Limited demonstration erupts outside Ethiopian embassy in Cairo as activists protest perceived infringement on Egypt's traditional share of Nile water
Dozens of Egyptian protesters gathered outside the Ethiopian embassy in Cairo on Friday to protest Addis Ababa's decision earlier this week to temporarily divert the course of the Blue Nile as part of a project to build a series of dams on the river
Protesters held banners aloft reading, "We reject attempts to take our Nile Water." Others chanted: "We are the source of the Nile Basin."
"After Ethiopia's surprising decision, bilateral relations have now been put to the test," according to a statement by the 'Copts without Borders' group, one of the protests' main organisers.
The statement added: "Any agreement between President Mohamed Morsi's government and its Ethiopian counterpart will not be recognised, since Morsi has lost all legitimacy before the Egyptian people."
The statement went on to call on Egyptians to take part in a planned anti-Mors rally on 30 June to call for snap presidential elections.
Other participants at Friday's protest included members of the 'Lawyers Union for the Nile Basin' and the 'Egyptians against Injustice' movement.
Within the context of a plan to build a series of new dams for electricity production, Ethiopia on Tuesday began diverting the course of the Blue Nile, one of the Nile River’s two main tributaries. Most Nile water that reaches Egypt and Sudan originates from the Blue Nile.
Ethiopia's 'Renaissance Dam' project – one of four planned hydro-electric power projects – has been a source of concern for the Egyptian government, amid ongoing sensitivities regarding the project's possible effects on Egypt's traditional share of Nile water.
According to the state-run National Planning Institute, Egypt will need an additional 21 billion cubic metres of water per year by 2050 – on top of its current quota of 55 billion metres – to meet the needs of a projected population of some 150 million.
*Egyptian ambassador argues diversion ofBlue Nilefor Ethiopian dam is ‘not a recent decision’ but anonymous foreign ministrysourcedescribes ‘shock and surprise’
Sudan’s ambassador to Egypt, Kamal Hassan, stated on Tuesday that Egypt and Sudan may call for intervention by the Arab League in response to the diversion of the Blue Nile on Tuesday at the construction site of a new Ethiopian dam project.
"There are continuous calls between the Egyptian and the Sudanese authorities to look into Ethiopia's sudden and shocking decision," Hassan told Turkish news agency Anadolu. He added that the tripartite committee looking into the dam project, which includes members from Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia, is still in place and negotiations will remain ongoing. A report is expected from the committee in the next few days.
An anonymous source within Egypt's foreign ministry told Al-Ahram’s Arabic news website on Tuesday that Egypt is “shocked and surprised” by the step taken by Ethiopia. The source further stressed that Egypt's irrigation minister would need to account for the details of recent negotiations on the issue, especially as the incident has taken place only a day after President Mohamed Morsi's visit to Ethiopia for an African Union summit.
However, Egypt's ambassador to Ethiopia, Mohamed Idris, stated that the decision to divert the Blue Nile was neither a recent decision nor a surprise. He further clarified that Egypt would continue to receive its full quota of 55 billion cubic metres of Nile water regardless of the work on the dam.
Ethiopia on announced on Monday it would begin on Tuesday to divert the course of the Blue Nile, one of the Nile River’s two major tributaries, as part of its project to build a new dam.
The majority of the Nile water that reaches Egypt and Sudan orginates in the Blue Nile.The Renaissance Dam has been a source of concern for the Egyptian government, amid sensitivities about any effect on the volume of water that will reach Egypt if the project is completed.
The dam is one of four hydro-electric power projects planned to be constructed in Ethiopia.
Egypt will need an additional 21 billion cubic metres of water per year by 2050, on top of its current quota of 55 billion metres, to meet the water needs of a projected population of 150 million people, according to Egypt's National Planning Institute.
Meles
Zenawi net worth: Meles Zenawi Asres was the former Prime Minister of
Ethiopia who presided over the country from 1995 to his death in
2012. He was also the President of Ethiopia from 1991 to 1995. He was
one of the most recent literate and forward thinking leaders of
Africa. Zenawi had an MBA from the United Kingdom, and a Masters of
science in economics from Netherlands. His net worth currently stands
at $3 Billion.
He
joined the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) as a member in
1975. Eventually, he was elected as the chairperson of TPLF and
EPRDF. Lead by him and other leaders, TPLF was able to assume power
in the country in 1991 as the civil war came to an end. Upon becoming
the Prime Minister, he introduced a multi-party political system and
allowed private press in the country. He agreed to work with the
United States against groups and organizations such as Al Qaeda
operating out of the country.
He
was awarded the Rwanda’ National Liberation Medal and also the
“World Peace Prize” for his contributions to global peace. Zenawi
also received the “Yara” prize for carrying out a green
revolution in the country. Some other awards he had received included
the Africa Political Leadership Award in 2008, and the Good
Governance award.
He
married Azev Mesfin, who is currently a member of the Ethiopian
Parliament. Meles Zenawi died at the age of 57 years on the 20th of
August, 2012. He died from an infection after having an operation due
to a brain tumor.
Bogaletch Gebre (Ethiopia), Winner of the 2012-2013 King Baudouin African Development Prize,
‘for her inspirational leadership and her determination to build on a remarkable personal journey to empower the women of Ethiopia and establish a true community-based movement for social change’. ***
When women's rights campaigner Bogaletch Gebre was told by doctors after a car accident in 1987 that she would never walk again, not only did she prove them wrong, she later ran six marathons. Such tenacity is one of Gebre‟s trademarks. Since growing up in rural Ethiopia, she has overcome tremendous adversity to become the founder of Kembatti Mentti Gezzimma (KMG) Ethiopia, a nonprofit organization that envisages a society where women are free from all forms of discrimination and violence and able to attain justice and equality for themselves, their families and their communities.
Bogaletch (Boge) Gebre was born in the 1950s in Kembatta, a region where female genital mutilation was endemic, bridal abductions widespread and reproductive health services virtually non- existent. Gebre refused to accept a fate of remaining illiterate and dreamed of learning the alphabet. On the pretext of collecting water, she started making illicit „hide and seek‟ trips to the church school. She eventually received a government scholarship to attend the only boarding school for girls in Addis Ababa, went on to study in Israel, and later at the University of Massachusetts in the United States on a Fulbright scholarship. By the time she was working on a PhD in epidemiology in Los Angeles, her country was struck by famine, poverty and political turmoil. These events drove Gebre to devote herself fully to helping the people of her native Ethiopia. She knew that back home, girls were still being failed by society. Girls were now allowed to go to school, but because their education was not a priority for their families, they were made to do chores and often failed their examinations. As a result,women existed in a kind of limbo: their “disobedience” sullied them in the eyes of men who refused to marry them, but they had no way of progressing and establishing a career.
Engasjement: Det var høyt engasjement under mandagens debatt om Etipia, både i panelet og blant publikum.
Både utviklingsminister Holmås og Høyres Peter Gitmark viste stort engasjement i debatten på Litteraturhuset mandag.
Utviklingsmandag: Lokalene var fylt til randen. Det er mye engasjement i det etiopiske miljøet i Norge. Flere av tilhørerne holdt opp plakater med krav om at den norske regjeringen blir tøffere i forholdet til Etiopiske myndigheter. Det var også veldig mange som ønsket å stille spørsmål direkte til ministeren og til Høyres Peter Gitmark som varsler endringer i norsk Etiopia-politikk om hans parti kommer til makten etter høstens valg.
Kritisk til regimet
Noe som har blitt debattert i det siste og som også var sentralt under mandagens debatt er hvordan Norge burde forholde seg til etiopiske myndigheter.
Både Heikki Holmås og Peter Gitmark uttalte seg kritisk til det etiopiske regimets åpenbare menneskerettighetsbrudd.
- Jeg vil se en tøffere linje fra norske myndigheter. Det går i feil retning i Etiopia, ved valget i 2005 ble kun én representant fra opposisjonen valgt inn. Etiopias donorer har nedprioritert menneskerettigheter, sa Peter Gitmark.
Høyre har tidligere varsla at de ønsker å kutte i bistanden til Etiopia. Under gårsdagens debatt utdypet Gitmark tidligere uttalelser og sa at det først og fremst er støtten til offentlige velferdsgoder og støtten til energi Høyre vil kutte.
- Støtte som går gjennom den etiopiske stat blir brukt som symbol på at omverden støtter det etiopiske regimet, sa han.
Også energiutbygging har denne effekten ifølge Gitmark.
- Når du får tilgang på energi får du automatisk sympati for regjeringen. I 2005 ble det installert en rekke solcellepaneler. I ettertid ble denne forbedringen bruk om og om igjen som et bevis på at omverden støtter det etiopiske regimet. Og det ble truet med at støtten ville forsvinne dersom det etiopiske regimet ikke fikk beholde makten.
- Høyre vil støtte den etiopiske befolkningen og ikke regimet. Vi vil lære av diasporaen og ha med diasporaen i kontakten med regimet, fortsatte han.
- Det var en god oppklaring. Det har tidligere hørtes ut som om Høyre vil kutte all støtte til Etiopia svarte Holmås.
Også han var tydelig på at det er noen klare dilemmaer når man gir bistand til Etiopia.
- Vi ønsker ikke å støtte regimet, men å trekke seg helt ut vil ramme mange.
Hvilke rettigheter?
Holmås pekte på balansen mellom politiske og økonomiske rettigheter. Å prioritere politiske rettigheter høyest er ikke alltid riktig. Dersom Norge og andre bistandsaktører kutter støtten til Etiopia kan det hindre oppfyllelsen av for eksempel retten til mat var hans budskap.
Det var tydelig at den etiopiske disporaen satte pris på å få møte representanter for både den sittende og en mulig fremtidig regjering. Og debattiveren var gjensidig. To timer etter at debatten offisielt var ferdig satt utviklingsminister Heikki Holmås fortsatt å diskuterte med etiopisk diaspora.
Stemmen fra Etiopia
I panelet satt også Dr. Million Belay, Direktør for Movement for Ecological Learning and Community Action (MELCA). MELCA er en av Utviklingsfondets partnerorganisasajoner i Etiopia og driver miljøsensitive utviklingsprosjekter i landet. Belay hadde også noen oppfordringer til de norske politikerne.
- Jeg tror ikke sanksjoner vil virke. Spørsmålet om man skal gi bistand til Etiopia burde ikke kobles med andre spørsmål.
Han hadde også noen tanker om prioriteringer i bistanden.
- Jeg vil råde norske politikere til å satse på utvikling av elektrisitet.
