By Tewodros M. Ayele To all my Ethiopian Brothers and Sisters Our Country, Ethiopia, has temporarily diverted the flow of Abay River (a tributary River Nile) around the area where it is building Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam; it is Africa’s largest hydroelectric dam with a planned capacity to generate a desperately needed electric power to the tune of 6000MW. Building of the Grand Renaissance Dam has already caused some anxiety in Sudan and Egypt, countries that are downstream to Ethiopia and totally dependent on the Nile for water to which Abay river contributes up to 85%.Although, Ethiopian officials and Experts have repeatedly assured that the construction of the hydroelectric dam will not affect any of the downstream countries, some in Egypt are looking at the construction of the Grand Renaissance Dam as a threat to its means of their survival. Currently, Ethiopia uses 1% of its annual 86% contribution of Nile water, while Egypt has access to 55 out of the river’s 84 billion cubic meter annual flow. Does this sound fair to you? The population of Ethiopia has doubled in the last 30 years to an estimated 90 million, and one does not have to be a genius to predict that the country will be in far worse difficulty (economically/ socially) in the year 2050 with a population size that is double its current size. We are within our rights to build the dam in our country. Given these facts and figures, it makes it even more decisive and apparent to use any of our resources to tackle the problem we are facing now and will be facing in a very near future. Egypt and Sudan have maintained control of the Nile through a series of agreements originally brokered by colonial powers in 1929. Ethiopia was never involved nor consulted nor signed any of these so-called agreements. Thus far, Egypt managed to keep the monopoly over its flow and prevented Ethiopia from utilizing it by creating instability in the region including by lending a hand to Eretria and Somalia during our long lasting wars with both countries, and lobbying against funding any project undertaken by Ethiopia. My Ethiopians Brothers and Sisters, I say the time is passed for us to build the dam, and now finally we are working to put it to a much needed use for our people. I am aware of the complexity of the issues dealing with international rivers, but obscure laws should not negate the basic sovereign rights of Ethiopia on its rivers. When Countries like Egypt telling us we cannot build a dam in our own country means they are undermining our sovereignty. It’s time to show our support weather we are living in Ethiopia or outside of Ethiopia, I believe, it is our obligation to finish what we have started. It’s on our national interest, it’s our bloodline, and it’s our pride, it is our means of existence. May God Bless Our Country Ethiopia!! ወንድሞቼ እና እህቶቼ ጆሮ ያለው ይስማ ልብ ያለው ልብ ያድርግ ። እነሱ ለእኛ ተኝተውልን አያውቁም። ውድቀታችንን ዘለአለም እንደተመኙ ያሉ ህዝቦች ናቸው። ወንድማማቾችን ሲያጨራርሱን ኖረዋል። እስከ መቼ ድረስ ለነሱ መሳሪያ እንሆናለን? እስከ መቼ ድረስ እርስ በራሳችን እያባሉን እነሱ የሰላም እንቅልፍ ይተኛሉ? በአንድነትእንነሳ ለደሀ ሀገራችን እንቊም ፦ ለህዝባችን አለኝታና መከታ እንሁን። ድር ቢያብር አንበሳ ያስር ነውና ሁላችንም በዘር በሀይማኖት በጎሳ ሳንከፉፈል ይኅንን የተቀደሰ ስራ ከግቡ እናድርስ።
Posted on: Sat, 08 Jun 2013 09:01:10 +0000
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