Nile basin will reap benefits from GERD – Abiy
The Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Dr Abiy Ahmed Ali, has said the Grand Ethiopia Renaissance Dam (GERD) would save the Nile Basin countries from various development hurdles including devastating floods and drought.
Dr Abiy stated that the Nile basin region received 85 per cent of its water from the Ethiopian highlands, which would be regulated by GERD both during the rainy season and during the dry spell, improving livelihoods through agriculture and electricity.
“Ethiopia’s intention in constructing the GERD is to enable the regulation function so that electricity generation from the infrastructure is uniform throughout the year. This means, as a hydropower dam, the GERD does not consume water. Rather, the water continues to flow downstream uninterrupted. The benefits for downstream countries are often untold, ” he noted.
He added: “A large quantity of the flow (about 90%) occurs within four months of the rainy season, and during the rest of the year the mighty Abbay trickles like a small river. The dam is needed to regulate this variable flow by reducing flooding and augmenting dry flow.”
He stated that the dam would shield Sudan from floods and water shortages through regulated flow and that Egypt would benefit through water conservation instead of wastage through floods and spillage over the Aswan Dam.
“Globally and in the Nile region, the GERD as a clean renewable energy source would help to reduce emissions that could avoid up to 10.6 million tons of greenhouse gases if it were produced from fuel, coal, or gas plants,” Dr Abiy stated.
“Hence, development of the GERD plays an important role in meeting and increasing renewable energy generation share towards sustainable development goal 7 and better water management of goal 6 of the SDGs, as well as meeting many targets of Africa’s Agenda 2063.”
He said it would provide affordable solar and wind energy in the Nile region, as well as other major developmental benefits.
“The Grand Ethiopia Renaissance Dam (GERD) is a good example that is demonstrative of the principle of cooperation. The dam has been constructed through the earnest contribution of all the citizens of Ethiopia and holds multiple benefits for the two downstream countries, such as Sudan and Egypt, as well as the East African region at large,” he said.
He appealed to the leadership of Sudan and Egypt to cooperate with Ethiopia in support of GERD for the benefit of the Nile region.
“While perceived negative factors have been made more visible in the GERD discourse, the positive attributes rather outweigh the opposing rhetoric and downplay the potential for cooperation to mitigate negative factors if such factors exist.”
“It is time for our three countries, Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan, to nurture the narrative towards building peace, cooperation, mutual co-existence, and development of all our people without harming one another. The Nile in general and the GERD project, in particular, are opportune for such a higher purpose.”
Tensions over GERD
Tensions among Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia have existed since Ethiopia commenced the construction of the Grand Ethiopia Renaissance Dam (GERD) in 2011.
Despite efforts by Ethiopia to convince the two countries of the benefits of the dam, each country has been standing their ground, weighing negative impacts higher than benefits.
According to a Brookings report titled “The Controversy Over the Grand Ethiopia Renaissance Dam,” efforts by the US to threaten Ethiopia with withholding development aid if the dispute is not resolved have not yielded results, as the latter continues with the project.
Egypt argues that the 1959 agreement between Egypt and Sudan, which gave Nile waters to Egypt and Sudan, should be used to allocate Nile waters, but Ethiopia and other upstream riparian states overlook this.
The riparian states are the sources of Nile waters and, therefore, would not entertain water that originates from them being a waste in Sudan and Egypt but should rather control it.
Egypt originally disrupted the construction of the dam over fears that Ethiopia could end up controlling their water and affect their livelihoods. However, it defies logic to say whether Ethiopia would unquestionably release enough water to Sudan and Egypt.
Sudan, which had first been taken by storm to refute the construction of the dam, has so far turned spectator as it viewed it, would reap considerable developmental benefits from the dam.
Several talks headed by South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa on the commission of the African Union have not yielded a viable solution so far. However, there is no agreement on ways of mitigating drought after the completion of the dam.
The countries agreed that “when the flow of Nile water to the dam falls below 35-40 b.c.m per year, that would constitute a drought.”
Egypt and Sudan argue that in such circumstances, Ethiopia should be releasing water from the dam’s reservoir to address issues of drought, meaning flexibility from Ethiopia would be the best approach.
It is therefore viewed that there must be cooperation among the eleven (11) riparian countries to settle on the most appropriate approach to this. The riparian countries, in this case, include; Tanzania, Uganda, DRC, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Eritrea, South Sudan, Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia.
