Page 5 - AsianOil Week 29 2020

AfrElec COMMENTARY AfrElec

to use more of the water from the Blue Nile to that Washington favours Egypt.
help its people. A report this week in Foreign Policy maga-
The GERD hydropower plant (HPP), which zine claims that the US government is consid-
began construction in 2011, will have a final ering withholding some aid from Ethiopia if a
capacity of 6,475 MW, which will be used by breakthrough in the talks is not reached.
domestic and industrial customers, as well as The US emerged as a broker in 2019 after a
being exported to neighbouring countries. request from Egypt’s El-Sisi to intervene in the
The GERD is being built 15 km from Ethio- talks.
pia’s border with Sudan. Egypt and Sudan have also taken the matter
Downstream in Egypt and Sudan, govern- to the UN Security Council.
ments are worried about lower water flows and US involvement, together with the African
their consequent negative affect on agriculture Union, shows that the disagreement over the
and the wider economy. dam is making waves far beyond the waters of
Egypt had previously accused Ethiopia of the River Nile.
deliberately filling the dam ahead of any agree- With Ethiopia insisting that it has the right to
ment between the three countries. Addis Ababa move forward with construction unilaterally and
had said that it wanted to begin filling the dam without any formal agreement with Egypt and
in mid-July. Sudan, it is difficult to see what headway can be
Ethiopia denied any deliberate action on its made in the current talks.
part, claiming that natural rainfall in the mid- Egypt and Sudan are anxious to have binding
dle of the month had led to the water rising to commitments to water supplies, while Ethiopia
a level that will allow the power plant to begin is less keen to put any limits on its exploitation of
generation. the Blue Nile at GERD.
Indeed, the US-based think-tank The Atlan-
Political differences tic Council has noted that Ethiopia has been
The dam is a major political flashpoint in developing the GERD without engaging down-
North Africa, despite African Union efforts to stream countries in planning issues. It also said
broker an agreement, as competition for fresh- that Egypt and Sudan have not had access to full,
water resources heats up in North Africa. independent evaluation of the GERD through
Both water and hydroelectricity is needed by Environmental and Social Impact Assessments
Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia to drive economic (ESIAs).
development and met the demands of expand- Both sides have so far clung steadfastly to
ing populations. their positions, leading to repeated breakdowns
The US has become involved, but talks in in the talks.
Washington broke down in early March before This does not give much hope for this week’s
the COVID-19 lockdown. renewed efforts, but any resumption in commu-
Indeed, the US involvement has caused con- nisation creates some hope for differences to be
cern in Addis Ababa, as Ethiopia has claimed settled.™

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