A major reason the GERD is so controversial today is that it has not been subjected to thorough safety and impact studies, which could pose a grave threat to downriver nations. It could be a treaty or merely a political declaration as the name implies. The countrys 2003 development plan introduced many more, and the Ethiopian government launched an ambitious PR campaign to encourage donor nations and international funding agencies to support these projects financially and ideologically as the highway to Ethiopian development and prosperity. On March 4, 1909, the Copyright Act of 1909 became law, making infringement of a copyright a federal crime for the first time. It simultaneously expects that this role will change Ethiopias international status from a country perceived as poor and dependent on foreign aid to a regional power able to provide vital resources to its surrounding region. Perhaps the most significant project in the 2003 plan was the Chemoga-Yeda Hydroelectric Project, a series of five small dams on Blue Nile tributaries and two dams on the Genale River with a couple more envisioned for a later phase. However, the Convention took almost twenty years to enter into force (from 1997 to 2014) due to the lack of necessary ratifications by states. The dispute has prompted numerous international interventions, including by Gulf Arab states, which have issued political statements and led mediation efforts. per year, that would constitute a drought and, according to Egypt and Sudan, Ethiopia would have to release some of the water in the dams reservoir to deal with the drought. The Danger of Multi-Party Democracy and Free Elections in Plural Societies Recognizing the Muslim Brotherhood as a Legitimate Player in Egyptian Politics was a Big Mistake Ethiopian Partnering with ASKY to Establish West African Cargo Hub Ethiopia and China's ZTE singed $800 million mobile deal H and M to build factories in Ethiopia The toll on the local communities affected by the dams has been enormous. What Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia must overcome to all benefit from the Grand Renaissance Dam. First came the 1999 Cooperative Framework Agreement (CFA). The Washington Quarterly, 37(2), 25-37. Egypt relies on the river for as much as 90 percent of its freshwater and sees the new dam as an existential . By Ambassador Gurjit Singh*. Egypt and Ethiopia have once again locked horns over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the Blue Nile. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 56(4), 687-702. On March 4, 1834, the town of York in the British colony of Canada was incorporated as the City of Toronto. to hydrate farmland), it would effectively be taken from downstream states like Egypt. More alarmingly, Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak allegedly even considered bombing the Dam. Faced with the anachronistic Nile Waters Treaties on the one hand and the absence of a suitable replacement on the other, discussions about the Dam have fallen into something of a stalemate. Thus, it is only through cooperation that Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan, and the other riparians can peacefully resolve conflicts over the Nile and achieve the type of water use that will contribute significantly to regional economic and human development. 17th round of GERD tripartite talks hits wall in Cairo. the study highlights the importance of weighing up the advantages and disadvantages of counter-hegemonic tactics in general, and of large dam projects in particular, and . Another impressive snippet of information is that the Government of Ethiopia is financing the entire project, along with loans mainly from China. There are suggestions that Egyptian officials in the World Bank managed to precipitate a policy that funds would only be awarded for non-contentious water projects, thus precluding funding for the Dam. Elliot Winter is a lecturer (assistant professor) in international law at Newcastle University in the United Kingdom. In March 2015, a 'Declaration of Principles' was signed by the leaders of Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia, setting the foundations for an initial cooperation (Salman, 2017). But controversy has surrounded the project ever since it was announced in 2011 especially concerning its . Since then, there has been a constant stream of complaints regarding the social and environmental impacts on downriver areas, including large displacements of local populations. The above-mentioned Gilgel Gibe III Dam stood out as the worlds most controversial dam until the GERD. Across Ethiopia, poor farmers and rich business executives alike . Churning waters: Strategic shifts in the Nile basin. Already, the United States has threatened to withhold development aid to Ethiopia if the conflict is not resolved and an agreement reached. The former was initially funded by the World Bank and the European Investment Bank, but these later withdrew for legal and other reasons. Kandeel, A. Learn. (2020). Ethiopia, one of the poorest countries in Africa, has the second largest population in the continent. Further, it means that this figure should be used to assess the impact of the Dam on the Egyptian economy for the purposes of calculating compensation resulting from loss of flow. If it were to take place during a sequence of years in which the Blue Nile flow and the AHD reservoir itself was low, Egypt might not be able to withdraw sufficient water supplies to meet all of its agricultural needs. Already, on June 19, 2020, Egyptian authorities called upon the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to intervene after tripartite talks had failed to secure an agreement on the filling schedule for the GERD. Still, Egypt may be playing with fire if it were to press the legal significance of the DoP. Similarly, in 2018, the UNSC noted the water security risks in African nations such as Somalia, Sudan and Mali. Over the years, Egypt has used its extensive diplomatic connections and the colonial-era 1929 and 1959 agreements to successfully prevent the construction of any major infrastructure projects on the tributaries of the Nile. Although the case has been dropped, the organisations work focused international attention on the dams potential detrimental impacts on the lakes habitat. Lastly, over-year storage facilities upstream in Ethiopia will allow Sudan to increase its water use. In that light, Egypt should minimize trips to Washington, D.C., New York, and Brussels, and instead use its diplomatic resources to improve its relations with the other riparian states. As mentioned above, Ethiopias dam-construction strategy is intimately linked with large-scale foreign investment in the agrarian sector and specifically in areas near the artificial reservoirs created by the dams. Despite the fact that newly independent Sudan in the late 1950s was literally forced by a dominant Egypt into a highly asymmetrical water-sharing arrangement, Sudan has rarely challenged this arrangement. It provides clear benefits to all three riparian, such as flood control, reduced flood damages and sediment control. Addis Ababa expects to sell no less than 4,000 Megawatts (MW) of electricity to its regional partners in the coming decade. The instrument was a success in terms of cooling tensions between the states which seemed increasingly likely to come to blows. Ethiopia is pinning its hopes of economic development and power generation on the dam. It states in Principle III that the parties shall take all appropriate measures to prevent the causing of significant harm. But the project has caused concern. In contrast, if water from the Dam were to be used for irrigation purposes by Ethiopia (i.e. Ethiopia is pinning its hopes of economic development and power generation on the Blue Nile dam, which Egypt fears will imperil its water supply. Typically, treaties contain provisions on the identification and function of the depositary, entry into force, adoption and so on (Article 24(4) Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT)). Although talks chaired by President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa on behalf of the African Union have resolved many issues associated with the filling of the GERDs reservoir, there is still no agreement on the role that the dam will play in mitigating droughts. It's free to sign up and bid on jobs. In my opinion, this should be negotiable, to fill the lake over a longer period, and only when the river is sufficiently full. The 1902 Treaty did not preclude Ethiopia from undertaking works that might reduce, but not arrest, the flow of waters. This includes Sudan, another downstream nation that one might assume would oppose its construction. The piece (i) gives a brief history of the Dam; (ii) outlines the role of the Watercourses Convention; (iii) explains the significance of the Nile Waters Treaties; (iv) sets out the main legal arguments for Egypt and (v) provides the main legal arguments for Ethiopia. This is hardly a revelation, as this strategy has long been foremost in the minds of the ruling elites in Addis Ababa and supported by the international powers. Ethiopia needs regional customers for its hydropower to ensure the economic feasibility of the GERD. Egypt's 100 million people rely on the Nile for 90% of the country's water needs. Hence, it is hard to see how Egypt could make a compelling argument that it has been harmed by the Dam. The Nile riparians must understand that the river is a common resource whose effective management must be approached from a basin-wide perspective. In addition, no independent, multilateral Environmental and Social Impact Assessments has been carried out suggesting that Ethiopia is reneging from the 2015 Declaration of Principles (Kandeel, 2020). It merely provides at Article III that Ethiopia undertakes not to construct any work across the Blue Nile, Lake Tsana, or the Sobat which would arrest the flow of their waters into the Nile. In other words, Ethiopia only agreed that it would not completely stop the flow of tributaries into the Nile. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. Filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) along the Blue Nile River is well under way near the Ethiopia-Sudan border. In terms of putative new law, namely the Watercourses Convention and the DoP, the key principles of equitable utilisation and no significant harm seem to leave ample room to accommodate the construction of a dam for hydroelectric generation purposes. The Eastern Nile Basin comprises Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia. Nile Basins GERD dispute creates risks for Egypt, Sudan, and beyond. It will take between eight and ten years to fill the new dam. Afraid that a drought might appear during the filling period, Egypt wants the filling to take place over a much longer period. Stratfor Worldview. Before discussing the benefits, the article will brief the general technical overview of the GERDP. Article 5 requires that watercourse states utilise an international watercourse in an equitable and reasonable manner and creates the duty to cooperate in the protection and development of the watercourse. This has now changed due to political consolidation over the past two decades and the advent of alternative sources of external finance (to the traditional multilateral development banks), not least from China (Gebreluel, 2014;IDS, 2013). khadsyy Plus. Ethiopias dam-construction strategy threatens not only Kenyas water-resource development efforts but also Somalias water security, as is evidenced by Ethiopias development plans for the Jubba and Shebelle Rivers. Sima Aldardari. Many historical grievances and distrust remain on the Ethiopian side regarding Egypt (Gebreluel, 2014), with some Ethiopian journalists assessing the 'Declaration of Principles' as being more in favour of Egypt than Ethiopia (Zegabi East Africa News, 2015). Helping Egypts cause, during the preparation of the VCSS, the International Law Commission stated that treaties concerning water rights or navigation on rivers are commonly regarded as candidates for inclusion in the category of territorial treaties. However, it must be noted that this would represent a generous interpretation of the territorial treaty exception. But this did not rule out eruptions of tension, not just between local communities and the central government, but also between Ethiopia and its neighbours. Egypts Nile Water Policy under Sisi: Security Interests Promote Rapprochement with Ethiopia. Also, the Sudanese Foreign Ministry later held the Egyptian side accountable for failure of these negotiations. Ethiopia announced in April 2011 that it intends to build four large dams on the Nile, including one of the largest in the world, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (formerly known as Project X or the Grand Millennium Dam).This huge dam will flood 1,680 square kilometers of forest in northwest Ethiopia, near the Sudan border, and create a reservoir that is nearly twice as large as Lake Tana . The most important of these treaties is the 1997 UN Convention on the Law of Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses (the Watercourses Convention).
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