On 5 July 2021, Ethiopia informed Egypt and Sudan that the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the Blue Nile in Ethiopia is undergoing its second filling. Although the case has been dropped, the organisations work focused international attention on the dams potential detrimental impacts on the lakes habitat. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) is a 6000 MW hydropower project on the Blue Nile, which the Ethiopian government plans to build to fulfill the country's energy needs. Egypt, Ethiopia to form joint committee on Renaissance Dam. The New Arab (2020b). In the absence of the application of the Watercourses Convention, various other legal arrangements and political declarations must be considered to gain an understanding of the regulation of the Dam and the Nile River more generally. The so-called Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (Gerd) is Africa's biggest hydroelectric project to date. You can revoke your consent to the site operator at any time by unsubscribing from the newsletter. Crucially, however, despite being signed by Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan, the legal status of the DoP was left (deliberately) vague. An argument could be made that some of its provisions have passed into customary international law, however, that would require clear general practice and opinio juris. "The Blue Nile is the lifeblood of Egypt and its people and critics fear the dam could significantly reduce water flow to the country." "Climate change is such a big unknown. AFRICANGLOBE. Lastly, over-year storage facilities upstream in Ethiopia will allow Sudan to increase its water use. Some have mythified it and claim it is the Gihon River of the Biblical Book of Genesis that encircles the entire land of Cush, thereby adding a religious dimension to the politicisation. Already, the United States has threatened to withhold development aid to Ethiopia if the conflict is not resolved and an agreement reached. A series of talks since then have largely failed to produce a consensus among the concerned countries, with tensions rising again after Ethiopia announced its intention to begin filling the dam in July 2020. Ethiopias dam-construction strategy threatens not only Kenyas water-resource development efforts but also Somalias water security, as is evidenced by Ethiopias development plans for the Jubba and Shebelle Rivers. Indeed, Egypt has called the filling of the dam an existential threat, as it fears the dam will negatively impact the countrys water supplies. But with a generation capacity of 6.45GW, the Ethiopian government quoted the project as vital to the country's economic growth. The Tripartite National Council (TNC) was then established, consisting of members from each of the three countries with the aim of carrying through the IPoE's recommendations (Attia & Saleh, 2021). We do know that Ethiopia is already seeing longer droughts and worse floods. Egypt has also escalated its call to the international community to get involved. Feb 11th 2021 DAMS HAVE several uses. In my opinion, this should be negotiable, to fill the lake over a longer period, and only when the river is sufficiently full. The first filling of the dam in July 2020 went uneventfully. The multi-services provided by the hydropower development and its technical advantages could be driving forces for local, regional and national development, and a catalyst for sustainable development. Ethiopia has two major plans for these rivers, which both flow into Somalia, in the form of the Wabe Shebelle and the Genale Dawa power plants. Second came the 2015 Declaration of Principles (DoP) which concerned the Dam specifically (rather than the Nile more broadly). The instrument was a success in terms of cooling tensions between the states which seemed increasingly likely to come to blows. At the same. Nevertheless, Khartoum continues to fear that the operation of the GERD could threaten the safety of Sudans own dams and make it much more difficult for the government to manage its own development projects. The researchers looked at the dynamic interactions between the Nile's hydrology and infrastructure and Egypt's economy. The dispute has prompted numerous international interventions, including by Gulf Arab states, which have issued political statements and led mediation efforts. An agreement between Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is within reach, with the United Nations standing ready to support talks and the African Union-led process to settle remaining differences, the Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs told the Security Council in a 29 June videoconference meeting*. per year, that would constitute a drought, to push the three countries to adhere to their obligations in accordance with the rules of international law in order to reach a fair and balanced solution to the issue of the GERD, 1929 Anglo-Egyptian Treaty and 1959 Agreement. Elliot Winter is a lecturer (assistant professor) in international law at Newcastle University in the United Kingdom. grand ethiopian renaissance dam. Ethiopia, whose highlands supply more than 85 percent of the water that flows into the Nile River, has long argued that it has the right to utilize its natural resources to address widespread poverty and improve the living standards of its people. July 26, 2022. Given these considerations, it seems that Ethiopia has all but won the dispute. On the surface, the 558 ft tall dam Africa's biggest hydropower project belies Ethiopia's financial muscle. Learn. The Eastern Nile Basin is of critical geopolitical importance to the Niles overall hydro-political regime. Moreover, it arguably prohibits any reduction of flow to Egypt by limiting Ethiopias use of the Dam to electricity generation alone. In any event, the dispute remains. RANE (2015). Under the Ethiopian constitution, the state is the proprietor of the countrys land and natural resources, which gives the government significant control over the allocation and use of land. Egypt's 100 million people rely on the Nile for 90% of the country's water needs. In order to sustain this benefit in the long run, Ethiopias neighbouring countries will have to continue to purchase hydroelectric energy, and rainfall will have to fall at the same rate on the Ethiopian Plateau. Sudan and Egypt, which rely most heavily on the . Turning then to Ethiopia. Filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) along the Blue Nile River is well under way near the Ethiopia-Sudan border. This article considers water security in the context of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (the Dam). However, it also makes useful concessions to Egypt which it may wish to press. Sudans agricultural and hydropower interests align with those of Ethiopia while it has a strong interest in not alienating its 'big brother' and northern neighbour, Egypt, with whom it shares a long and partly contested border (Whittington et al., 2014). While this means new opportunities to develop extended irrigation-based agriculture for the Sudanese, it represents also a new threat for Egypts current Nile water utilisation (Whittington et al., 2014). The GDP per capita in Ethiopia is only $475. According to this narrative, the Blue Nile, or Abay in Amharic, is a purely Ethiopian river. In terms of putative new law, namely the Watercourses Convention and the DoP, the key principles of equitable utilisation and no significant harm seem to leave ample room to accommodate the construction of a dam for hydroelectric generation purposes. Before discussing the benefits, the article will brief the general technical overview of the GERDP. At this point, though, the GERD is nearly completed, and so Egypt has shifted its position to trying to secure a political agreement over the timetable for filling the GERDs reservoir and how the GERD will be managed, particularly during droughts. The withdrawal from the project by Deltares has been met by a wave of objections in Egypt for fear . The other riparian states can then be brought in, either through the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) or some other regional framework, to secure an agreement that is binding on all the states. When it is completed, with its concrete volume of 10.2 million m3, GERD will feature the largest dam in Africa. Ethiopian general threatens military force to defend Nile dam as negotiations with Egypt falter. The current global energy crisis may help in this regard in the sense that Egyptians may find the allure of discounted hydroelectric energy stronger than ever before. Similarly, both the final agreement between the riparian states for the allocation of the water and resources of the Nile should include a dispute resolution mechanism. The GERD and the Revival of the Egyptian-Sudanese Dispute over the Nile Waters. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. It seeks to build an infrastructure for regional water hegemony, positioning it, at the very least, in such a way that it can exchange water for oil. [18] The Zenawi concept of a Strong Ethiopia envisions the country as a powerful hydroelectric energy hub exporting electricity to Djibouti and Somalia in the east, Kenya and Uganda to the south, and Sudan to the west. DISADVANTAGES OF ASWAN DAM the agriculture output of Egypt. However, an agreement was still far from reach. Egyptian players abroad: Mostafa Mohamed's Nantes defeated at PSG, Trezeguet.. Italy Serie A results & fixtures (25th matchday), Egypts Prosecution investigates Hoggpool, Six European nations express concern over growing violence in Palestinian territories, Egyptian Premier League fixtures (21st matchday), US official says Biden expected to tighten rules on US investment in China. Challenges for water sharing in the Nile basin: changing geo-politics and changing climate. However, the Convention took almost twenty years to enter into force (from 1997 to 2014) due to the lack of necessary ratifications by states. Ethiopia has never 'consumed' significant shares of the Nile's water so far, as its previous political and economic fragility in combination with a lack of external financial support, due to persistent Egyptian opposition to projects upstream, prevented it from implementing large-scale projects. Ethiopia's Grand Renaissance Dam. As a result, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has recognised water security as a possible threat to international peace. General view of the talks on Hidase Dam, built on the Blue Nile River in Ethiopia, between Sudan and Egypt in Khartoum, Sudan on October 04, 2019. This is a matter of acute concern given that Egypt depends on the Nile for about 97% of its irrigation and drinking water. In the relatively unlikely scenario that the above points failed, Ethiopia could argue that there has been such a change of circumstances since the Nile Waters Treaties were concluded that they ought to be terminated. Zegabi East Africa News (2015). March 14, 2020, 6:57 AM. Egypt and Ethiopia have once again locked horns over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the Blue Nile. L'Europe en Formation, 365(3), 99-138. Article IV of the DoP provides that the parties shall utilize their shared water resources in their respective territories in an equitable and reasonable manner and Article III provides that the parties shall take all appropriate measures to prevent the causing of significant harm in utilizing the Blue/Main Nile. Ethiopia can make a strong case that the operation of the Dam complies with each principle. Review a brief history of copyright in the United States. It was in the hope of protecting Lake Turkana against such threats that it was listed as a World Heritage Site. The drying up of this in Central Asia has been called the worlds worst environmental catastrophe. Despite several tripartite meetings between November 2013 and January 2014, no agreement was reached on the implementation of the IPoE recommendations and controversies were evolving around the constitution of a trilateral committee. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, a 1.1-mile-long concrete colossus, is set to become the largest hydropower plant in Africa. Given the fact that the conflict between Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan over the GERD seems to be among the most pressing issues in the region, it might be advisable for emphasis to be placed on securing a trilateral agreement that secures the peace between these three countries first. Given agricultures importance to pro-poor economic growth, Egypt, which has significant experience and expertise in irrigation agriculture, can share some of that expertise with other countries in exchange for increased trade with them. The latter, in Article 2(4), allocated acquired rights of 66% of Nile water to Egypt and 22% to Sudan (with the remaining 12% attributed to leakage). It can be demand-driven, typically caused by population growth, and supply-driven, typically caused by decreasing amounts of fresh water often resulting from climate change or a result of societal factors such as poverty. On March 4, 1982, Bertha Wilson became the first woman appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada. Thus, as with the Watercourses Convention and the CFA, the DoP does not offer a clear legal resolution to the dispute. The three countries have agreed that when the flow of Nile water to the dam falls below 35-40 b.c.m. The situation seemed to improve in the beginning of 2015 when tripartite negotiations were held in order to determine principles of cooperation. In the imperialist age, Ethiopian emperors threatened to alter the course of the Nile and stop its flow to Egypt. Four of these would potentially be located on the main river and one would eventually evolve into the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). It signifies that Egypts de facto veto power on major upstream dams has been broken, and it clearly demonstrates the political will of Ethiopia to develop its water infrastructure even in the absence of a comprehensive basin agreement. But the project has caused concern. Copyright 2023, JURIST Legal News & Research Services, Inc. Elliot Winter | New Castle University (UK), Egyptian Water Security and the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam: Why Ethiopia has the Upper Hand, Vienna Convention on the Succession of States, history of copyright in the United States. Nevertheless, it is important to take stock of the human costs, social problems, and lasting environmental impacts of this strategy which have already drawn considerable criticism and concern. These hydraulic mega-projects underscore the ambitious local and regional political aims of the Ethiopian ruling elites. Link, P.M. et al. Since its inception, there have been two, highly contentious, products. As noted above, the instrument concedes for the first time that Ethiopia has legitimate interests over the Nile. Swain, A. The most important of these treaties is the 1997 UN Convention on the Law of Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses (the Watercourses Convention). Churning waters: Strategic shifts in the Nile basin. Ultimately, all the water is allowed to pass downstream such that there is no net loss of flow (with the exception of water lost to evaporation). Ethiopia also seems to have the political upper hand given that the Dam is effectively a fait accompli and given that Egypts erstwhile downstream ally, Sudan, switched sides in the dispute leaving the Egyptians diplomatically isolated. A regional framework for the management of the Nile already existsthe Nile Basin Initiative mentioned abovewhich is a partnership among the Nile riparian states that was launched in 1999. The 6,000-megawatt Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, shown here in May 2016, is scheduled to begin producing electricity in 2017. - Ethiopia's massive. The Political Deadlock on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. Von Lossow, T. & Roll, S. (2015). Construction of the 6,000-megawatt, US $5 billion Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) began . It's free to sign up and bid on jobs. Negotiations resumed three weeks after Al-Sisi took office in June 2014, and an agreement was made to resume negotiations - an achievementhailed by both Egypt and Ethiopia as a new chapter in relations between Egypt and Ethiopia based on openness and mutual understanding and cooperation (Omar, 2014). The CFA was a political success for the eight upstream states such as Ethiopia as it favoured those states and isolated the downstream states of Egypt and Sudan and made them appear recalcitrant. Although Egypt has persistently argued that the 1959 agreement between Egypt and Sudan is the legal framework for the allocation of the waters of the Nile, Ethiopia and other upstream riparian states reject that argument. According to present plans, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) now under construction across the Blue Nile River in Ethiopia will be the largest hydroelectric dam in Africa, and one of the 12 largest in the world. Perhaps even more consequential is the fact that this agreement granted Egypt veto power over future Nile River projects. Alaa al-Zawahiri, a member of the Egyptian National Panel of Experts studying the effects of the Renaissance Dam, believes as much. However, the DoP lacks these key traits, and these omissions suggest that it may simply be a non-binding declaration designed to ease political tensions and to illuminate a way forward. Location l Formerly called as project x then known as the Millennium Dam then it renamed to Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. Although the immediate issue at stakesecuring a technical agreement on the filling of the GERDs reservoiris among Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan, the broader and longer-term goal should be for all 11 statesincluding Tanzania, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Eritrea, and South Sudanto agree on a legal regime for the management of this important watercourse. Government of the United States of America. However, as noted above, the trouble with relying on the DoP is that its legal status is not clearly defined. These are two of the largest dams in Africa. Created by. Another impressive snippet of information is that the Government of Ethiopia is financing the entire project, along with loans mainly from China. Learn the history of Toronto from the city's official website. Faced with the anachronistic Nile Waters Treaties on the one hand and the absence of a suitable replacement on the other, discussions about the Dam have fallen into something of a stalemate. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) and hydroelectric project is located 700 km northeast of the capital city Addis Abeba, in the Benishangul--Gumaz region of Ethiopia, along the Blue Nile River. European countries including Italy, Belgium and especially the UK controlled the Nile as part of colonisation and the broader Scramble for Africa. These colonising states used the tactic of concluding treaties (often at gunpoint) to secure their interests and, in this case, essentially prohibit upstream states from using their own waters. Political instability in Egypt played an important role as the announcement of the project coincided with the resignation of President Mubarak during the Arab Spring. Egypt relies on the river for as much as 90 percent of its freshwater and sees the new dam as an existential . According to Baradei, hydropower dams create immense turbulence in the water, where chemical reactions such as dissolved oxygen can destroy fauna and flora. It also created a counter message to Egypts powerful the Nile is Egypt narrative that is familiar around the world. Both Egypt and Ethiopia could make arguments in support of their positions. The US has revived diplomatic efforts to resolve the dispute sparked by Ethiopia's Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) project on the Nile. However, for the reasons given above, the Nile Waters Treaties are unlikely to be considered territorial treaties. Even in 2023, there are only 46 state parties, with key actors such as the US, Canada and Brazil remaining outside the Conventions regime. It and several other large dams in Ethiopia could turn the country into Africa's hydropower hub. In particular, the DoP takes a very strict approach to the no significant harm rule. In general, the Ethiopian development philosophy rests on two pillars: mega-dams and mega-agricultural projects. The Kenyan Lake is heavily dependent on the fresh water and vital nutrients supplied by the rivers annual floods, making it a paradise for fisheries. . Flashcards. Despite the intense disagreements, though, Ethiopia continues to move forward with the dam, arguing that the hydroelectric project will significantly improve livelihoods in the region more broadly. l Coordinates 111255N 3505 . EDUARDO SOTERAS/AFP via Getty Images. Ultimately, however, Egypt did not sign the CFA (nor did Sudan) hence it does not resolve the dispute. Because Ethiopia has been so cavalier with regard to the technical aspects of its dams, portions of them have also caved in soon after they began operation. The Chinese donors who have agreed to fund it have performed no independent social or environmental impact reviews. On March 4, 1909, the Copyright Act of 1909 became law, making infringement of a copyright a federal crime for the first time. The 10-year filling time of GERD will likely contribute to fastened salinisation in Egypt. Over the years, Egypt has used its extensive diplomatic connections and the colonial-era 1929 and 1959 agreements to successfully prevent the construction of any major infrastructure projects on the tributaries of the Nile. A political requirement will be to agree on rules for filling the GERD reservoir and on operating rules for the GERD, especially during periods of drought. Ethiopia, one of the poorest countries in Africa, has the second largest population in the continent. To African commentators in recent decades, massive investments in mega-energy and irrigation projects were emblematic of the African economic emergence, and Ethiopia at that time vaunted itself as one of the fastest-growing economies in the region. February 14, 2022 JPEG Egypt had asked the UNSC to push the three countries to adhere to their obligations in accordance with the rules of international law in order to reach a fair and balanced solution to the issue of the GERD. Egypts repeated references to the rules of international law is part of an effort to maintain its so-called natural and historical rights that were established and reaffirmed by the 1929 Anglo-Egyptian Treaty and 1959 Agreement between Egypt and Sudan, respectivelytreaties many of the other involved parties reject as anachronistic and untenable. Following the fall of Mengistu Haile-Mariams regime in Ethiopia in 1991, Ethiopia experienced a remarkable rise in the construction of dams and hydroelectric power stations. But controversy has surrounded the project ever since it was announced in 2011 especially concerning its . "I came to Cairo on my first official trip to the region to hear . While the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) is taking shape on . There has long been a conflict over water rights among the riparian countries of the Eastern Nile Basin (Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia). the study highlights the importance of weighing up the advantages and disadvantages of counter-hegemonic tactics in general, and of large dam projects in particular, and . Even without taking the dam into account, the largely desert country is short of water. Attia, H. & Saleh, M. (2021). The various warnings by experts about the dangers of the new Ethiopian dam have begun to cause panic among Egyptians, to the point of belief that the Aswan Dam will collapse once the Renaissance is completed.