By Doaa Hussein
Water Tensions shape this century’s real war between countries, which aim for a larger ratio of existence. These disputes have overshadowed the main stream events in the Nile basin countries over hundreds of years. It is no wonder that conflicts are outraged on the world’s longest river, lengthening 6,853 km. The Nile passes through ten countries in northeastern Africa Egypt, Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Sudan and with varying climates.
Five years ago, Ethiopia announced its intent of building a dam called “The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance”. At 6,000 MW, the dam will be the largest hydroelectric power plant in Africa when completed, threatening-clearly- the downstream countries’ (Egypt and Sudan) shares of the Nile. Since then, tripartite negotiations have been held between the three countries, looking forward to reach a consensus upon this conflict.
In This article you will be taken through a panorama show of 3 remarkable scenes underlining this tension.
1st scene-The Dam is built on a Sudanese land
A recent report of Aswat Masriya, a website launched by Reuters, unveiled that the Ethiopian dam is set up on a land, originally Sudanese, which was granted to Ethiopia because of an old agreement on Nile river shares.
The accord dates back to 1902, when there was a severe competition between France and England on building their empires through occupying African territories. At that time, Egypt was under the British conquest, which exploited an error done by a French company responsible for building railway roads in Ethiopia that encountered a financial crisis, and was unable to complete the project. England pumped investments into that project, in order to force its control over the region.
On the other hand, The French government slipped into another mistake, through aiding the French company by Frank 50m annually, without consulting the Ethiopian king “2nd Menlek”. This golden opportunity allowed the English envoy to Ethiopia “John Harrington” to meddle with the situation through informing the king that France is trying to put its hands on his empire.
As a result, a deal was inked, on May 15 1902, between English and Ethiopian kings, which granted the later a 3,600 km land from Sudan, stipulated by complying to not build any projects or dams over the blue Nile, which guarantees the Egyptian and Sudanese shares of the great river.
According to experts, this piece of land is the same of the great renaissance dam project on the Blue Nile, which provides Egypt with about 85 per cent of its water shares. The site is now called “Benishangul-Gumuz”, located near the Ethiopian-Sudanese borders.
It is noteworthy that Ethiopia is currently renouncing the 1902 accord, claiming that it was not approved by the so-called the “Ethiopian throne council”, however, the Ethiopian government referred to it when it was drawing its borders with Eritrea, which means that it legitimises this treaty.
2nd scene- Wide range negotiations
Once Ethiopia has started building its dam, the successive Egyptian governments have involved in worldwide talks, especially with the countries that support the barrier such as China, Italy, and Norway, in order to back its rights on the Nile flow to its land.
No sooner Had Egypt been invited to trilateral talks with Ethiopia and Sudan on the new project, than Egypt announced the intransigence of the Ethiopian officials, resorting later to diplomatic offensive on the issue with other upper riparian states, including Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which were pointless.
While Egypt is asking for raising its share to 90 per cent of Nile waters, about 50 per cent of the renaissance dam is now completed, amid the 10 amicable talks between Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia, according to Experts.
3rd scene- lessons from world’s water disputes
“The wars of the twenty-first century will be fought over water”, said Ismaiel Serag El- Deen, the director of Alexandria Bibliotheca.
This quote proves true, especially whilst High tensions over water in Asia, the world’s driest continent, which is deemed as their hub.
China boasts nearly half of the world dams on Mekong and Brahmaputra rivers, which fuelled conflicts between neighbourhood countries including India, Bangladesh, and Vietnam.
Meanwhile, Analysts predict that “water wars” could break out between India and China. “Upstream dams, barrages, canals, and irrigation systems can help fashion water into a political weapon that can be wielded overtly in a war, or subtly in peacetime to signal dissatisfaction with a co-riparian state. Even denial of hydrological data in a critically important season can amount to the use of water as a political tool,” says strategic affairs expert Brahma Chellaney, according to The Diplomat Japanese magazine.
Alongside, Laos, a small country in Southeast Asia, has planned also to be the battery of the continent, building dams on Transactional Rivers with Vietnam and Cambodia, however, High regional concerns led to deferring the Laotian hydro-electric power plans
On another hand, Europe witnessed a conflict between Hungary and Czechoslovakia, in which Hungary addressed the international justice jury, claiming the cancellation of an old treaty with the previously mentioned country on Danube River, since it has been divided into Czech, and Slovakia. The jury assured the two countries’ shares of the river, according to The 1997 UN agreement over water usage.
Regarding all the previous experiences, Egypt can boost escalation either through heightening regional concerns over the issue, or by resorting to the International Justice Jury, relying on multiple agreements, firstly the previously mentioned 1902 accord, secondly the 1997 UN agreement, thirdly the 1993 association between Egypt and Ethiopia, which stressed on the Egyptian rights on Nile River, and assured no dangers will be imposed on the downstream country’s water share.
