Ethiopia says set to begin filling disputed dam in 2 weeks

[dBSPL]

PM Office Says Ethiopia Scheduled to Start Filling Dam Within Next 2 Weeks
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Addis Ababa June 27/2020 (ENA)

Ethiopia is scheduled to begin filling the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam within the next two weeks, during which the remaining construction work will continue, according to Office of the Prime Minister.

The statement issued this morning said it is in this period that the three countries have agreed to reach a final agreement on few pending matters.

“Ethiopia is scheduled to begin filling the GERD within the next two weeks, during which the remaining construction work will continue,” said the statement, adding that “it is in this period, that the three countries have agreed to reach a final agreement on few pending matters.”


The Extraordinary Meeting of the Bureau of the African Union Assembly was held virtually yesterday on the ongoing negotiations between Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt with regards to the first filling and annual operation of the GERD.

The meeting was convened by South African President and African Union Chair, Cyril Ramaphosa, with the participation of heads of state of Ethiopia, Sudan, Egypt and members of the Assembly Bureau.

The leaders underscored that the Nile and the GERD are African issues that must be given African solutions. The heads of State of Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt provided a statement on the status of the negotiations and the meeting set directions on the way forward.

Accordingly, the three countries have agreed to conclude the negotiation and try to reach an agreement within the next two weeks.

The meeting also resolved to notify the United Nations Security Council that the African Union seized the matter. It also instructed the African Union and members of the Bureau to provide technical support for the negotiations and urged Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt to cease unnecessary media escalation, the statement said.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on his part wrote on his Facebook: “ I appreciate Chair of the AU, President Cyril Ramaphosa, for his leadership in facilitating these high-level talks of continental significance. Gratitude also to AUC Chairperson Moussa Faki. Our continental organization, with a Pan-African spirit, is the right space to dialogue on issues that are of value to Africa.”

The GERD offers all stakeholders the opportunity for unprecedented economic growth and mutual development, he added.

The Extraordinary Meeting of the Bureau of the African Union Assembly held on Friday was attended by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, President Abdel Fattah al Sisi, Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok, African Union Chairperson Moussa Faki, AU Chairperson and South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa, President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita of Mali, President Uhuru Kenyatta, and President Felix Tshisekedi of DRC.
https://www.ena.et/en/?p=15579

ADDIS ABABA – Ethiopia on Saturday said it is set to begin filling a $4.6 billion hydroelectric dam on the Blue Nile within the next two weeks and that construction will continue, hours after the leaders of Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia agreed late Friday to return to talks aimed at reaching an accord over its operation.

“It is in this period that the three countries have agreed to reach a final agreement on few pending matters,” a statement from the Ethiopian prime minister’s office said.

Egypt and Sudan had said Ethiopia would refrain from filling the dam next month until the countries reached a deal.

Early Saturday, Seleshi Bekele, Ethiopia’s water and energy minister, confirmed that the countries had decided during an African Union summit to restart stalled negotiations and finalize an agreement over the contentious mega-project within two to three weeks, with support from the AU.

That announcement was a modest reprieve from weeks of bellicose rhetoric and escalating tensions over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, Africa’s largest, which Ethiopia had vowed to start filling at the start of the rainy season in July.

Ethiopia has hinged its development ambitions on the colossal dam, describing it as a crucial lifeline to bring millions out of poverty.

Egypt, which relies on the Nile for more than 90% of its water supplies and already faces high water stress, fears a devastating impact on its booming population of 100 million. Sudan, which also depends on the Nile for water, has played a key role in bringing the two sides together after the collapse of U.S.-mediated talks in February.

https://www.news4jax.com/news/world...set-to-begin-filling-disputed-dam-in-2-weeks/

 

[Yongpeng Sun-Tastaufen]

Dams are really bad for ecology. I understand Ethiopia can't afford solar power but considering Ethiopia has so much sunshine solar power is a better choice for making electricity than a dam.

 

[dBSPL]

Ethiopia PM says unrest will not derail filling of Nile dam

AFP•July 7, 2020

Ethiopia sees the mega-dam as essential to its development, while Egypt and Sudan worry it will restrict access to vital Nile waters
Ethiopia sees the mega-dam as essential to its development, while Egypt and Sudan worry it will restrict access to vital Nile waters (AFP Photo/EDUARDO SOTERAS)


Addis Ababa (AFP) - Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said Tuesday that recent domestic unrest would not derail his plan to start filling a mega-dam on the Blue Nile River this month, despite objections from downstream neighbours Egypt and Sudan.

Violence broke out last week in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa and the surrounding Oromia region following the shooting death of Hachalu Hundessa, a popular singer from the Oromo ethnic group, Ethiopia's largest.

More than 160 people died in inter-ethnic killings and in clashes between protesters and security forces, according to the latest official toll provided over the weekend.

Abiy said last week that Hachalu's killing and the violence that ensued were part of a plot to sow unrest in Ethiopia, without identifying who he thought was involved.

On Tuesday he went a step further, saying it was specifically intended to throw Ethiopia's plans for the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam off course.

"The desire of the breaking news is to make the Ethiopian government take its eye off the dam," Abiy said during a question-and-answer session with lawmakers, without giving evidence to support the claim.

Ethiopia sees the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam as essential to its electrification and development, while Egypt and Sudan worry it will restrict access to vital Nile waters.

Addis Ababa has long intended to begin filling the dam's reservoir this month -- in the middle of its rainy season -- while Cairo and Khartoum are pushing for the three countries to first reach an agreement on how it will be operated.

Talks between the three nations resumed last week.

Ethiopian officials have not publicised the exact day they intend to start filling the dam.

But Abiy on Tuesday reiterated Ethiopia's position that the filling process is an essential element of the dam's construction.

"If Ethiopia doesn't fill the dam, it means Ethiopia has agreed to demolish the dam," he said.

"On other points we can reach an agreement slowly over time, but for the filling of the dam we can reach and sign an agreement this year."

-Ethiopia 'not Syria, Libya'-

Abiy, last year's Nobel Peace Prize winner, also criticised politicians who he suggested were trying to profit from Hachalu's killing to undermine his government.

"You can't become a government by destroying a government by destroying the country, by sowing ethnic and religious chaos," he said.

"If Ethiopia becomes Syria, if Ethiopia becomes Libya, the loss is for everybody."

A number of high-profile opposition politicians have been arrested in Ethiopia in the wake of Hachalu's killing.

Some of them, including former media mogul Jawar Mohammed, have accused Abiy, the country's first Oromo prime minister, of failing to sufficiently champion Oromo interests after years of anti-government protests swept him to power in 2018.

Abiy defended his Oromo credentials on Tuesday. "All my life I've struggled for the Oromo people," he said.

"The Oromo people are free now. What we need now is development."
https://news.yahoo.com/ethiopia-pm-says-unrest-not-derail-filling-nile-134910714.html?

 

[Faheka]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1281279518729101312

 

[-------]

Dam is filling up

 

[The SC]

Water gathered in front of the dam (since its construction is almost complete in 2018) is a natural phenomenon that occurs annually in the season of increased rain and flooding (such as these days)

The filling of the dam is not determined by satellite images of the breadth of the river in front of the dam .. but by the amount of water passing from behind the dam that has not been retained (and which has not yet been reduced)

This accumulated water is temporary and is drained naturally after the end of the rainy season, as happened in 2018 and 2019

 

[Baba_Yaga]

Good for them, no way Egypt can lay claim to the entire nile river just because British idiots gave them 80% of Nile's water in a treaty signed in 1929. Nile flows through entire Africa, Egypt needs to sit down and talk with the other countries to find a way to share this water. Sure, for now Egypt is much stronger, so they might be able to destroy this dam, but if they do that, Eithopia and other countries will just build another one in a few years and arm themselves to the teeth.

 

[Faheka]