.
For your understanding, the writer claimed that Christian empire of Ethiopia was unhappy with Muslim Egypt but were happy when they worked with Coptic Egypt during 300-700 B.C.. The writer also regarded as Ahmed Gragn worked for Egyptians which is a gross error. In the fifteenth century Turkey and Portugese were rivals and hence were competing on Ethiopia. So Ahmed Gragn was supported by Muslim Superpower Turkey while Christian Libene Dengel sought help from the Portugese. He was not an invader. Stop this lie. He was competing with Christian empires.
We Ethiopian Muslims will not support the use of Abbay Dam for torturing Muslims as Nuclear power.
The Nile is for all of us.
The location of the dam is selected, first, because it is a natural gorge, therefore it is cheaper. Second, It is at that location that the water amount is the highest, because all the tributaries of Nile are included. Third, it is very sparsely populated, therefore you don't have the problem of relocation. I hope you see why the dam is not built in Addis.
As to any possible attack from Sudan or Egypt: "Hilm teferto saytigna ayitaderim, yibalal". we should hope for the best, but be prepared for the worst. As long as the dam is within our territory, it's location is irrelevant, because any attack by Sudan or Egypt would be a declaration of an open war on a sovereign nation. Besides, it would be suicidal especially for Sudan to attack such a 67 billion cubic meter dam. Khartum regularly suffers from flooding, when it rains heavily in Ethiopian highlands.
I hope Sudan and Egypt see that this is a win-win situation, and that they cannot dictate our life any more. We Ethiopians should stand together on this. I have bought bonds, because this is my duty as an Ethiopian, And I am ready to do more.
I think that is valid reason to ask why the Dam is built near Sudan Borded where by the way the Muslims live in Benshangul area. Also in Abbay the original inhabitants near Bahir Dar were the Muslim Weytos. The ownership of Abbay is not clear. Thus to claim the Egyptians are using religion is very preposterous idea. Because Muslims can reclaim it too.
The point is we need to live in peace. By building the dam near controversial border, it will be another legal battle to make it legal. Thus Wayane may be sending the message that we all share the water.
"..In the nineteenth century Egypt and Ethiopia fought over control of the Red Sea and upper Nile Basin. The climax came in 1876 at the Battle of Gura in present day Eritrea where the Ethiopians delivered a humiliating defeat to the Egyptian army.."
**Once again, proving how the Euros divided up Africa.. in many instances creating hate between the same people.
"..Egypt was colonized by England in 1882. Ethiopia defeated the Italians at the Battle of Adwa in 1896 becoming the only African country to retain its independence during the “scramble for Africa.” But colonization created many new states in the Nile Basin (Eritrea, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, and Tanganika) and set off new competition for resources and territory.."
The damage done to Africans by these Euro thugs still continues. It is a very nice article but... i found it preposterous the author had to ask who owns the Nile. Is that some kind of a joke? The Nile and the rain water that falls in it, if in Ethiopia, belongs to Ethiopia. The water that flows in that particular nation belong's to...the nation that it flows through. They have no right to own the source as it is a sovereign nation. What ever flows through Sudan is Sudanese, whatever reaches Egypt... so on. But we take no pleasure in denying life to the Egyptian as they are denying us? I mean look at what they have done to Ethiopia just because of water that belongs to us to begin with, they are using our own people, Eritreans, against us. Well, we know who our enemy is.. it is Shabia and Woyane who are responsible for giving Egypt the upper hand.
Now, we just need to come together and understand we all can use this to every body's benefit. Scare tactics do not work. They bomb this dam, we bomb theirs. No more BS. The Nile source belongs to Ethiopia and we have every right to use it.. more so than Egypt and Sudan combined. But we shall always be willing to negotiate as it is life..
It is normal to be paranoid for a shabia dog about Ethiopia.
Can bashing Ethiopian Government online compensate for the humiliating defeat of Badam?
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
NILE: A Poem by Tsegaye Gebre-Medhin
I am the first Earth Mother of all fertility
I am the Source I am the Nile I am the African I am the beginning
O Arabia, how could you so conveniently have forgotten
While your breath still hangs upon the threads of my springs
O Egypt, you prodigal daughter born from my first love
I am your Queen of the endless fresh waters
Who rested my head upon the arms of Narmer Ka Menes
When we joined in one our Upper and Lower Lands to create you
bosom of my being
How could you so conveniently count down
In miserable billions of petty cubic yards
The eternal drops of my life giving Nile to you
Beginning long before the earth fell from the eye ball of heaven,
O Nile, that gush out from my breath of life
Upon the throats of the billions of the Earth's thirsty multitudes,
O World, how could you so conveniently have forgotten
That I, your first fountain, I your ever Ethiopia
I your first life still survive for you?
I rise like the sun from the deepest core of the globe
I am the conqueror of scorching pestilences
I am the Ethiopia that "stretch her hands in supplication to
God"
I am the mother of the tallest traveler on the longest journey on Earth
My name is Africa I am the mother of the Nile.
O Nile, my prodigal daughter on the wilderness of the desert
Bringing God's harmony to all brothers and sisters
And calming down their noises of brass in their endless nakednesses
O Nile, you are music that restore the rhythm of existence
Into the awkward stampeding of these Middle Eastern blindnesses
You are the irrigator that cultivate peace
From my Ethiopian sacred mountains of the sun
Across to nod on the East of Aden and across Sinai
Beyond Gibraltar into the heights of Mount Moriah
O Nile, my chosen sacrifice for universal peace offering
Upon whose gift the heritages of Meroe and Egypt
Still survive for the benefit of our lone World
You are the proud daughter O Nile, who taught
The ancient world how to walk in upright grace
You are my prodigal daughter who saved and breast fed
Little lost Jacob whose brothers sold for food
You, who nurtured, fed and raised
The child prophet called Moses on your cradle,
You, who stretched out your helping hand and protected
The baby Christ from the slaughtering swords of their Herods,
O Nile, my infinite prodigal daughter
At whose feet mountains like Alexander bent
Their unbendable heads to drink from your life giving milk,
O Nile, at whose feet giants like Caesar Knelt
Conquerors like Napoleon bowed
Their unbowable heads to partake from your immortal bounty.
O Nile, you are the majestic blood line of my African glory
That shower my blessings upon the starved of the world
You are the eloquence that ring the Ethiopian bell across the deaf world You
are the gifted dancer of graceful rhythms
That harmonize with your sisters Atbara and Shabale
With your brothers Awash and Juba
To fertilize the scorched sands of Arabia
O Nile, without your gift Mediterranea shall be a rock of dead waters
And Sahara shall be a basket of skeletons
You are Africa's black soil that produce life
You are the milk that quench the thirsty multitudes
You are the messenger of my gospel, O Nile
That bring my abundant harvest to the mouth of the needy
You are the elegant pilgrim of my mercy.
You are the first fountain you are the first ever Ethiopia
You are the appeaser of the lustful greeds
You are the first Earth Mother of all fertility
Rising like the sun from the deepest core of the globe
You are the conqueror of the scorching pestilence
You are the source you the Africa you are the Ethiopia you are the Nile.
" NILE RIVER - A SIGN
Reading the Bible is like reading tomorrow's newspaper today. The news is rapidly catching up with the Bible. As we approach the return of Jesus Christ, we will see more and more events on our evening news that are a fulfillment of Biblical prophecy. The Bible clearly predicts that at the same time Jesus would come at His Second Coming, the mighty river Nile would dry up. Prophecies, like this one, made 2,700 years ago are coming to pass before our very eyes.
Time Magazine reports that the water level in the reservoir above Aswan, known as Lake Nasser will have dropped 82 ft. (equivalent to an eight story building) by mid-summer of 1988 slashing power output by 55%. The Nile River has been irrigating the deserts of Egypt since the dawn of history. Is there any reason for Egyptian farmers to believe that it will not do so forever? Yet, these statistics are real trouble for Egypt. Almost all of Egypt's population lives on the three or four percent of Egypt's desert that is watered by the Nile. The amount of usable water is now 20% of what it was ten years ago.
Time Magazine (March 28, 1988, p 79) reports, "Living virtually without rain in a country that is 97% desert, Egyptians depend upon the world's longest river for irrigation, electric power, drinking water, and transportation. Now, after a decade of drought that has left parts of central Africa on the brink of starvation, the Nile is running perilously low. For the first time since the Aswan High Dam was finished in 1970, serious shortages of hydroelectric power threaten Egypt."
Time Magazine (March 28, 1988, p 79) also reports, "irrigation water that once flooded more than 250,000 acres of rice fields, or 25% of Egypt's production, has been cut off." Time also states that if the water level dips much lower, Aswan's powerful electric turbines must be shut down. Eighty percent of the Nile's water originates in the Ethiopian high lands. If the prolonged drought, now in its seventh year, continues much longer, Egypt could be seriously affected.
Isaiah, the prophet, writing under God's direction 2,700 years ago tells of these events as though it were written today. "And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river (Nile) shall be wasted and dried up (Isaiah 19:5)." "And they shall turn the rivers far away; and the brooks of defense shall be emptied and dried up: the reeds and flags shall wither (Isaiah 19:6)."
Ethiopia and Kenya far away are going to turn the rivers that feed the Nile in order to keep all the water they can for themselves, thus compounding the problems of Egypt. The Nile is 4,150 miles long so as you can see "turning the rivers far away" takes on real significance.
Fishing and agriculture will take great losses as described by Isaiah. "The paper reads by the brooks, by the mouth of the brooks, and everything sown by the brooks, shall wither, be driven away, and be no more." "The fishers also shall mourn, and all they that cast angle into the brooks shall lament, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish. Moreover they that work in fine flax, and they that weave networks, shall be confounded. And they shall be broken in the purposes thereof, all that make sluices and ponds for fish. (Isaiah 19:7-10)."
How do we know what Isaiah is talking about now? The answer is that Isaiah Chapter 19 is completely and entirely about the return of Jesus Christ at His Second Coming. Isaiah 19:1 talks of "His presence" which is without a doubt the return of Christ. "The burden of Egypt. Behold the Lord rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it."
The Bible speaks of the "Day of the Lord". The "Day of the Lord" is a reference to a 1,000-year period of "peace on earth, good will toward men". Technically, it refers just to the 1,000-year millennial reign of Christ. But when examining the many passages where it occurs, it is clear that the Day of the Lord includes all of the events of the seven year tribulation period that precede the 1,000 years in addition to the 1,000-year rule of Christ.
The phrase that day or the day or the great day occurs more than seventy five times in the Old Testament. It is equivalent to the day of the Lord. This phrase occurs six times in Isaiah 19, vs 16,18,19,21,23, and 24. In the context this phrase is referring to the day in Isaiah 19:1 when the Lord rides into Egypt on a swift cloud--the Second Coming.
Notice Zechariah 10:10,11. "I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt and gather them out of Assyria; and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon; and place shall not be found for them. And He (Christ) shall pass through the sea with affliction, and smite the waves in the sea, and all the deeps of the river (Nile) shall dry up: and the pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the sceptre of Egypt shall depart away."
Notice Isaiah 11:15. "And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river (Nile) and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dryshod." These verses are talking about the Second Coming.
"And the Egyptians will I give over into the land of a cruel lord (Antichrist); and a fierce king (Antichrist) shall rule over them, saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts (Isaiah 19:4)." According to Daniel 11:42,43 the Antichrist will rule over Egypt for the last three and one half years of the tribulation as well as ruling over the Western nations. That is the bad news for Egypt, but the good news is "for they shall cry unto the Lord because of the oppressors, and he shall send them a saviour, and a great one, and he shall deliver them (Isaiah 19:20)." Many Egyptians will come to know Jesus Christ as their Saviour during the tribulation period.
We believers will be raptured out (I Thessalonians 4:13-18) seven years before the Second Coming. The Nile River drying up is a Second Coming sign. This is something that will be fulfilled in the tribulation after the rapture. Since we can see it happening now, we must conclude that we are very close to the rapture.
Since Israel became a nation in 1948 a whole multitude of things have been happening to point to the Lord's coming. "And when these things begin to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh (Luke 21:28)."
the location is perfect not only in terms of technicality, but also strategy...destrying a dam with a content of twice Tana, would cause more harm to kartum and cairo than any town or city in Benishangul Ethiopia...secondly Sudan also damns just a few killo meters down the Renuasance dam meaning, they can not risk losing it to Ethiopian air-force that is closly watching the area...My friend, If there is one thing Meles Zeanawi has to admired for, it is this project and many others...I loathed the guy throughout his political life specially when he acted more Eritrean than the Eritreans, but his brave move towards the Nile issue changed it all for me..I now see him as a man of action who put a stop to century old dirty Egyptian game...but that is not to say Egyptians will ever change their old tactics of sponsoring all sorts of anti-Ethiopian elements, it just means they will not have an easy ride as they had until recently...Eritrea being independent means they can not make a dent on Ethiopia without destroying themselves, the same with Somalia and and even North Sudan...so basically there is little Egypt can do to stop the unstoppable...
Origins
A Publication of Ohio State University
vol. 6, issue 6 - March 2013
----
You can change from the start how this article is intended for something negative and bad rather that the truth and fact. We are tired of hearing and being told by a white man in the 21-century he/she never been there but reading trash written by his people for their advantage.
They are so eager and doing every Satanic act trying to create conflicts between nations that would be the benefit they are looking with hope to survive from the worst ever economic, political and moral crisis they are suffering.
Today is February in 2013. The article is written in March 2013. How come?
In order to talk about themselves in order to improve their situation, they are satanically thinking and doing bad things about others this way they could get some benefit. In their world, someone has to lose or suffer in order to they benefit from.
Only in 2013, USA gave Egypt 20 F-16 and
200 Thanks with 1.3 billion Military aid every year for 33 years. Is that to benefit Egypt? No. To cheat them thinking they have power and start to wage war against other nation. During any war, all sides will lose. This time at the end Egypt will lose the worst. This is what they are looking from Egypt. The good news is that Ethiopia and Egypt are not boarder nations. If they start to bomb any project, they will get the worst polluting Nile water and this way they will finish with their own mass suicide act.
However, the 21-century generation knows especially the Anglo-American conspiracy against the world. Therefore, no one will go even quarrel let alone to fight. Instead they will work together closer than before. Because this is the best way to benefit. Other that this will be the enemy plan and work to hurt both.
However, we Ethiopians have still many reasons to trust and work with USA but not the little snake-England. They are the one started playing their dirty games around the Nile the day they started to colonize Egypt in the 1880s and signing a fake document in 1929 to cheat Egypt that worked for en=gland till 1959, they forced to leave Egypt and Suez they taught belongs to them forever. .
One thing is clear;
This man is teaching himself about Ethiopia from Ethiopians blogs that everyone can write what he/she wants beyond the truth and facts and from those misleading the world with biased and blackmailing statics to damage the national image countries like England and Institutions like World Bank and IMF.
It is known and trash. He need to do other useful things rather than copy and paste from comments on Ethiopian blo
It is perplexed for we failed to disentangle ignorance from selfishness. Others fled out from one’s own homeland, felt emotional isolation over a get out of a chance to survive, others were lost for once and all. I feel difficulty to express when I read, heard but rarely saw it. Such individuals and by large political parties (e.g. G-7, OLF, ONLF etc) would recall the aggression that was placed on them and, moreover, was confiscated. These despised parties and individuals work against GEO to give back a rancorous treatments.
Peasants and other people who may not yet get any infliction or brought it are leading their own life and live for their own family. They hope tomorrow is better than yesterday to barely afford living costs.
GEO seem now set up towards developments, and may have a rueful feeling of the past pains. The marked death has gone, but the emotions are none trifling especially for people who lost friends, family and relatives. So the taught is there but the action was whatsoever happened.
I ask GEO, individuals and parties to reunite by extending a generous forgiveness for betterment of an economically poor people. GEO may be expected to give back some properties which belong to others. GEO may also be expected to release political parties and other innocents, to give warrantee of no further prosecution and to waive any judgements against political parties.
The political parties are also expected to contribute in the development of the country (e.g. Dam, Oil etc) and, if they wish, they can also return back to their homeland and lead their life.
Three Questions:
1) Is GEO willing to make reconciliation with all political parties?
2) Are Political parties willing to agree with the GEO willingness?
3) After all, is that really a difficult task to both of you: GOE and political parties to bring a real development rather than to create an endless allegation?
If you people don’t make for yourself and for yours, if you don’t create a simple negotiation, you will simply waste your time, resources and energy, and further, will defame to each others, and will contribute none positive things for the poor.
"Who Owns the Nile? Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia’s History-Changing Dam?"
This is an old meaningless question coming always from the west-England and USA?
Who owns the rivers, lakes, companies and the land itself IN USA or elsewhere?
Who owns the Saudi oil and gas? Who owns the Suez Canal, Nile, Oil, Gas or anything in Egypt?
Who owns the Nile and other rivers within the Ethiopia territory? The Answer is clear. That is Ethiopia.
Ethiopia is saying nobody what to do with anything in his country including oil and Gas. That means no one has the right and ability to say Ethiopia what to do or mot to do about anything she has within her territory including her water wealth.
So, why is making so many Noise from nothing. You better go to hell rather than coming between Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan using the Nile as a reason wishing to create conflicts between them and hurt them. That will never happen in today's world.
The power is already in balance. Remember: the 9/11 terrorists leader was an Egyptian. The 9/11 attack planner who was second in command and right now the leader of al-Qaida is an Egyptian who was a member of Muslim brotherhood and jailed for 20 years for the death of Sadat. His brother is right now a fanatic wahabi in Egypt doing anything he wants. He is getting lots of respect and supporters everyday because of his brother is the leader of Al-Qaida. He even warning USA publicly to release a blind shake who tried blow the twin tours in 1994.
Yet, USA and the morally corrupt west Europe are supporting the Muslims brother hood. However, that would be not the long benefit to Egypt but in the short term to affect other nations in the region including Ethiopia. Because what they hate in Africa particularly in green Africa is Development which is flourishing thanks to the new emerged Economy and the Africans commitment to work with them and they will never stop it how hard they try using different tactics mainly conflict between nations and with in a nation which is their centuries old tactic that affected Africa for long while benefiting them.
But thanks to Egypt's involvement- delivering the leaders of al-Qaida and terrorists, the west economy, moral and future is crushed to death since 9/11. Yet, they are still calling them our friends, allies and neighbors as EU delegation told to Egypt when they visited Cairo last month and promised them to grant 5 billion Euros. But no matter what they do to Egypt or any puppet Middle East leaders, at the end the truth will win and they will lose further as reward for the wrong conduct they are doing. Instead of being neutral or assisting the green Africans, they are still with the desert people thinking they could use them to affect the green Africa. This must be the reason why they are supporting Muslim Brother Hood and giving all sorts of supports including the most sophisticated weapons for free despite the vast majority Egyptians are at war with the Muslim hood.
That is why USA (Hussein Obama) is arming Egypt with excess giving the most advanced weapons for free and doing every support they are asking for.
But, at the end, this will hurt Egypt worse and longer than to any nation in the region. Weapon cannot fight but the people. We have seen it in time after time the last 12 years in Iraq, Afghanistan and so on where the most advanced nations became unable to defeat even Taliban but leaving the places with defeated mission.
Therefore:
Ethiopia owns the Nile that is in her territory. Egypt and Sudan are also doing the same thing in each of territory. As no one asks them to give oil and Gas from their territory for free, they also have no right to ask Ethiopia or any nation to give them any right with the Nile water in their territory.
Who says water has to be free while oil and Gas must sell with high price despite they are dangerous to environment and health? Do they know Egypt is selling Tap and bottle water to her own citizens from the Nile water they are getting for free from Ethiopia? We are not so weak and ignorant anymore. We are the faire and justice people. So we know how to protect and keep our justice by any means.
Stop referring wiki leaks including using a story almost 4 years ago in 2010.
Back them South Sudan that was used the biggest weapon and the right for the topic about the Nile by North Sudan, Egypt and other is now a free nation.
Mubarak (puppet) is disgracefully gone along side those part of him and caused so many problem in the region especially against Ethiopia.
The last two years Egypt economy is not only doesn't grow but shrinking and their foreign reserve in a very dangerous level unable to cover a two month import.
Tourism is gone. And worst than that the current political climate will continue inflame all over the county where Egypt's future as a nation is becoming a big question without answer.
So, there are many dramatic changes in Egypt and the region since 2010, and the article is just a garbage one.
I will say this:
1. The equitable use of Nie water by all countries borderinf the Nile is the only solution.
2. Use of miliary power is a non starter. As the Great Leader once said,"the only way to stop Ethiopians from using their water is to occupy Ethiopia. Many tried to do that in the past,but they never lived to see the victory they wished." Another leader said, "No country on the planet can stop us from using our water."
One person commneted "the Dam is in the artillery range of Sudanese artillery"
but know that the Sudanese artillery is also in the range of Ethiopian tank and artillery. The Sudanese are wiser than he/she thinks to resort foolishly to guns.
You said, "After i read this article i find that because of Abay we have been sacrifing a lot and we will for the future too. I think each ethiopian have a moral obligation to make this dam real."
My friend, please don't be short sighted and don't see or think only horizontally, think vertically also.
Yes, we need more people with moral obligation for our freedom to live as a free men or women.
For me FREEDOM, DEMOCRAY, EQUALITY AND FRATERNITY are more than this Dam.
Sir,if you are a moralist, give my freedom first and then we can talk about the Dam later. The Dam cost only money but freedom cost a lot of sacrifice and money.
Are you ready to sacrifice a bit for my [our]freedom before the Dam???
If you are not ready for my freedom, please Stop your moral obligation
for money!!!!!
at the end egypt wins, but not this time!.
Eri/are is made in Egypt
Tplf is an intety with no vision, serving for Eri/are.
Eri/are wants to distroy the whole name of Ethiopia from the map.
NO PEACE NO WAR FOR EVER, LET THEM SWALLOW THEIR SHAME OF INDEPENDENCE
The writer is a poor historian. Ethiopia, Israel and Egypt were created as nations around at the same time. The pre-Aksumite Era could about 5000 BC. Which way we go the Nile belongs to Ethiopia from ancient times. But we cannot use it onlly for us. We have to share it with the other countries.
Camel Nasser was an idiot. He cannot take control of the Nile Waters by declaring war on Ethiopia. The Egyptian arabs are idiots. They should have understood long time ago they cannot claim of the Nile waters for their exclusive use.The best option fpor Egypt and Sudan is to co-operate with Ethiopia. Any sabotage on Ethiopia's Dams will lead to the occupation of Sudan and destruction of Egypt. In general we do not need to go to war because of the water. There is enough water for all riparian countries.
Buy the bond after liberation.
Do u understand very simple logic?
U can't produce hydro power by daming the water..The only time u produce hydro when u released the water... Once the water did the job it is free to go to Egypt...so what is stopping the Nile business...Nile dam is just like a bank u deposit ur money... Just because u deposit ur money u don't lose ur money... U can get all ur money with interest any time u need it( in this case year round water flow that is regulated much better then seasonal flooding and seasonal drought
I know you are logical person, but to produce hydro power when others object it is somewhat remote. If Nile was near Awash it would benefit us because we are making the desert green. But when we are in Benshagul area, how can we produce more with irrigation unless may be during the summer time. Mainly that will be vegetable production. I am not sure we can grow wheat all year round. May be rice only. Are we exporting rice or consuming it? I really do not know.
The problem with the Dam building even with hydropower building is that it will hold about 66 billion cubic liter of water the amount Egypt needs. Thus, Egypt will starve for the next three years because all the water goes to filling the Dam, as Egypt needs that equal amount every year.
Moreover, the Dam may not fill up during less rainy seasons as in the 1980's. Egypt as we know almost starved until the 1990's when full rain came back. So, Nile is precarious river and not reliable one. This causes anxiety over Egypt and Sudan too.
As to Magdala scaring Sudan to wage War, who are you to say this while you live in the comfort of Europe? War is not a picnic. Plus, war will destroy the Dam not protect it. If Egypt points a missile at the Dam as a shield to protect its interest we lose all the bargaining chips we have. For me the best way is to economically integrate Ethiopian and Egypt and Sudan. Like Mexico and Canada and USA are trying to do with NAFTA. The more we post our belingerent posture the more dangerous things will be.
"Part of Ethiopia’s challenge is that 85 percent of the workforce is in agricultural commodities that bring low profits. Ethiopia is already leasing land in its southern regions to Saudi Arabia, India, and China for large irrigated water projects—despite severe land shortage in its northern regions—because it does not have the funds to develop this land on its own.
If Ethiopia cannot use its elevation and seasonal rains for hydro-electric power and irrigation, what is it to do?"
I support u ur fight for Muslim... But it doesn't interest me.. I know TPLF are not fare with Muslim Ethiopia but I believe they are much better then the Amhara or even the Muslim themselves... Case in point the Eritrea people suffer in the hand of Eritrea so what is the grantee that the Muslim leader will not do what TPLF do... Again I am not interested with fight...but my stand is Muslim Ethiopian get more with TPLF then any other leader... So to this end all Muslim must support the Nile dam.
"Buy the bond after liberation"
Where did I heard this before education after liberation if u go by this EPRP slogan u would have waited almost 40 years and still counting because EPRP are not in power..
Again TPLF doesn't take the dam with them when they lose power... Beside it is self interest to buy bond... Because the bond is paid back to u with interest...
If u had said why not allow the government allow us to buy share instead of bond... That would be great because once the dam finished ur $500 dollar investment might worth million birr... This like buying share in oil company... Our water is our oil...don't make mistake about it... All machernery that we need for our industrized power come from our hydro.
Even to produce food u need a lot of hydro all the food u produced can be converted to finished goods...instead of exporting mango fruit, we can export mango juice ( that industry run by cheap hydro) instead of exporting raw rice to India we can process the rice to finsed goods... Indians use rice for many kind of their foods item...
I can go on and on the benifted of hydro even for irrigation we need pump instead of gas we can use hydro..
Now let me try to answer ur question... Egypt worried about the volume of water they are getting... They should worried about top soil instead of water because only water alone will not feed their farm industry they need Ethiopian top soil... If they keep at it Ethiopia will trun to desert sooner or later because of uncontrol top soil erosion instead they should manage their land properly and allow Ethiopia insuntive to take care of our resources or their own sack...
Again I am not expert but u can creat more water by plainting more tree in Ethiopia and complateing water cycle the more we plant and protect our resources the more water everyone get but .. If u say no dam... Who have the insentive and drive to plant tree? Who is going to pay or this only based on enovernment based people will not plant tree if they can't use the tree for fire wood because since no dam means no power so the Ethiopia people need tree to cook their food... If 80 million people cutting fire wood soon no water flow to Egypt because Ethiopia soon trun to desert... But if we have hdryo who is going to cut tree for fire when u can get clean energy...
U might be smart and u might asking me how about tree to build their house... Again if we have cheap power we can open cement factor and we can stop wood to build our house..this much I can say.. This dam is lose to my heart... I don't even mind losing my money investing in this dream
I can not deny Meles invited some Muslims to some power at least to advising level. But he also was very cunning to make sure Muslims do not progress in many respects.
I want to show you that Wayanes control all the Muslim resources, have no body to question them and are being treated with arms welcome. Yet, Wayane or TPLF did a terrible mistake he sold them out for million dollar deal with Israel in changing the lifestyle of Muslims to be Ah Bash. He has no authority to convert someone into something else. Let us say you are asked to convert from Orthodox to Pente? That is what Meles did. This angered Muslims. Just because they said no he jailed and tortured them. I am not trying to preach you but just right now two Gondar University students were jailed and 700 University students from Bahirdar left because they were forced not to pray even inside their dormitory. Ayalew Gobeze, an Agaw, from Amhara region leader told them you can go to hell.
Today and yesterday, bethel area and Burayu in Addis Ababa are being searched by force illegally in the dark by masked men of the federal police.
Now, this is just the tip of the ice berg, people are dying like the kids in Harar a Christian, and then in South Wollo 3 Muslims, and in Assasa, Arsi, 1 76 years old guy and women. So many Muslims were raped. One in Gondar by a government official who refused to turn in himself but the girl went on to check for rape at the hospital but then he tried to use his connections to stop it. The guy was a lecturer who was assigned to tutor her but he found himself enticed. He invited her after hours to his office in disguise of tutoring.
The list goes on. 283 people died in 1997. Are we betraying those innocent people who died in the name of Abbay Dam? Have those people forgiven us? Will they?
My fear is not building the Dam or the Wayane people will take the money. They have enough money, but the problem is the longer they stay the more people will die. In fact, Wayane is so obsessed with power it will not go unless there is so much blood shed. My point is Wayane is not honest power and he should go. So, although it hurts our future developments, we need to pay a price for liberation. Unfortunately that is better than siting with Wayane. I am worried about the human life and the waste of mind that is happening in Ethiopia. I can go on and on. the discriminatory policy of Wayane in education will greatly affect our economy by promoting mediocrity. Language barrier is increasing. Job hiring through connection is rampant. My cousin who scored top in information technology was denied job at Ethiopian Airlines. EAL is very corrupt institution. And so on and on. Wayane is really hurting our progress in economy let alone in democracy. By any measure we are the bottom. Compared to Ghana we are least democratic. So, the comparison you make is totally not productive. Our Ethiopian's problem is we compare our progress not with our neighbors but with our past. That will make us underperform.
At any rate, we need a functioning system before we proceed to development. Destruction is a necessary evil. Wayanes bombed the Hawzen people at saturday market to gain sympathy, and I remember in my village the Wayanes used to come and loot the Kebele sugar and salt. That was anti development. That was people's money. They even forced the people including my father t help them with carrying the salt bags to their hideouts at even their old age. Well, we can not say Wayane was not anti development. Meles left schoold while he could have gone to Medical school, I heard. The same goes to many struggles. so, to put EHAPA in that destructive vision is wrong. I believe EHAPA is principled but they sided with Jebha which brought their demise. Plus EHAPA never fought a good war and were mostly inhabited by fragile "keteme" awdeldayes who were not strong enough to toughen it out. Moreover, EHAPA did not quite do well on siding with farmers. They were insensitive to their culture.
We are at war with Wayane. so, as long as civilians are not hurt we need to do damage in a controlled way to those things that help Wayane. Even French and British people damaged the infrastructure of Libya in fighting Ghadafi. Sometimes it is excessive for their own advantage but overall it was this that helped them coerce Ghadafi.
As to a Muslim who can abuse the Muslims that is very true. I am not necessarily against Christian leader as long as he is fair. But he should not view Muslims as the enemy and not tamper with their religion.
About ur Muslim leader one of the guy making million making Muslim cd and DVD... The Muslim leader having it good I don't know why someone throw every thing like that he could have teacher many million with his cd.
About coerce Ghadafi, I will support u because Ghadafi doesn't even allow a political space... The Muslim have it good try to pray in past regime in AAU or try to build mosque with donation money...the Muslim have it much even better before there revoultion if u do rembeber the TPLF Muslim leader jailed because he was appointed by TPLF etc etc I don't see any better life changing thing happend just because the Muslim removed TPLF agant... In fact under the "TPLF agent" the Muslim getting a lot of donation and a lot of Muslim school build under the TPLF agent time yes all the money is under his name I don't care.... As long as Ethiopian get the job and we get donation left and right as soon as the donation stop most of the school that he open I heared closed so even begging the TPLF are out smart every one it is there day job it is better left for them... Again I am not interested with this relgion business... I am not relgion person .... All I know is I belived in freedom of relgion the Muslim have all God given right to worship their god.... But they have no right to deny other new comer relgion even Al habash have the same right as their relgion as long as Al habash used force... U said it use force hence it is not right
Africa ?is int easy to build an aqueduct to feed our self and sell the surplus to the world / food is the only thing u cant live with out it electricity most Africans they don't have it they don't care about it.read about Californian how they become no 1 world food supply and change that desert into green fertile valley. what is this thing about weyanee and the dam. i don't understand why they love building dams . instead build the outdated farm system .with plenty
of our water and well equipped farmers we can change the image of that country once and for all. unless they are trying to benefit them self with the sale of electricity . for sure EEC belong to
weyanees no doubt about that
My friend Mesfin,
Do not be naive and unsophisticated.
You said, "But don't forget this only the Territory and the people stay forever but not the government. This is the golden time to have a dam over Abay."
With WOYANNE [TPLF] government, Ethiopia and The Ethiopian people will not servive for ever! That is my opinion and that is the way i see this so called evil government.
Look man TPLF is in power for the last 21 years, but they did not change their party as an Ethiopian party. They still act as a liberation front not as a government. Do you know why this party survive as a liberation front to liberate who and which country?
The Ethiopian people- the stake holders of this dam - need to be consulted first.
All the money collected for so far need to be accounted for.
Has anyone seen any information on how much money collected so far? Or how much of that used and what specific project of the dam?
This is a very huge dam and will have ramifications for the generations to come. This is not a surprise office birthday party. We don’t come out and say “surprise we are going to build a huge multibillion dam!" "And now it is time to collect money"
Even office surprise parties have some discussion among the contributors beforehand.
If we are building a dam for Ethiopians we have to have a buy in from every Ethiopian from all walks of life including opposition.
What is his interest telling us who the owners are ? Just to see the attitude of the Ethiopians, to see if we all united on the ground. The truth we all hate Woyane devils and want them out but, we love our nation given on defending for our sovereign country. he probably write something else to the Egyptians on the other hand. He put the Egypt the Sudan and Eritrea on one team and Ethiopia and the upper stream nations Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda on the other team, so he can watch a game of war begins.
Remember the Iran and Iraq war both supported by the west, while selling arms for both, they also slow down their economy and population growth as what exactly war does to any nation.
And they even turn around and betray who ever found to be the weakest link like old Mubarak or the dog Sadam who got hanged. And want to go to war with Iran who recently dropped one of U.S sophisticated drone right on there land defending on there boundary.
Now the Woyanes got little basic toy drone and are pumping their chest thinking tough enough, some history tells us that it was those Sudan's backed by Egyptians who cut the head of the tigre leader Yohannes.
What's coming next is a very dangerous cycle of war between those teams and internally all the neglected issues inside Ethiopia from religion freedom issue to democracy and freedom of speech, freeing our journalist and other justice including illegal land acquisitions from Gonder province, fair economic distribution, balanced military without tigre domination, changing the constitution eliminating article 39 and drafting all new constitution inclusive to all not internally divisive that gives comfort to tigres only.
The dam just like any other corporation or institution will be manipulated by Woyane hoddams on the expense of all Ethiopians.
you are defending here the interest of Egypt and muslims in general. I have bought the bonds because my main interest is the advancement of my beloved country Ethiopia.
I don't normally take part in stupid religious rants with people like you. But it is difficult to ignore when you claim it is "unethiopian" to buy the bonds, but all your arguments are purely "egyptian". This makes me even more determined to do More.
One more thing you should know: I am born and raised in Addis and I have enjoyed the advantages of electricity all my life. I deeply desire to see all Ethiopian kids have the same opportunity I have had, and that is why I am ready to contribute to these projects. This government has materialized Tana-Beles, Gilgel-Gibe I and II, Tekeze, solar and wind energy plants etc, against all odds. I am very confident that the GRD will be reality soon. As a true man who loves action, I may regret the things I haven't done, but never the things i have done.
For you the holiest thing may be to pray 5 times facing mecca. For me the holiest thing is to be part of the Grand Ethiopian renaissance. Now you have some thing to rant about.
Note:- Ethiopia should stop exporting electricity and give it away for free instead... If u don't understand this master business model... I don't blame u .... I am one gifted business minded person... It is God gift to me...without education I can see it how business work... So take it easy on urself if u don't understand my business model.
by the way who gives a fuk for ahbash or what ever it is, why do they have to link that with the dam and what does the dam has to do with their religion...
Even TPLF doesn't love Muslim... So why ask them to love u... But there is one advantage working with any of the government they left the economy power for anyone to take it.... They don't even value the power of economy power... Look al Almoudi he doesn't have political power but he have economical power he can change the history of Ethiopia they way he want it... He can do many or even much better thing then the politician. Unlike politician Al Amoudi doesn't kick out of office so he can rule his empire without facing revolution...
So my friend .Gragn Ahmed, as Muslim u should fight to control the economy power...up to now the Muslim control most of the economy but they can do much better if the stop and interfering with politics.... When I say this don't get me wrong I am not shouting the Muslim out of politics I am only telling u how u can control the politics once u control the economy power..it is just left for taking.
Let me tell u in king Haile time....the rich control every thing when Mengistiu come he say he equalized every one but the rich stay rich and the poor stay poor in fact the poor suffer a lot during Mengistiu time.... Meles time the rich still they are rich so government might change but if u r rich u stay rich..
Just because Obama elected it doesn't mean all black get rich. Just because South Africa run by black leader it doesn't mean the black get rich the white still rich in South Africa because they control the economy even so they lost the power...
I hope u understand me and stop looking love from TPLF or Ginbot 7/11
You nailed it. But Muslims are not naive these days. You also forgot education. You also forgot being a soldier. We will not stop until in every aspect we become a part even in sport. We can do it.
In fact, Wayane should stop immediately all those who are in prison and stop serving those haters of Wayane like Werner who are waiting for the time to wake up.
Some people think I prefer Egypt over Ethiopia. That is not true. An Algerian is a Muslims but they fight over soccer in Egypt. But when it comes to religion they are one. Orthodox people are the same when it comes to religion I believe. That is not a problem to me to put Allah before any thing else like any other believer. The Abbay issues is not a religious issue. Benshangul is a Muslim area where the Dam will be. So are you saying the Benshagul will prefer to give it to Egyptians? No. Turkeys and Syria both fight over the river and yet they are Muslims. Somalis fight over tribalism. So, being a Muslims practically never stopped us from not fighting. I am sure Christians are also fighting but their Book will not approve that. So, in theory Muslims should not fight according to Quraan even over soccer or over Dam. If we all follow the Books the world would have been at peace. So, those who still think that Egypt is siding with Muslims that is not true. Neither we side with any other. Resources will be divided according the Book of Allah. No fight needed theoretically.
I belive we have to love our MUslims brothers but not more than our country. No muslim country will give us that we can get from our country. You must also remeber that in Egypt there are christians. As muslims if we were able to live in any of the muslim country ony becuse of our religion you are writte but this is not the reality. We love the Muslims in the world more than christians but not more than our country.This can also be reality rather hypothetical. Had it been according to your idea all the Arab county would have respect us (for Muslims) but they are respecting USA,Europe even the shetan Israel. The arabs although our Muslims brothers when you come to respect and benefite they do not consider Africans as their part it is only at the bud time they say our MUslim brothers. So it is better to love our country but if any problem comes wıth respect to our din we have to deal togther without any outsid influnce.
Yes Muslims are mistreated by Arab people, but not all Arabs are like that. Plus, we should know that also Muslims have been marginalized in very sensitive decision making parts of the country. This is a treason on Ethiopia, and those who refuse to budge on our rights but ask us to make decisions on things which they have already made is very irresponsible. I think Muslims can claim this as good reason to declare Egypt or any other country that helps them. I know that we have good relationship with our past colonizer Italy or the would be colonizer. So, why we do not call this a treason??? What I am saying is Muslims are discriminated within their own country so we should not expect others to show us any respect. Muslims of Ethiopia are viewed as helpless, and no respect with only Haileselasie story being told. Every body is frowned upon if he claims he is a Muslim person in the West or even in other countries. We live in the shadows.
Now I have doubt if you are Muslim and an Ethiopian?
1. For we Muslims there is no better govenment than EPRDF so far if ıt not for all
2. If you are concerned about our Din you have to confine yourselve to the Muslim society problem.
3 From your words you are one of the oppositon group who are tryiong to push muslims to conflict and come to power at the expense of at the geniune muslim.
4.How do you mention about death of people of the 1997 with regurd to politics.
5. We Muslims are not fighting with EPRDF. EPRDF has given us relatively full freedom but people like you are pushing our Muslim society to do your homework.
6. We have asked the government to have elction and we have conducted our election based on the rue-les and regulations of our Din allha wokiber.
7. But if you are siding with the enemies of our din and if you are involving in politics do your politics and do not mix up them
8. We are Ethiopian Muslims if we want to go to power we have to compute according to the rules and regulations of the political arena.
9. Alhabsh is not somthing that comes now it is one type of our dines (I do not want to go to the details of the differences) that was there before the EPRDF comes to power. But the man was exciled to Libenen by those peopel who were against our din and now trying the muslim society to push to conflict.
10 Above all you are concerned about Egypt and Sudan because they are Muslim people that is something that I share but you have to think that here in Ethiopia we are also Muslims but you are not concerned about we Muslims living in Ethiopia. So, in my conclusion you are not Muslim and you are not also an Ethiopian.
actually I don'really care about your religion. But I know that things are getting worse globally lately. Radical muslim has become a great problem in our country, and saudi arabia is the main sponser of it. I know enough muslims that tell me that islam is a religion of peace, but the daily news tell us diffrent. It is muslims that declare endless fatwas, install muslim patrols in secular London, and bomb eachother daily. Muslims say that sharia is the perfect universal law that brings justice, fairness, security and wealth for all, but people from sharia countries like Iran, saudi-arabia, afghanistan, irak... tell us a different story. (By the way, just recently 35 Ethiopian christians were deported from Saudi A. for praying in a private home; and today 53 other Ethios are arrested for praying at home.)
I refuse to accept the assumption that muslims are abused or oppressed in Ethiopia. Muslims have been running the economy for very long time; nothing wrong with that. May be they were not proportionally represented in educational or administrative sectors, I assume because that was for them not as profitable as being in private business. That is changing now, it is ok with me.
Stop threatening and whining about imaginative things and stop asking for special treatment because of your religion. And stop turning every topic into religious rant, it is boring. The topic here is Abay and it was you who started cheering for egypt because of your precious religion, of course. Now you whine that nobody loves you... " Jiraf rasu gerfo rasu yichohal"
6. "We have asked the government to have elction and we have conducted our election based on the rue-les and regulations of our Din allha wokiber"
Okay, so you have the elections in Kebele not in Mesjid? That is the funnies thing ever happened? Why election in Kebele? That is so arrogant on the part of EPDRF. I am not going to talk about "Ah Bash versus Wuhabism (according to Ah bash there is Wuhabism but I do not call it a different Islam.). But not going into that and if anybody wants to explain to the world why Muslims are splitted is not ah bash and salafi or other sects is of course pure intervention of the government. Christians have the guns in Ethiopia as everywhere in the world so they tend to dictate our differences. Ah bash was there since Haileselasie until his founder left. A similar version existed in Ethiopia that we call it Sufi like the way we call it here in the USA Nation of Islam more of cultural thing than real practice of Islam. I can not tell you whether this are the real Muslims or not since I am not the expert. But I can tell you that also the so called Salafis who emulate their life after the Prophet (SAW) are as much Muslims. Now, the government is now forcing others to follow the ah bash. He is removing every salafi from Mesjids and closing all Arabic school. I do not know how Ah Bash think they are Muslims when others who say they follow the Prophet are getting kicked our and jailed and tortured as we saw it on the government TV itself.
So, my friend it is better that we do not cooperate with Christians and attack one another. Christians live side by side and we should do the same. If EHADEG loves you, then they have to give you your own Mesjids and leave the Mesjids to the people that originally own it.
The reason I went to this depth in discussing this issue is that external factors contribute to our friction. I totally object the death of civilians. But I also worry that when there is injustice there is always chaos and anger. The Saudi Kings are the problems for Islam. Some people think they force them to change Islam and hence they revolt. Partly is national but mostly it is religious. Given Muslims lack of armaments people resort to violence. EHADEG is doing the same thing. I believe Islam wants to be left alone and most of the problem comes when people ask it to reform like they did to Christianity. Islam is very much connected with people's daily lives and any tampering may have grave consequences.
Werner you understand that Muslims fought of course over many issues. Christians did too. You sound biased in that regard. Other than that like any other religion Islam can give peace to people. The problem we have is lack of a balancing Islamic power that can withstand super powers. Only we have two superpowers and unless there is a third Super power there will be catastrophy. In the middle Muslims are being used. But the movement in Africa is a good sign that Muslims will be active to control their own lives. When Muslim leaders become justice and not punish their own people what ever you see of killing will stop. You can hardly blame the religion when it is actually the victim.
Interference must stop.
Finally, the aim of my response was not religion but Abbay Dam versus Wayane. But Werner actually insulted my religion just because I opposed his view. That is immature.
It is your right to hate but it is not your right to give it to me.
This is reflected abundantly by most responses to the article posted, whether relevant or not.
It is great to see the matter is being debated mostly in a civilized manner. That is what is needed here. It is also equally important we clearly know what we are wishing for.
Let truth be told as is!!
May rationality outlive human stupidity.
Thanks man for your answers. I now see
"why the dam is not built in Addis". May I say I am also impressed by your sarcasm.
Waiting to see less questions than answers.
Let truth be told as is!!!
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A US military delegation arrived in Cairo late Tuesday, according to state news agency MENA.
The 17-member delegation will spend the next several days discussing defense issues, national security and regional developments.
Al-Watan newspaper quoted David Winfield, the US Embassy's media attaché in Cairo, saying the delegation includes former commanders of the US military and does not comprise an "official" visit.
David added that the delegation will meet with the leaders of Egypt's Armed Forces.
I visited saudi-arabia, u r totally worng about saudi-arabia... They don't perictice exterm kind of islim yes they export exterm kind of islm to foolish country such as afghanistan, Somilia and Pakistan etc etc.... There is no bombing and killing in saudi-arabia the people live just like America with all kind of modern techoloy even better then most city of America they live very high stander of life.... Mind u all the make belive Islamic rule is there but much relaxed there are guy people if u know where to look they they r there enjoying there live....yes if u found being gay they will cut ur nack but it is public secret that many gay people live there live peaceful....crime is very law in fact very very law u can feel very safe in saudi-arabia it is just like any other city in America without crime...so don't fool by their BS they don't live it the just export it to ethiopia and funded it so that we kill each other.... I always wonder who sale the Jew oil if the Arab have all the oil?
The whole world consider Saudi Arabia Horror movie producer through their Wahhabism form of Islam in the world.You are the only person raising your index finger supporting these horror.
Please read the following Story where a prominent Cleric suspected his five years old daughter's virginity,because she was fat.To prove it he has to rape her.
A Saudi cleric who raped his five-year-old daughter and tortured her to death has been sentenced to pay "blood money" to the mother after having served a short jail term, activists have said.
Fayhan al-Ghamdi, an Islamic cleric and regular guest on Islamic television networks, confessed to having used cables and a cane to inflict the injuries, activists from the group Women to Drive said in a statement on Saturday.
Lamia was admitted to hospital on December 25, 2011 with multiple injuries, including a crushed skull, broken ribs and left arm, extensive bruising and burns, the activists said.
They said the father had doubted his daughter Lama's virginity and had her checked up by a medic.
She died last October.
Randa al-Kaleeb, a social worker from the hospital where Lama was admitted, said the girl's back was broken and that she had been raped "everywhere", according to the group.
According to the victim's mother, hospital staff told her that her "child's rectum had been torn open and the abuser had attempted to burn it closed."
The activists said that the judge had ruled the prosecution could only seek "blood money and the time the defendant had served in prison since Lama's death suffices as punishment."
Three Saudi activists, including Manal al-Sharif, who in 2011 challenged Saudi laws that prevent women from driving, have raised objections to the ruling.
The ruling is based on Islamic laws that a father cannot be executed for murdering his children, nor can husbands be executed for murdering their wives, activists said.
Courtesy
Source: Al Jazeera: 3 Fab 2013
Turkey has a lot of rivers like African countries.
Turkey's position is that Water in Turkey belongs to Turkey, just as Saudi Arabian oils belongs to Saudi Arabia.(a book page 233 - World Regional Geography)
Therefore if we want to use it or sale it we can do that as Egypt. sales its oil.
You must be benefiting from exploitation of Ethiopians or you must be getting paid very welll by coproations. Are you not reading media all over the world taking over resources of nation's? What the f.. are you talking about. Are you bringing any tangible things how Ethiopia is benefiting or are you running around transfer wealth for the world's rich? Where is your rationality how Ethiopia can benefit by giving away Nile when corporations are forcing countries to take over their institutions?
The way I heard, foreign nations want to take over Ethiopia's Nile by force while seemingly exposing us to fight with Egypt so that they can pull the carpet under the rug. That is what is happeneing.
Take a look at http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/07/23/the-privatization-from-hell/
How privatization not only destroying country's businesses but also people. The so called Weyane/TPLF has been sleeping with these corporations that our Telecom is taken over by French business. Ethiopia is bascially finished. Thanks to TPLF/Weyane and the evil Debresion serving foreing corporations. What is expected from people like him who are slaves of foreigners.
Gragn Ahmed
is an agent working against the interest of Ethiopia under the name Ethiopian Muslim solidarity.
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