By: Fistum Getachew
A lot has been said and written about the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, GERD, not only in Ethiopia but also in many other countries for the last 14 significant and eventful years. Many people who have been observing the media in Egypt and its friends, the issue of the Abay River or Blue Nile as it is known outside Ethiopia, this issue has always been raised and discussed as if it was their property and domain. No one seems concerned that the river originates in the highlands of Ethiopia and then flows down to neighboring countries and it is thanks to this state of nature that the downstream countries thrive. As the origin of the river, Ethiopia has never had any benefit from it due to a number of issues. Ethiopia of course has the right to make use of its rivers just as any country in the world under similar conditions would be entitled to. There could not be any discussions or compromises on it.
Ethiopia does realize and acknowledge the existence of rules and practices in how transboundary rivers such as Abay must be regulated. It will not be the first one to exploit its natural resources as best it can in conformity with international principles, laws and conventions. The utilization of the water of Abay should be viewed in this context so that there could be the right appreciation of what Ethiopia intends to achieve when it has built the GERD.
Ethiopia is perplexed how on earth downstream countries which make the maximum use of the water of Abay try to put another standard and feel free to openly and unambiguously prohibit Ethiopia from doing the same. After all the river not only originates from Ethiopia, but it also crosses the entire western part of the country without being used. For centuries Egypt and Sudan have used the water of Abay in exclusion of Ethiopia and due to various reasons it never had the resources to do something with the river. And this state of affairs has always disturbed and annoyed Ethiopians. Fortunately, Ethiopia has been blessed with several other sources of water and its pain has been reduced to the minimum.
Be that as it may, on the Ethiopian side, there have always been unresolved issues of sovereignty, legitimacy and ownership of the water in question. Egypt which has always opposed any endeavor on the river was categorically contrary to the construction of the GERD. It opened a relentless, negative and unfounded campaign against Ethiopia alleging that its intention is to harm Egypt and even went to the extreme of alleging that it wants to starve the people of Egypt by obstructing the flow of the water. It accused Ethiopia of trying to prevent the water from reaching it! Egyptian hydrologists of course do not miss the point that this is impossible even if Ethiopia wanted to do it!
It is hence pure invention of the Egyptian authorities which have tried to make the GERD a political issue aimed to build consensus internally and rally the people of Egypt against Ethiopia. Many Egyptians took to the media to disseminate all sorts of false narratives concluding that Ethiopia was in fact virtually at war with Egypt by constructing such a huge dam.
History tells us that the relation between Ethiopia and Egypt has always rotated around the Abay (Abay) River. Egypt has always falsely claimed that Abay is its exclusive property and Ethiopia cannot even touch it. Incidentally Ethiopia did not feel the urgency of using the water of Abay as it had limited economic resources and it had sufficient power for those days. It had less people and less need of power and there was slow progress being realized in the economy. Hence the Abay waters were not an urgent and pressing necessity. But as the years passed and the population of Ethiopia grew to surpass the one hundred thirty million milestone, there arose the urgent need to develop the river into a huge source of energy.
Ethiopia has always known that the use of the river is its right and no country could prevent it from doing that as long as it abided by international rules and practice. Abay is not the only transboundary river in the world and issues that arose around such rivers have been settled based on a win-win solution in a peaceful and diplomatic manner without recourse to any intimidation or threat as Egyptian politicians are fond of doing repeatedly against Ethiopia.
Since time immemorial Egypt has always tried to control the source of Abay by sending its army repeatedly but never succeeded because Ethiopian patriots have always been indomitable as they have repeatedly demonstrated it to aggressors and invaders. One outstanding instance to cite is the Battle of Adwa where the invading colonialist enemy that came all the way from Europe to subdue Ethiopia was routed. Egyptian armies have all had the same fate in multiple occasions when they tried to encroach on Ethiopia’s sovereignty. But all the same Egypt seems to be still living in the past with its hegemonic impulse very much alive when it comes to the issue of Abay.
Today there is little that it can do by using force because Ethiopia is well prepared to defend itself from any aggression and the repeated threats of Egyptian warmongers are only empty rhetoric that are addressed to local audience. It is known who is behind the enormous armed forces of Egypt on which it prides. Egypt is considered as a key ally in the complex geopolitical arena of the Middle East where the contention of the Palestinians and Israelis are always very much in the headlines of the western media and western political leaders have sympathy with it! Ethiopia on the other hand is considered by many as an ‘insignificant’ country which cannot stand the might and influence of Egypt and its allies. But this is the old mentality of colonialists and imperialists which has no space in today’s political dynamics.
When the construction of the GERD began, Egypt swore that it would not leave any stone unturned to block it. It launched loud campaigns brining the matter even to the United Nations Security Council meetings but no one believed or heeded its claims. Ethiopia explained its stance with historical and scientific evidence and it was accepted by the international community and those who were reluctant to stand beside Ethiopia had to change their mind. This is a big victory for Ethiopian diplomatic struggle. Egypt did not realize that its claims could not be justified in today’s world. It continued to try to dictate preconditions against Ethiopia if it wanted to build and complete the GERD. In the meantime, however, Ethiopia continued to build the dam while not rejecting a diplomatic and peaceful solution to the claims of Egypt. Ethiopia realizes and understands the worries of Egypt as a lower riparian country and that was why it did all the research necessary before creating any threat to the security and survival of both riparian countries while at the same it could not forfeit its legitimate interests. Like any other sovereign country Ethiopia has the legitimate right to exploit its natural resources to the benefit of its nationals and this is a universally accepted principle.
The GERD is a huge battle or war that Ethiopia had to conduct and result victories with lots of sacrifice, hard work and immense capital. The very idea of constructing the GERD was mocked by many people around the world considering it a dream that would never see the light of day. They all dismissed the very idea as an impossible exploit alleging that a country such as Ethiopia which has not even been capable of feeding its population could not embark on such a huge and ambitious construction in a place which is very distant from where the core of the country is located. When the project was unveiled to the public, many experts so called analysts of the geopolitics of Africa and the Middle East said that such an exploit is just beyond the reach of a country such as Ethiopia because to begin with Egypt and Sudan the lower riparian countries of Abay would not allow it to happen. Secondly, Ethiopia would never manage to raise all the financial resources it needs to make such a project a reality. No country, nor international financial institution would be willing to finance such a project because it could be taken to threaten the existence of the two lower riparian countries who claim the rights on the waters of Abay despite the fact that the river originates from the Ethiopian highlands. Egypt and Sudan would never allow Ethiopia to construct such a huge dam as long as these two countries exist because constructing a dam on a river on which their very survival as a country is based could only be considered as a ‘declaration of war’ and would be countered accordingly, the ‘experts’ predicted.
In fact, few people took Ethiopian leaders seriously because they thought that Ethiopia was just dreaming and making its citizens dream with the idea of such a dam! However, Ethiopians and those who have familiarity with the issue know that the idea of realizing such a dream was not new to Ethiopian leaders because it was first conceived way back during imperial times! The site of the project was selected and studied and the feasibility of the construction of a huge dam was considered. But to was dropped only because of the many obstacles that were created around the realization of the project.
The first huge constraint was the lack of the necessary financial muscles that would make the project a reality on the ground. Ethiopia was then a small economy that largely relied on foreign aid and an ambitious plan such as the GERD was in fact beyond its reach. After all, the rate of economic growth of the country did not need such a huge hydropower dam. Maybe it was too premature. Moreover, the opposition of Egypt and Sudan was so fierce that no country or institution wanted to risk its enmity by granting Ethiopia the finance it needed to make such a project a reality. It was hence considered as a farfetched task to carry out and the project was put in the shelves of Ethiopian ambitions.
Decades later in 2013 when the idea was once again prospected, many of the geopolitical scenarios have changed and Ethiopia needed more than ever the realization of its long-awaited dream. It thus began the project with great zeal, confidence and relying on its own means. Ethiopia was after all a big country with a long and glorious history and with more than one hundred thirty million people who however have been hampered from growing as they wish because of lack of energy. That is the whole idea behind this immense project that is the GERD. The GERD hence cannot be considered as a mere dam or project but the lungs of Ethiopia which serves it to breathe fresh air! It is the reaffirmation of a country’s sovereignty and freedom to use its natural resources for the good of its people. It is also a manifestation of great capacity of Ethiopians who are now committed to open a new chapter in their long history and a moment when they have liberated Abay from the colonial dreams of Egypt and its allies. It is a game changer for all of Africa as Adwa was once an inspiration for all oppressed people of the world that they can always fight for their survival in dignity and respect and not be treated as insignificant peoples always under the domination of others.
That is why many consider the inauguration of the GERD as Liberation Day or Victory Day for all Africans and not only Ethiopians, and all those who seek justice and freedom to reign in the world!
