Facing water scarcity. (Reuters/Amr Abdallah Dalsh) Quartz Africa When Ethiopia’s prime minister Hailemariam Desalegn visits Egypt this week to discuss bilateral cooperation in sectors like health, education, and agriculture one contentious issue will stand out: the completion of Africa’s largest dam. It is no secret what Egypt thinks about the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), the centerpiece…
Talks are stalled over how to deal with the impact of a $5 billion dam that could threaten Egypt’s lifeblood. BY KEITH JOHNSON Foreign Policy The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, currently under construction, on May 15, 2016. (DigitalGlobe via Getty Images) A diplomatic spat between Egypt and Sudan is spilling over into the long-running dispute over a…
By Peter Schwartzstein BBC The world’s longest river is sick – and getting sicker Booming populations have dirtied and drained it, while climate change threatens to cut its flow. And some fear that competition over its dwindling waters could trigger a regional conflict. The rains The rot starts at the source. For as long as the…
WPR By Julian Hattem For millennia, the Nile River has served as the backbone of Egypt, the lifeblood of its people. Gradually, though, the land of the pharaohs is losing its grip. Late last month, Uganda hosted the first ever heads-of-state summit aimed at resolving disagreements over the waters of the Nile. But it produced…
Egyptindependent An unverified voice recording attributed to Egypt’s Former President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak has generated great controversy among Egyptian social media users. The recording, which surfaced on a Facebook page titled ‘Ana Asef Ya Rais’ [‘I’m sorry Mr. President’], featured statements from Mubarak on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam ‘GERD’. Mubarak relinquished power in 2011 following…
Reuters- Dam has become a bone of contention between Ethiopia and Egypt, downstream from the dam and relying almost exclusively on the Nile for agricultural, industrial and domestic water use KHARTOUM, Sept 20 (Reuters) – Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia commissioned studies into the environmental and economic impact of a $4 billion dam on the Nile that…
Egyptian Streets Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan have signed an agreement aimed at curbing Egypt’s alarm at the speed of which the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (‘the dam’) is being constructed. The agreement is based on a preliminary agreement that had been reached in March 2015 between the leaders of the three countries in Khartoum, Sudan.…
By William Davison, Bloomberg Ethiopia and Egypt “urgently” need to agree on the coordinated operation of their two large dams in the Nile River basin to ensure water is shared fairly during periods of reduced flows, a group of international experts said. Ethiopia is planning to complete the $4 billion state-funded Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, known…
Report from conference at MIT addresses potential effects of huge construction project. By David L. Chandler | MIT News GERD Executive Summary MIT_NILE_GERD_BRIEF_FINAL Comments from Ethiopian and Egyptian expert panels 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…
Egypt and Ethiopia make peace over a hugely controversial Nile dam. And Cairo’s about-face has everything to do with security. BY KEITH JOHNSON, Foreign Policy The mounting security concerns that have Egypt poised to send ground troops into Yemen also seem to have pushed Cairo into making nice with Ethiopia after years of tensions over the…